The origin and historical significance of International Women's Day

The full name of International Women's Day is "United Nations Women's Rights and International Peace Day", and in China it is also known as "International Working Women's Day", "March 8 Festival" and "March 8 Women's Day". It is a holiday established on March 8 every year to celebrate the important contributions and achievements of women in the economic, political and social fields. It also commemorates the more than 140 female workers who died in the 1911 Triangle factory fire in New York, USA.

China began to commemorate the March 8th Festival in 1922. The first mass commemoration of the "March Eighth" Festival by Chinese women was held in Guangzhou in 1924.  

The commemoration of the International Women's Day in Guangzhou in 1924 not only became the first public commemoration of the March 8th in China, but also became an important field for the united front of the women's movement in which the Kuomintang and the Communist Party cooperated.

On the morning of March 8, 1924, China's first public commemoration of International Women's Day was held in Guangzhou, with more than 2,000 women from all walks of life in Guangzhou participating. He Xiangning presided over the meeting and delivered a speech, introducing the origin of the "March 8" Women's Day and the significance of commemoration, describing the various sufferings suffered by the vast number of women under the oppression of imperialism and feudalism, and encouraging women to resolutely take the road of "overthrowing feudalism, overthrowing imperialism and women's self-emancipation." ”

He Xiangning advocated and personally organized the activities of women from all walks of life in Guangzhou to commemorate the "March 8" International Women's Day, which also has a very important position in the history of the Chinese women's movement, "not only won the right for Chinese women to celebrate their own festival for the first time, but also embodied the great alliance of revolutionary women's forces, and became a symbol of the formation of a women's united front between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party during the first period of cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party." "A new era has been opened in the history of the Chinese women's movement." Its slogans and demands reflect the strong aspirations of women and inspire them to struggle for their own emancipation.

In December 1949, the Administrative Council of the Central People's Government (the predecessor of the State Council) designated March 8 as Women's Day every year.

3.8 International Women's Day is a holiday for women all over the world. This day is recognized by the United Nations and is also recognized as an official holiday in many countries. Women from all over the world, despite being distinguished by different borders, races, languages, cultures, economies and politics, are able to celebrate their own festival at the same time. Let us look back at the struggle for equality, justice, peace and development 90 years ago.

International Women's Day is a testimony to the history of women, who have a long road to fight for equality with men. Lysistrata of ancient Greece led the women's struggle to stop the war; During the French Revolution, Parisian women chanted "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity" and took to the streets of Versailles to fight for the right to vote.

On this day, women from all continents of the world, regardless of nationality, race, language, culture, economy and politics, share their concern for women's human rights. In recent decades, the international women's movement has been strengthened by four global conferences of the United Nations, and as the international women's movement has grown, Women's Day has gained global significance. These developments make International Women's Day a day of solidarity and concerted efforts to demand the restitution of women's rights and their right to participate in political, economic and social life.