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The 1932 Soviet poster dedicated to the 8th of March holiday. The text reads: "8th of March is the day of rebellion of the working women against kitchen slavery" and "Down with the oppression and narrow-mindedness of household work!".

International Women’s Day was first celebrated during labor movements in the early 1900s, ironically before most women could vote.  Slowly, suffrage gained steps forward.  In the United States, women received the right to vote in the early 1920s, around the same time as Albania and Burma. In 1929, Canada determined that women were “persons” for electoral purposes.  In 1971, surprisingly recently, women got the right to vote in all elections in Switzerland, where previously the right to vote was determined by provincial law. Kuwait was even later in 2005.

Yesterday, International Women´s Day was celebrated in different ways all over the world. The Womens League of Burma continued to fight violence against women and crimes against humanity. The Global Partnership to End Violence against Women gave Melinda Gates a Woman of Courage Award.  Women everywhere from Iran to Australia showed their support with ralleys and demonstrations.  Although the exact origins of the days seem to be claimed by various countries, we all can now celebrate this day together.

Interested in learning more about the history of this day?  Check out some of these related programs:

Modern British Women’s History Program – London Metropolitan University – UK

Master of Arts in Women’s Studies – Flinders University - Australia

Women’s Studies and Gender Relations Diploma – College of New Caledonia – Canada

P.S. In case you did not know, there is also an International Men’s Day (IMD) on November 19th.

Tags: International Women´s Day, Melinda Gates, Right to Vote