Women’s Day 2025: Who Founded International Women’s Day?

International Women’s Day, celebrated every year on March 8, is a special occasion set aside for recognizing the achievements of women and the advocacy for gender equality. This event is a global reflection on women’s struggles and the advancement achieved in various ways and encourages people around the world to support women’s rights and work towards a more equitable society. Do you know who was the first to propose this important day?

The Founder of International Women’s Day

Clara Zetkin, the German activist who founded the International Women’s Day in 1910, fought all her life to promote women’s rights worthy of equal pay and voting rights. March 8 should therefore become the day every year to demand gender equality in her proposal. The very first International Women’s Day was celebrated in 1911 in various countries like Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Today, it is celebrated all over the world as a day to recognize women’s accomplishments and their struggle for equal rights.

Clara Zetkin was born on July 5, 1857, in a small German village. From a family of learned folk—her father was a teacher, and her mother was educated-Zetkin did higher studies in Leipzig where her interest was caught by socialist ideas and the fight for workers’ rights.

Political Career and Exile

In its earlier time, Germany had all the strict laws against socialist activities. To escape arrest, Zetkin fled to Switzerland and later on to France, where she worked as a journalist and became actively engaged in the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). Later, she married a Russian Marxist named Ossip Zetkin and took his surname.

Clara Zetkin was a tireless champion for equality for women. She fought for women’s rights to vote, to labor, and to receive equal wages. She criticized high-class feminism, which she saw as being primarily concerned with the problems of affluent women. Working-class women deserved legal protection and economic opportunities, she argued.

For 25 years, she edited a women’s newspaper called “Die Gleichheit” (Equality). In 1907, she became a leader of the SPD Women’s Office and continued her struggle for women’s rights.

The Birth of International Women’s Day

In 1910, Clara Zetkin proposed the idea of International Women’s Day at a meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark. She suggested that women across the world should come together every year on March 8 to demand their rights. This idea was widely accepted, and the first official International Women’s Day was celebrated in 1911 in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

Opposition to War and Communism

Clara Zetkin was not only a feminist but also a strong opponent of war. During World War I, she encouraged workers to unite instead of fighting against each other. She was arrested multiple times for her anti-war speeches and writings.

Later, she joined the Communist Party of Germany and became a member of the Reichstag (German Parliament) from 1920 to 1933. She remained a vocal advocate for women’s rights and workers’ rights throughout her political career.

Legacy of Clara Zetkin

As the Nazi Party ascended to power in Germany, Clara Zetkin was forced to leave the country in order that she might be safe. She would spend her final years in Russia where she would die an activist in death. She died on June 20, 1933, at the age of seventy-five.

Clara Zetkin is remembered through the eons for having devoted her life to women’s rights and social justice. Through her dedication, International Women’s Day has become a worldwide event celebrating gender equality and women’s empowerment. Thus, her legacy will continue among activists and feminists that continue to strive for today a better, more equal world.