Inter­na­tion­al Women’s Day

Inter­na­tion­al Women’s Day, also known as Inter­na­tion­al Women’s Day, has been cel­e­brat­ed since 1911. Since then, every year on March 8, world­wide atten­tion is drawn to women’s rights, as well as gen­der equal­i­ty. On this one day of the year, the achieve­ments of the women’s rights move­ment are cel­e­brat­ed, but atten­tion is also drawn to what is still cur­rent: dis­crim­i­na­tion and inequalities.

The mot­to this year is: “Break the Bias”. Under this mot­to, stereo­types and prej­u­dices against women and girls are to be high­light­ed and the con­se­quences of social inequal­i­ty due to cat­e­go­riza­tions are to be made visible. 

Inter­est­ing facts about Inter­na­tion­al Women’s Day

  • In 1975, the Unit­ed Nations offi­cial­ly declared one day a year as Inter­na­tion­al Women’s Day.
  • In a good 20 states, it is even a pub­lic holiday.
  • Ger­many belongs to the small cir­cle of coun­tries in which Inter­na­tion­al Women’s Day was already cel­e­brat­ed in the first years after its intro­duc­tion in 1911.
  • In Ger­many, the day was banned dur­ing Nation­al Social­ism, fell into tem­po­rary obliv­ion in the young Fed­er­al Repub­lic, and was cel­e­brat­ed with state-direct­ed cel­e­bra­tions in the GDR.
  • In Jan­u­ary 1919, Ger­man women could vote and be elect­ed for the first time in history.
  • Even today, there are coun­tries where women’s suf­frage is made dif­fi­cult or with­held. These include Bhutan, Brunei and Sau­di Arabia.
  • Stub­born­ly, four women in the 1948/49 Par­lia­men­tary Coun­cil (Dr. Elis­a­beth Sel­bert, Frie­da Nadig, Helene Weber and Helene Wes­sel — as the “Moth­ers of the Basic Law”) man­aged to get five cru­cial words into the Basic Law:Men and women are equal(Arti­cle 3, para. 2). After long dis­cus­sions, an addi­tion was then made to the equal rights arti­cle in the Basic Law in 1994: Dhe state pro­motes the actu­al imple­men­ta­tion of equal rights for women and men and works towards the elim­i­na­tion of exist­ing dis­ad­van­tages hin.

Source on the facts: www.lpb-bw.de/08-maerz-frauentag

International Women's Day