March 8th is International Women’s Day. IWD was first observed on February 28th, 1909 in the US, after a declaration by the Socialist Party of America. Towards the end of WWI, women across Europe held peace rallies on March 8, 1913. Then, following the Russian October Revolution (second part of the February Revolution) in 1917, Bolshevik feminist Alexandra Kollontai convinced Lenin to make March 8th an official holiday, although it remained a working day until 1965. The United Nations gave official sanction/sponsorship to IWD in 1975. While in 2005, the British Trades Union Congress overwhelmingly approved the designation of the day as a public holiday in the UK. IWD is still celebrated in much of Europe, India and Mexico. The image is this year’s official IWD logo, which kind of looks like something you might see after you’ve been thrown down a well.
