International Women’s Day 2022, is the result of women’s demands for equality in all senses. Equal opportunities, equal pay and equal rights. meet the Origin of International Women’s Day 2022is to know the reason for this claim and the reason for the need to create a special day dedicated to them.
What is the origin of International Women’s Day
With the industrial Revolution one arises new class of workers. They were men, women and children who left the countryside to work in the new factories. Production picked up almost as fast as demand. Being the textile sector which in the beginning led the rise of new technologies.
With a high demand for products, workers were forced to endless working hoursa low wage and some lousy conditions. Yet within the working classes there were some most disadvantaged groupswomen and children.
March 8, 1857hundreds of women of a textile factory, organized a demonstration through the streets of New York. His claims were equalize wages to that of men and improve poor working conditions in which they worked.
We must say that women earned less than half than what men were paid for the same hours of work. This starting from the base, that the men’s salary barely served to survive. It is from this fact that we must find the origin of what would later become International Women’s Day.
The society of the time was not prepared to accept such demands and the demonstration ended badly. The Police tried to disperse that protest and the result was the death of 120 women protesters. This fact served to create a before and after that day. Working women realized that unity was strength and two years later they founded the first union.
That March 8 was the first time that women claimed their rights as a collective and thus became a recurring date for protests.
It was not until 1909, when it was held the first national women’s day, an initiative of the Socialist Party of the United States. The agreed date for its celebration was the 28th of February. That day the women occupied the streets again, this time more organized and under the same motto “Bread and Roses”.
Bread as a way of expressing Salary increase or what is the same economic security. The roses they expressed, better working conditionsIn short, a better quality of life.
For more information: When is International Women’s Day 2022 celebrated?
Why is International Women’s Day celebrated?
In 1910, the II International Conference of Socialist Women was held, this time the conference was held in Copenhagen, Denmark. Women had become aware as a group and in this II International Conference, the right to universal suffrage was demanded for all the women.
In 1910 women could not vote, therefore their claims were not taken into account by the political class. With the right to vote of such a large group, the different parties would be forced to improve their conditions.
At the II International Conference of Socialist Women, a name comes up, Clara Zetkin. A German woman and activist for women’s rights. Clara Zetkin, was the voice that proposed on March 8 as a day dedicated to women, as the International Women’s Day.
Zetkin’s proposalattending to the events that occurred on March 8, 1857, It was passed. More than 100 women representing 17 countries, managed to get the proposal forward unanimously. Among these women were the first 3 women elected to the parliament of Finland.
However, a dramatic event was what changed public opinion. In the early morning of March 25, 1911there was a terrible fire In New York. The Triangle Shirtwaist shirt factoryburned while hundreds of women were working inside.
The factory occupied the last two floors of a 10-storey building, when the women tried to escapethey met the stair blocked. The owners of the factory, fearing continuous robberies in the area, decided to block the entrances to the factory.
This irresponsible decision caused the death of 146 womenbeing the majority young immigrants Italian and Jewish. Many of them threw themselves out of the windows of the 10th floor and the vast majority were burned to death. Women who gave their lives for a miserable salary and precarious conditions.
For more information: Why is International Women’s Day celebrated?
Laws begin to change
The protests that year after year took place in March, together with this catastrophe, brought about a change in the laws Americans. One of the first laws that were approved were improvements in occupational safety in the industrial environment.
The tragedy not only served to change the laws but also its consequences visualization of a group that until now had been invisible. arose multiple protests as a result of these events, organized by the Women’s Trade Union League and the International Ladies’ Garment Workers Union.
But without a doubt the most relevant was the massive silent parade that accompanied the coffins of the victims, that reached more than 100,000 people.
In February 1917during the First World War, Russian women called a strike which would take place on the last Sunday of February of that same year. Perhaps making a nod to the old motto of Pan y Rosa, the motto this time would be, bread and peace. strike that the political leaders did not accepthowever women far from shy they went aheadwas the preamble to the Russian Revolution.
As a curiosity, the last Sunday in February was the 23rdIn Russia, the Julian calendar was used. However, in the Gregorian calendar that was used in the rest of the countries, on February 23 It coincided with March 8.
With the fall of the Tsar, Nicholas II and the arrival of the provisional Bolshevik government, women got the right to vote. For the first time, women had achieved what they had fought so hard for, the right to vote.
But it wasn’t until 1977when the United Nations (UN), converted on March 8 on the International Day for Women’s Rights and International Peaceunder the heading, “to commemorate the historic struggle to improve the lives of women.”
However, today, even great achievements have been made, especially in developed countries, there are still many demands to be fulfilled. The equal pay, equal opportunities, workplace harassment or mistreatment of womenare pending subjects that are still pending.
If you want to know what acts are called for the celebration of International Women’s Day 2022: International Women’s Day 2022: demonstrations, events and conferences