International Women's Day (IWD) can be tracked all the way back to the early 1900's.

Controversy and discontent was occurring amongst women during the early 1900's. Inequality and oppression propelled women to be more vocal and active in the fight for change.

1908- 15 000 women marched through the streets of New York City demanding the right to vote, shorter hours and better pay.

1909- In unison with a declaration by the Socialist Party of America, the very first National Women's Day was celebrated across the United States on February 28. National Women's Day was acknowledged on the last Sunday of February until 1913.

1910- A woman named Clara Zetkin proposed the idea of an International Women's Day at the second International Conference of Working Women. She proposed a day where every year, every country would celebrate on the same day and give women a chance to voice their commands. The conference agreed, and International Women's Day was born. 

1911- International Women's Day was honoured for the first time on March 19. Over one million men and women rallied for women's rights. Only a week later in New York City, the "Triangle Fire" took the lives of more than 140 working women. The tragedy drew mass attention to working conditions and labour legislation. 

1913- International Women's Day was annually marked on March 8.

1975- IWD was celebrated for the first time by the United Nations.

1996- The UN announced their first annual theme for IWD, "Celebrating the past, Planning for the Future"

1997- The theme this year was, "Women at the Peace Table."

1998- "Women and Human Rights" took over the theme in 1988.

1999- This year's theme was, "World Free of Violence Against Women."

2000- Little activity was happening around the world to celebrate IWD. 

2001- The internationalwomensday.com website was launched with intent to bring more focus back to the day. The website offers insight, resources and guidance surrounding IWD. They also determine the theme every year.

2011- Marked 100 years of celebrating International Women's Day. 

2021- the theme this year, "Choose to Challenge," encouraged you to challenge inequality and gender bias not just today but every single day. 

 Women across the globe have witnessed momentous change throughout the century, however there is still a long road ahead. Some younger generations may feel as though the battle has been won, but the truth is it is just the beginning.  With more and more women is positions of power it would be easy to assume the fight has already been fought and won. Yet women are still not paid equally as to that of male co workers. Women are still unequal in numbers to men within politics and business and generally violence against women, education, and health is worse than that of a male. 

Although the road ahead is a long one, we can be proud of how far we have come. We have female doctors and scientists, women have the right to an education and to vote. Women now have more choices than ever before, whether it be a career or a family life. The choice now belongs to each and every woman, with only more choices to come. 

 

 Choose to Challenge- from challenge comes change. 

 Visit https://www.internationalwomensday.com/Activity/15586/The-history-of-IWD for a more in depth timeline of International Women's Day.