International Women's Day is celebrated all over the world, more than 100 years ago. Many women receive flowers and wishes that they have a "happy day". Not many know that the origins of commemoration, in reality, are not romantic, but political and social.
In 1910, the Socialist International, meeting in Copenhagen, proclaimed International Women's Day. It was a tribute to the movement in favor of the rights of women and to help achieve universal women's suffrage, according to the United Nations Organization.
Between 1913 and 1914, Russian women celebrated their first International Women's Day on the last Sunday of February 1913 within the framework of the peace movements that emerged on the eve of the First World War.
In the rest of Europe, women held rallies around March 8 of the following year to protest the war or to show solidarity with the rest of the women.
In 1917, in reaction to the 2 million Russian soldiers killed in the war, Russian women chose again on the last Sunday of February to strike for "bread and peace." The political leaders criticized the strike opportunity, but the women did it anyway. Four days later the Tsar was forced to abdicate and the provisional government granted women the right to vote. That historic Sunday was on February 23, according to the Julian calendar then used in Russia, or on March 8, according to the Gregorian calendar used in other countries.
Since then, International Women's Day is celebrated on March 8.
