International Women’s Day has a long, rich history that started as a protest and day of activism. The earliest version was a “Women’s Day” organized in New York City on February 28, 1909, where women demanded the right to vote and to hold public office.
On March 19, 1911, the first ‘International’ Women’s Day was marked by over a million people in Austria, Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland. In Austria-Hungary alone, there were 300 demonstrations demanding attention to women’s suffrage.
The holiday was associated with left movements and governments until its adoption by the United Nations and global feminist movement in the late 1960s.
So remember this as we celebrate International Women’s Day in 2023. While corporations hold morning teas and use hashtags, the fight for basic needs like raising Jobseeker, closing the gender pay gap, free childcare and fair paid parental leave still continues.
The Greens are committed to fighting for action plans to end domestic violence, fairer paid parental leave, affordable housing and lifting income support so that older women, single mothers, women on income support and all women have access to the things they need to lift a good life.
Photo 1: Women marching at the Women’s Strike for Equality, New York 1970
Photo 2: Members of the NSW Builders Labourers Federation march on IWD, 1975
Photo 3: Women’s demonstration for bread and peace, Petrograd, Russia, 1917
Photo 4: German poster for International Women’s Day, March 8, 1914. This poster was banned in Germany.
Photo 5: Poster for Women’s Day March in London, 1975
