The first known National Woman's Day was held in NYC, organized by the Socialist Party of America. It was organized by the Socialist Party of America at the suggestion of activist Theresa Malkiel. Charlotte Perkins Gilman addressed a crowd in New York City, proclaiming: "It is true that a woman's duty is centered in her home and motherhood but home should mean the whole country and not be confined to three or four rooms of a city or a state."
In 1910, Clara Zetkin and others proposed an annual "Women's Day" at the International Socialist Women's Conference in Copenhagen. The first official IWD was marked on March 19, 1911, with mass demonstrations in Austria-Hungary, Germany, Denmark, and Switzerland. It gained political significance when Lenin designated March 8 as the official date in 1922 to honor women’s role in the 1917 Russian Revolution. The United Nations adopted and promoted IWD in 1977, aligning it with global themes such as gender equality, reproductive rights, and ending violence against women. Today, IWD is a public holiday in several countries and serves as both a celebration and a call to action for women's rights.
