March 8 — International Women's Day: history and traditions of the holiday

The first month of spring is traditionally associated with International Women's Day, which is celebrated annually on March 8 in Russia and many other countries around the world. The date remains the same from year to year, in 2025 it falls on a Saturday. Izvestia tells about how the holiday appeared, what it is connected with and how the celebrations will be held this year.

International Women's Day in 2025 — what is celebrated on March 8

The history of the holiday is inextricably linked with the women's rights movement, which originated in the 19th century in Europe and North America. This day celebrates the achievements of women regardless of national borders and social differences.

The decision to celebrate was made in 1910 at the International Conference of Socialist Women in Copenhagen at the suggestion of the German activist Clara Zetkin. It was she who proposed to celebrate International Women's Day annually as a celebration of common women's solidarity.

Before the First World War, the date of the celebration was floating. Later, in various countries, including Russia, it began to be celebrated in early spring in memory of the strike of the workers of the weaving mills on March 8, 1857 in New York. At that time, women managed to achieve great changes: universities opened the admission of female students, and women's trade unions began to appear all over the world.

Happy 8th of March: beautiful postcards, congratulations in prose to the teacher, mother, grandmother, colleagues and all women

The first international document that proclaimed equality between men and women was the Charter of the United Nations (UN). It was signed by more than 20 countries in 1945. A few years later, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted, which established that all inhabitants of the planet have equal rights and freedoms, and gender discrimination is unacceptable.

The women themselves made a significant contribution to the formation of the declaration. They insisted on including certain rights as articles of the document. The duties of the chairman of the editorial committee were performed personally by the first lady USA Eleanor Roosevelt.

International Women's Day 2025 is this year's theme

Today, the UN continues to do a lot of work to improve the status of women around the world.

"Achieving gender equality and women's well—being in all areas of life is more important than ever if we want to create a thriving economy and a healthy planet," it says.https://www.un.org/ru/observances/womens-day " target="_blank">on the organization's website.

It emphasizes that women and girls make up half of the world's population, which is equivalent to half of humanity's potential. However, as stated UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, achieving equality, as well as the empowerment of women, is still "an unfinished task and the greatest human rights challenge in the world today."

Every year, the United Nations announces the theme of International Women's Day. In 2025, it sounds like "For all women and girls: rights, equality, and empowerment." The organization calls on Governments around the world to support initiatives that promote equality in society and unlock the potential of young people, including adolescent girls and young women.

International Women's Day on March 8, 2025 — holiday traditions

Initially, International Women's Day was intended for rallies and marches, through which women could open the eyes of society to their problems. Now the holiday has somewhat lost its original meaning and has become just Women's Day, when girls, mothers, grandmothers, wives, girlfriends and female colleagues are congratulated.

Celebrations are widely held all over the world — in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the countries of North and South America. Various seminars and lectures, meetings with famous female politicians, scientists, and representatives of various professions are often timed to coincide with the holiday. Many public venues are also preparing for the event — museums, theaters, exhibition and concert halls.

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Interesting facts about International Women's Day

For many years, mimosa twigs have remained the symbol of the holiday. It is believed that in the USSR, the Deputy People's Commissar of Education Nadezhda Krupskaya introduced the tradition of giving bouquets with them, since at this time of the year only mimosa could be found. Flowers were given in a solemn atmosphere to the leading women of the production.

Previously, on March 8, women were honored only for achievements in their work. International Women's Day became a household holiday in 1966, when it was made a non-working day.

Earlier, Izvestia shared beautiful animations from March 8th.