International women’s day which can be defined as a cycle of struggle and societal transformation resulted from the relentless efforts of women groups since the nineteenth century. In 1908, critical debates started emerging among women as issues of suppression, inequality and discrimination pushed women to rise up for themselves. Consequently, more than a thousand women marched through New York city to demand shorter working hours, better pay and voting rights. Subsequent to this, the socialist party of America declared that National Women’s Day be celebrated on February 28, and for the first time, this day was observed throughout America.
The advocacy however, did not stop there as more and more women became conscious of their rights and in 1910 A second International Conference of Working Women was held in Copenhagen. A woman named Clara Zetkin (Leader of the ‘Women’s Office’ for the Social Democratic Party in Germany) tabled the idea of an International Women’s Day. She proposed that every year in every country there should be a celebration on the same day – a Women’s Day – to press for their demands. The conference of over 100 women from 17 countries, representing unions, socialist parties, working women’s clubs – and including the first three women elected to the Finnish parliament – greeted Zetkin’s suggestion with unanimous approval and thus International Women’s Day was the result.
After this major event a year earlier, the architects did not want the momentum to fade away, so they decided to organise further engagements. The subsequent year witnessed the celebration of international women’s day
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in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland on 19 March. More than one million women and men attended IWD rallies campaigning for women’s rights to work, vote, be trained, to hold public office and end discrimination. However less than a week later on March 25, the tragic ‘Triangle Fire’ in New York City took the lives of more than 140 working women, most of them Italian and Jewish immigrants. This disastrous event drew significant attention to working conditions and labor legislation in the United States that became a focus of subsequent International Women’s Day events. 1911 also saw women’s Bread and Roses campaign.
Drawing inspiration from these historic events, women decided to use their newly found voices to call for peace at the start of the first world war and Russian women capitalised on this glorious opportunity to call attention to their plight and invigorated their actions with a strike which culminated in the resignation of the Tsar at the time. Still persistent in their demands, the interim government granted them voting rights, a direct consequence of their agitation.
International women’s day was first celebrated by the United Nations in 1975, and in 1977, the day was given official recognition as countries were urged to set aside days for its observation.
The international women movement was immensely boosted by four conferences held by The United Nations which succeeded in kindling the consciences of many as they used the commemoration to rally support for women’s rights as well as political participation. The last decade of the twentieth century was a watershed moment for the women’s movement as the United Nations announced its first theme [celebrating the past, planning for the future] to mark the event. From then, different themes have been used to remember this day.
Everything seemed to be going well until the turn of the twentieth century when the effervescence for the international women’s day seemed to have waned prompting devotees to rally around the world in a desperate attempt to rescue this event.
This was particularly crucial because many battles were yet to be won and gender parity was still miles away. The efforts of these individuals paid off as they managed to call attention to the need to reignite the momentum and carry on with the campaign for women rights.
Sadly, it seems the enthusiasm surrounding the women’s day celebration is once again dying out and something urgent needs to be done to redeem the situation. According to a recent survey in 2014 almost 75% of women did not mark or celebrate the day and only 4.4% of Norwegian women declared that they were planning to attend the 8 March demonstrations in Norway. Furthermore, 29% of women stated that they gave “a little” attention to this day, however 50% of women in Norway declared that they show “less than little” attention to mark International Women’s Day
This is very worrying as there still remain mammoth challenges in the quest to attain equality. Women are still not adequately represented in political spaces and economic barriers still hinder the autonomy of women. A recent report published by the United Nations shows a mixed picture. The report asserts that significant progress has been made on gender equality and women empowerment. This ranges from banning discrimination in employment to adopting gender responsive climate policies. It further indicated that innovation was accelerating progress and that new opportunities were opening up to scale up proven strategies. However, the report acknowledged that gender inequality still remained deeply entrenched in all economies and all societies. This canker, the report noted was still militating against the hopes and rights of women and girls in our world. Another report from the same organisation which focused solely on adolescent girls painted an even gloomier picture. This report reviewed the progress so far thirty years after the Beijing platform for action in 1995. According to this report, “Since 1995, more girls are in school than ever before, with significant gains in primary and secondary education enrolment. Global child marriage rates have declined, and adolescent pregnancy has decreased in many regions due to expanded access to reproductive health services. Legal protections against gender-based violence have strengthened, and digital technology has provided girls with new platforms for advocacy and economic opportunities.
However, progress is uneven. Girls in conflict zones, marginalized communities, and those living in poverty still face significant barriers to education, healthcare, and economic empowerment. The climate crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic have exacerbated inequalities, increasing school dropout rates and vulnerability to gender-based violence. Moreover, while digital access has created opportunities, it has also introduced new threats, including online harassment and exploitation.” [United nations, 2025]. The report went on to suggest what should be done going forward in order to eliminate the remaining barriers. It called for a renewed commitment to policies which dismantled barriers while promoting the leadership of adolescent girls and ensuring their voices are head. Investments in multisectoral projects which bother on a range of outcomes should also be scaled up. The report concludes with a clarion call to us all. “It says, achieving gender equality requires ensuring that every girl—regardless of background—has the tools, rights, and opportunities to thrive in the next 30 years and beyond.” [United nations, 2025].
More than a century after the first celebration of international women’s day, there are those who surmise that the major battles have been won and so they have lowered their interest in this all-important occasion. This is however, a comforting delusion as nearly all the problems that provoked this movement still persist in our current world. In most countries including ours, women are poorly represented in the decision-making process and even those who find themselves in those areas are not heard because they are too few to make any difference. In His last state of the nation address, the president indicated that about 23.2% of his appointees are women, a figure which woefully falls short of the 30% recommended by international organizations. Even in this instance, most of these were appointed and not elected. This implies that the space has still been narrowed for women and they struggle to win political positions through the ballot box. Most devotees of women’s rights understand very well that the battle for equality is far from being won and so the urgent need to keep women’s affairs persistently at the front burner.
Women still face discrimination in employment and pay disparraties still persists. A study carried out in Norway showed that there was a decline in women participation in the private sector from 38% to 36.3% between the latter part of the twentieth century and the early part of the twenty-first century. This was mainly due to unfavorable working conditions for nursing mothers among others.
Women all over the world still fall victims to gender based violence mainly at the hands of their spouses or mates. A united nations report showed in 2021 that one in three women across the world have experienced some form of violence and for Africa, the report showed that half of all women have been abused. Cases of femicide are on the rise all over the world and we in Ghana have recorded not less than two cases in the last three weeks. In France, 134 women were killed last year and 101 women were killed in Italy. In Kenya, about a hundred women were killed between August and October last year and this included the Uganda marathon runner Rebecca Cheptege who’s estranged boy-friend pored petrol on her and set her alight. These data, drawn from reports and discussions on television remind us of the need to keep propagating the need to attain equality and end violence.
We each have a role to play in accelerating the action for gender equality and a violence free society. Women and girls must not feel insecure because some people have decided to create such hostile environments. They should be allowed to determine their own future without any interference from anyone.
Having said this, women themselves should take advantage of this excellent occasion to sensitize young girls to change their thinking as most girls, if not all, are still raised with patriarchal mindsets. Young girls should be told to stand up for themselves and be bold enough to report inappropriate behavior from their male counterparts to the right authorities. What happened in France should never happen again. It is unimaginable for a surgeon to take advantage of young patients who visit him for medical attention. What is even heart-wrenching is the ages of the children involved. Married women must be made to understand that they have the right to opt out when the relationship becomes toxic. They should not allow themselves to be killed.
Women should also stop asking for spaces to be created for them as this attitude further emasculates their standing in society. They should be ready and willing to compete fairly with men for all positions. Doing this will remind men that they are not the only capable people and that women have moved away from asking to be seen to asserting themselves. The annual women’s day activities should not be trivialized by mere statements and lamentations, it should be used to raise awareness about the situations of young girls and women. Also, it should be used to enlighten women on the need to be conscious of their rights. Women must make it clear to all who look down on them that they are partners and not subordinates. Gender equality cannot and will not be achieved with legislations and treaties, it requires the victims to rise up and demand their due. God created all of us and He did not sanction exploitation of the other. While the battle will be long and bitter, it is a winnable one. We need to change the ways of doing things. As Albert Einstein puts it, “we cannot solve our problems with the same level of thinking that produced them.” Something has to be done and done now if we are to achieve gender equality. No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.
BY ELIAS KODELOGO.
