March 8: Why do we celebrate International Women’s Day?

The most popular version of the origin of International Women’s Day says that the creation of March 8th as a commemorative date it was because of the fire at a clothing factory in New York. However, the story is a little different. Although the fire marked history, it occurred on March 25, 1911.

the sociologist Eva Blayin an article for the magazine “Estudos Femintas”, from the Federal University of Santa Catarina, explains in an article that the origins of International Women’s Day predate the fire.

marches and protests

Women’s Day was first mentioned in 1908, at a march in the United States that took place in February of that year, in which socialist women protested for the right to vote and better conditions of work. The following year, the demonstration brought together more than two thousand people.

In 1910, in Denmark, the II Congress of Socialist Women took place.🇧🇷 During the meeting, Clara Zetkin, professor, activist and journalist focused on feminism and gender equality, suggested the creation of a commemorative date, without a defined day. In 1911, marches with the theme took place in Denmark, Switzerland, Germany and Austria.

The role of the famous fire

At the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th, working conditions were terrible. Among other abuses, it was common for factory owners to lock the doors and hide the clocks so that employees would lose track of time and work harder, and in Triangle Shirtwaist Company it was no different. What was not expected is that during the “working hours” the fire would start.

Reports indicate that there were 600 people on the day, mostly women between the ages of 13 and 23. When the fire started, workers ran to the elevator, doors, windows and terrace, trying to escape, however because the door was locked, many were unable to escape and jumped to their death. Others suffocated from the smoke and fire. A total of 146 people died, 21 men and 125 women.

The commotion was such that on April 5, 100,000 people gathered under the rain to attend the collective funeral of the victims.

Today the site is occupied by the University of New York, which has a plaque out front explaining that “on this site, on March 25, 1911, 146 workers lost their lives in the fire of the Triangle Blouse Company. This martyrdom resulted in new concepts of social responsibility and labor legislation”.

March 8th

Several demonstrations entitled “Women’s Day” were taking place, but it was in Russia, in 1917, that the first march took place on March 8th. Women workers rallied for better working conditions and against Russia’s entry into World War I.

From the 1960s onwards, the date became frequently chosen for protests in favor of gender equality, including in Brazil during the 1964 dictatorship, and gradually became, unofficially, Women’s Day, until 1975 when the UN declared March 8 as International Women’s Day.