International Women's Day 2020: Date, history and why we celebrate the Women's Day

International women's day is just around the corner. The day will be celebrated on March 8 and this year it falls on Sunday. The day celebrates the progress that women have achieved so far socially, economically, culturally and politically. The day also commemorates the rights of women and the struggles they had and have been facing.  

International Women's Day 2020: Date

As mentioned, the day is celebrated every year on March 8. The day is also known as the United Nations (UN) Day for Women's Rights and International Peace.

International Women’s Day 2020: Theme

As per the UN, the theme this year is "I am Generation Equality: Realizing Women’s Rights"

International Women's Day 2020: History

The history of the day is quite unclear, however, as per several reports, the day was first celebrated in New York in 1908. On the day, many women had marched down the streets of New York and demanded their voting rights, working hours and better pay. Next year, a declaration by the Socialist Party of America marked February 28, 1908, as National Woman's Day in the USA for promoting equal rights for women and women’s suffrage.

Later in 1910, a German lady Clara Zaetkin, who was also the leader of the women's office (Social Democratic Party) gave the idea of International Women's Day. In the year 1911, after the Copenhagen initiative, on March 19, for the first time International Women's Day was marked by several nations and more than one million people attended the rallies. In 1913, International Women’s Day was shifted to March 8. The data was selected because as per the Gregorian calendar, the day is a significant day for Russian women.  The day was recognized by the UN in the year 1975 and since then the day has been getting observed with a theme each year. 

International Women's Day 2020: Significance and celebrations 

We know that the celebration of womanhood cannot be confined to just one day, however, to give a right push for the rights related to equality, education, health, and pay parity among others of women and to fight sexism and sexist laws. On this day, events are held in offices, colleges and other educational institutes and gifts are distributed among women.