On March 8, 2022, people across the globe gathered to celebrate International Women’s Day, honoring the achievements of women throughout history while simultaneously recognizing the gender inequities that have persisted in today’s world. The roots of this internationally observed holiday stretch back to February 28, 1909, when leaders of the American suffrage movement organized the first official celebration of National Women’s Day in New York City. At the time, biases against women perforated the U.S. government, resulting in heavy restrictions on women’s rights, such as the inability to vote, legal wage discrepancies, and laws preventing access to contraceptives and abortions. Women continued to pressure the misogynistic systems embedded in their communities, and gradually made progress towards a more equitable future. Annual celebrations of International Women’s Day occurred throughout the 20th century, with the first international observance officially celebrated in Europe in 1911. Eventually, March 8th became the widely adopted annual date of the holiday – a day that is now celebrated by women in more than 60 countries.
We’re lucky that so much has changed since the first women’s day in 1909… right? As we think about the history of International Women’s Day, we are led to consider the origins of this holiday and the progress that we’ve made. In 1920, the passing of the 19th amendment granted women the right to vote. The Equal Pay Act, passed in 1963, prohibited wage discrimination based on sex. In 1972, contraceptives were legalized for all Americans, and in the following year, the Supreme Court decision from Roe v Wade resulted in the legalization of abortion. These milestones in women’s history seemed to represent strides towards gender equality in the U.S. However, despite the passing of such monumental legislature, women, and especially women of color, have struggled to overcome the deep-rooted inequities that seem to be foundational to modern society.
Even today, there is a tug-of-war between forward and backward mobility for gender equity – in the same year that the nation saw its first black, female vice president in Kamala Harris, women across the U.S. watched as Texas’s anti-abortion laws, which infringe upon a woman’s constitutional rights, were enacted. In 2022, nearly 60 years after the passing of the Equal Pay Act, the gender wage gap has begun to close yet still persists, with women only earning about 82 cents for every $1 earned by a man – this gap is even more expansive for women of color. Each of these events of recent years shows that we cannot simply celebrate International Women’s Day in passing and praise how far we’ve come, because there’s still plenty of work to do. Rather than allowing International Women’s Day to be a performative holiday – where people upload Instagram stories of their mothers and sisters, and companies highlight their female workers in a post on LinkedIn – we must carry the meaning of the holiday with us throughout the year. Standing together, we will continue to fight for a more equitable future and celebrate Women’s Day every day.
Sources:
https://www.history.com/news/the-surprising-history-of-international-womens-day
https://www.internationalwomensday.com/Activity/15586/The-history-of-IWD