International Women's Day, Starting With The Labor Movement For The Fulfillment Of Rights

Illustration. (Photo: Unsplash)

JAKARTA - Every March 8, women around the world celebrate International Women's Day. Women celebrate social, economic, cultural and political achievements.

International Women's Day is also a reminder for women if they have strength and that their fellow women can support each other.

The future is equal! Join #GenerationEquality and let's mobilize to make this fortune-telling come true. # IWD2020 pic.twitter.com/6M5sx4WrJ0

- UN Women (@UN_Women) March 8, 2020

International Women's Day grew from a labor movement into an annual event recognized by the United Nations. It dates back to 1908, when 15,000 women in New York, United States, demanded more humane working hours, better wages, and the right to vote.

A year later, the Socialist Party of America declared National Women's Day for the first time.

The idea to make women's day an international day came from a woman named Clara Zetkin. She suggested the idea in 1910 at the International Conference on Women Workers in Copenhagen.

There were 100 women from 17 countries in attendance and they unanimously agreed to his suggestion. Following the decision agreed upon in Copenhagen, International Women's Day was celebrated on a massive scale for the first time in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland on 19 March 1911.

More than one million women and men attended the campaign to celebrate the day. They campaign for women's rights to work, vote, be trained, to hold public office, and end discrimination.

But less than a week later on March 25, the events of the tragic 'Fire Triangle' in New York claimed the lives of more than 140 working women, most of them Italian and Jewish immigrants.

This catastrophic event drew significant attention to the work environment and labor law in the United States which became the focus of the following year's International Women's Day events.

International Women's Day is an official commemoration when the UN also enlivens the day. The first theme adopted by the United Nations was 'Celebrating the Past, Planning for the Future', in 1998 with the theme 'Women and Human Rights', and in 1999 with 'A World Free of Violence Against Women', and so on every year.

For International Women's Day 2020, the theme echoed was 'Earth for Equal' or equality. This theme calls on the world community to work together to create a world that has gender equality.

In addition, according to the International Women's Day website, purple is the color that signifies the celebration of women's day. This is because purple is the color symbolizing women.

Historically the combination of purple, green and white symbolized women's equality in the Women's Social and Political Union in England in 1908. Purple signifies justice and dignity. Green symbolizes hope. White represents purity, but is no longer used because 'purity' is considered a controversial concept.

International Women's Day is a national holiday in many countries, including Russia, where sales of flowers double over the three or four days leading up to March 8.

Meanwhile in Italy, International Women's Day or la Festa della Donna is celebrated by giving the mimosa blossom. The origin of the mimosa-giving tradition is unclear but is believed to have started in Rome after World War II.