International Women’s Day is celebrated all over the world on March 8. The history of celebrating this day began in the early 20th century in North America and Europe.
The first national women’s day was celebrated in the United States on February 28, 1909 in memory of the 1908 textile workers’ strike, when women protested against working conditions.
A year later, in 1910, the Socialist International meeting in Copenhagen decided to establish a women’s day but did not set a specific date. March 8 was not chosen until 1913.
The first International Women’s Day
International Women’s Day was first celebrated in Austria, Switzerland, Denmark and Germany on 19 March 1911. Demonstrations on the day called for a set of rights for women, including the right to work, the right to training, the right to vote, the right to hold public offices and the elimination of discrimination in the workplace.
1975 was declared International Women’s Year and the United Nations celebrated International Women’s Day for the first time on March 8.
To set a clear direction for women’s rights, a declaration was signed by 189 countries at the UN World Conference in Beijing in 1995 as a starting point for every woman to be allowed to reach her full potential.
Since March 2016, Law no. 22/2016 came into force in Romania to declare 8 March as Women’s Day and 19 November as Men’s Day.
Christian Women’s Day
In addition to the International Women’s Day celebrated on March 8, the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church declared the Third Sunday after Easter as Christian Women’s Sunday (Decision No. 4014/22 July 2020).
This initiative to cherish the faith and courage of Christian women highlights the importance of women’s missionary work in the life of the Church and in Romanian society.
Last year, in His Beatitude’s message for Christian Women’s Day, Patriarch Daniel said that, “in the life of the Church, Christian women have followed the will of Christ, just as the Mother of God, the Myrrh-bearing Women, the Holy Nuns, the Venerable Women and all the Holy Women inscribed in the Church’s calendar and honoured by the Church have done”.
Photo credit: Basilica.ro / Raluca-Emanuela Ene
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