Posts Tagged ‘Internaional Women's Day’

8 March: International Women’s Day

Monday, March 8th, 2021

2002: Global Women’s Strike

March 8th is celebrated in many countries around the world as International Women’s Day and is a national holiday in over 25, particularly across the former USSR, as it has its early roots in a 1909 National Woman’s Day organised in New York by the Socialist Party of America and was then taken up by socialist women in Europe, where there were widespread International Women’s Day protests on March 19, 2011.

2003: Global Womens Strike

The date of March 8th was set in Germany in 1914, and adopted since then in most countries.

2004: Global Women’s Strike

It was officially adopted by the Soviet Union after the 1917 revolution and spread to other communist countries including China, continuing as a largely communist festival until it was adopted in the late 1960s by feminists campaigning for equal rights and opportunities and an end to violence against women.

2008: Million Women Rise: International Women’s Day March

In 1975 the UN proclaimed March 8th as the UN Day for women’s rights and world peace, and since then we have seen both left wing protests and more corporate celebrations and events taking place on the day.

2011: 100 Years of International Women’s Day
2012: Women on the Bridge: International Womens Day

Since March 8th is not a holiday in the UK, some Interternational Women’s Day events take place on the nearest weekend rather than on the day itself.

2014: Million Women Rise March
2016: Set Her Free – International Women’s Day
2017: International Women’s Strike
2018: London Women’s Strike

I’ve photographed many of these events over the years, sometimes several on the same day, though I’ve only used a picture from one event in this post.

2019: Women’s Strike Red Feminist March

Recent years have seen an increase – until today – in the size and militancy of the protests on International Women’s Day, particularly with the emergence of the Women’s Strike Assembly which organises against racist agendas and far-right attempts to foment racism, and organises exploited migrant workers in the service industries.

2020: International Women’s Day block Oxford St

All of the pictures in this post were taken on March 8th and come from a variety of events over the years. All and many more are on ‘My London Diary’.


All photographs on this and my other sites, unless otherwise stated, are taken by and copyright of Peter Marshall, and are available for reproduction or can be bought as prints.