March 8, 2021: Choose to Change | International Women’s Day

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Posted on December 11, 2023 at 12:00 AM

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Why do we celebrate International Women’s Day? It started in 1908 wheb garment workers in NYC took to the street demanding shorter work hours, pay equity, and even suffrage. The following year their mantle was picked up by the Socialist party. By 1910 the movement went global. More than 100 women from 17 countries agreed unanimously to start International Women’s Day. The next year, in1911, more than 1 million women and men in Europe marched and attended International Women’s Day rallies or demonstrations. Women in Russia took a stand for Bread and Peace in the midst of war, in 1917. When the czar abdicated four days later and women were granted suffrage, the demonstrators were given credit for sparking the Russian Revolution. The United Nations chose March 8 to mark International Women’s Day as a holiday in 1975. Today, International Women’s Day is recognized in more than 100 countries all over the globe.

Nuchhi Currier
President, Woman’s National Democratic Club