History of International Women's Day
-Lorraine Pozzi

International Women's Day was established as a result of the organizing activities of women on both sides of the Atlantic in the early 20th Century. Between 1909 and 1911, working women in the United States participated in some spectacular organizing and strike activities of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union and the National Women's Trade Union League. They were responding to the low wages, lack of protective legislation and the poor working conditions to which they were subject, and which led to such tragedies as the 143 lives lost in the fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company in New York City.

The subhuman conditions of these women shocked many New Yorkers, including members of New York's society elite, Miss Ann Morgan and Mrs. J. Borden Harriman. These women and others united with the garment workers to form the National Civic Federaion.  On November 23, 1909, 25,000 members of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union went on strike. These thousands of women linked arms across their barriers and launched a five-month strike in the dead of winter.

As stories of police brutality on the picket lines were exposed in the newspapers, public sympathy enhanced the position of the strikers. In July 1910, Louis Brandeis, a famous Boston attorney, was able to reconcile 10 leading clothing manufacturers and 10 labor leaders. This reconciliation included assurance of basic humane conditions for workers, union hours, union wages, and adjudication of industrial disputes.

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In Europe- the history of International Women's Day is tied to that of Clara Zetkin, the famous German feminist socialist. Zetkin was a late 19th Century intellectual activist who wrote theoretical tracts linking socialism and feminism, and participated in parliamentary politics as an elected representative. She maintained that women must achieve economic equality - independence from men. Work outside the home - on top of childrearing responsibilities - was the indispensable condition for this independence.
 
On August 27, 1910, Clara Zetkin and the Socialist Women's International demanded that March 8th be International Women's Day, celebrated each year to recognize working women around the world.

The celebration of International Women's Day has since stimulated major historical events. For instance, IWD was the inspiration for the general strike which began the Russian Revolution in St. Petersburg in 1917 when 10,000 women textile workers demonstrated.

By 1922, March 8th was established as the official day of recognition for all women. It is due to such history of women organizing around the world that IWD was officially recognized by the United Nations to celebrate women and their contributions to all societies.