Russia — Liza Hadiz

International Women’s Day 2025: Looking Back Over a Century Ago

March 8, 2025

The theme of International Women’s Day (IWD) for March 8th, 2025 is “Accelerate Action for Gender Equality”. How can this be achieved? The IWD website highlights several key areas for action to accelerate gender equality. One important area is economic empowerment for women, and another is legal and policy reform. These areas are interconnected through labor rights, reproductive rights, and unpaid care work, among other issues. Looking back over a century ago, it was these same issues that prompted the need for an international day dedicated to women.

Key milestones in the history of the establishment of International Women’s Day (IWD) include the alleged all-women garment workers' strike in New York City on March 8th, 1857, which addressed demands for shorter working hours, better working conditions, and equal pay. Another significant event occurred on March 8th, 1908, when women workers in the needle trades marched through New York City. Although the historical validity of these two New York events in connection to IWD remains questionable, they continue to be cited in some narratives.

What can be validated is that in 1909, the Socialist Party of America organized the first National Women’s Day on February 28th. A year later, the idea of an International Women’s Day was proposed by Clara Zetkin at the Second International Socialist Women's Congress. Subsequently, the first IWD was observed on March 19th, 1911, in Austria, Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland. In 1921, Zetkin proposed that March 8th be the official date of IWD to commemorate the Petrograd women workers' strike on that day in 1917, an event marking the beginning of the Russian Revolution.

Zetkin, a renowned German socialist of the 20th century—often referred to as the mother of International Women’s Day—was not only a staunch advocate for women’s labor rights, but also recognized that women’s oppression was deeply connected to motherhood and unpaid domestic labor. Zetkin argued that the sexual division of labor, including women’s reproductive roles and domestic responsibilities, is a key source of inequality in the home, which, in turn, limited women’s full labor participation and hindered their full emancipation.

Zetkin advocated for child-rearing practices that are free from gender roles, emphasizing the importance of teaching domestic responsibilities to both boys and girls. She believed that raising and educating children should be the shared responsibility of both parents, not solely the mother's role. To enable both parents to participate fully in public life, Zetkin called for state intervention in domestic life, such as the provision of state-supported daycare.

Throughout history, IWD celebrations have spotlighted critical issues, including labor protections (such as equal pay for equal work, labor protection laws, and minimum wage standards); women’s political rights (the right to vote); equal access to education; and women's reproductive rights and protections for mothers and children (e.g., maternity leave and healthcare). Today, according to IWD 2025, accelerating gender equality includes promoting women’s economic empowerment through paid maternity and paternity leave, improved access to financial services for women, and the recognition, redistribution, and reduction of women’s unpaid care work. This includes advocating for flexible work policies and childcare support.

So here we are today with many of the same issues as a century ago.

In terms of policy reforms, there have been successes; however, the outcomes remain insufficient.

For example, Sweden is a pioneer in parental leave, introducing state-mandatory paternity leave as early as 1974. Decades of government initiatives in Sweden have narrowed gender inequality in the workplace, increased gender equality in childcare at home, and established Sweden as one of the world’s most egalitarian countries. Nevertheless, statistics reveal that women still perform a larger proportion of unpaid care work. In Sweden, women spend about 3.7 hours on unpaid care work (including housework), while men spend around 2.9 hours (OECD Stats, 2023).

Furthermore, while these policy reforms have advanced gender equality, they have not adequately addressed protection against gender-based violence.

Iceland, for example, has closed more than 90% of its gender gap through significant reforms in health, education, political empowerment, economic participation, and other sectors, earning its reputation as one of the safest countries in the world. Ironically, women are not safe inside the home. Data from 2023 reveals a concerning rise in domestic violence in Iceland over recent years (Statista, 2024). In fact, the country’s rate of gender-based violence surpasses the European Union (EU) average.

The IWD 2025 website highlights combating gender-based violence as a step toward accelerating gender equality. Ironically, the reality remains that even important advancements in gender equality have often fallen short of ensuring a safe environment for women.

While celebrating achievements and milestones is undoubtedly important, we also need to dedicate more time to reflecting on what is still not working. It’s discouraging that, over a century since the inception of International Women’s Day, we are still struggling with many of the same issues. Women have come a long way, but at times, we have been running in place. Unfortunately, this condition has been exacerbated in recent years by political changes that have created more challenges for gender equality.

-Some Thoughts from the Cappuccino Girl- (2025)

Updated on March 10th, 2025 to include explanation of key milestones

You might be interested to read: Remembering Rosa on May Day

Visit my other blog: https://feministpassion.blogspot.com/

#women #history #socialism #Germany #Russia #US

Image: Statute of Clara Zetkin in Leipzig (via Pinterest)

Sources:

Amnesty International (2009) Women make history. https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2009/02/mujeres-hacen-historia-20090227/ [7 March 2025].

BBC News (2024) Is Iceland the best place in the world to be a woman? https://youtu.be/h_y4xMOKWUM?si=Ehja0Pb25tikVKRs [21 December 2024].

Encyclopedia Britannica (n.d.) Why Is Women’s History Month Celebrated in March? https://www.britannica.com/story/why-is-womens-history-month-celebrated-in-march [8 March 2025].

International Women's Day (2025) What are some key ways to ACCELERATE ACTION for gender equality? https://www.internationalwomensday.com/Missions/20724/key-ways-to-ACCELERATE-ACTION [7 March 2025].

Johannes Kepler Universität Linz (n.d.) The History Behind March 8. JKU. https://www.jku.at/en/department-for-equality-equitable-opportunities-and-diversity/gender-diversity-management-unit/the-advancement-of-women-at-the-jku/march-8-international-womens-day/a-history-of-the-advancement-of-women/ [8 March 2025].

OECD Stats (2023) Time spent in paid and unpaid work, by sex. stats.oecd.org [18 December 2023].

Statista (2024) Number of domestic conflicts and violence in Iceland from 2015 to 2023. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1463279/number-of-domestic-violence-cases-in-iceland/ [22 December 2024].

The Hindu (2025) ‘International Women’s Day: when women marched for Bread and Roses.’ https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/international-womens-day-2025-history-of-womens-day-when-women-marched-for-bread-and-roses/article69302167.ece [8 March 2025].

The Fallen Czar

September 25, 2021

It took an incompetent ruler, a foreign queen, a mystical healer, and a starving nation to bring the fall of a three-hundred-year empire. The last Czar, Nicholas II, with his wife, Alexandra, and their children—Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia, and Alexei—were executed in July 1918.

The Russian power couple, Nicholas II and Alexandra, were one of the very few royals who married because of love. One historian described them as the only royal couple of their time to have shared a bed. Along with their five children, they were also one of the most photographed and filmed royals. Not only did they hire someone specifically for this purpose, but photography was a favorite pass time of the Czar’s. Some of the pictures, which are still available today, were taken by the last Czar of Russia himself.

The starvation of the masses and the devastation of wars lost led to a series of events that pivotally contributed to the fall of the Russian empire. One which always sparked interest was the event that began the Romanov’s special relationship with the Serbian peasant and mystical traditional healer turned holy man, Grigori Rasputin. It all started one night when the Czar’s only son, Alexei, suffering from hemophilia finally stopped bleeding after a visit from Rasputin. Politics in early modern Russia would never be the same again. Rasputin instantly became the Czar’s and especially the Czarina’s confidant; not only on issues which concerned their son’s health but also on how to run the country.

The peasant man was fortunate to have landed on the doorsteps of the royal palace, which in turn, helped him climb the social ladder and into the beds of women of the Russian elite circle. Rasputin—who believed that to achieve a higher spiritual level, one must sin—was legendary for his notorious sex life and exceptional sexual appetite.

Rasputin’s reputation with elite Russian women and his closeness with the Czar’s family led to speculations about Czarina Alexandra’s relationship with Rasputin. Rumors were fueled by the leak of affectionate letters she had written to him. The Czarina certainly held Rasputin close to her heart, but never between her legs, as historians have assured us. However, much like what happened to Marie Antoinette, the alleged sexual relationship was used against the foreign German-born and English-raised Czarina who was also the granddaughter of Queen Victoria, to justify the people’s discontent with their rulers and the nobles’ hatred of Rasputin.

It is somewhat hard to tell fact from myth when it concerns Rasputin as there is so much legend surrounding the man. Such an example is the legend surrounding his assassination in 1916 by the Russian nobles. The strong mystical man allegedly did not succumb to the poison in his wine, so the assassinators had to shoot him until he finally collapsed and died. In real life, the autopsy revealed he was not poisoned.

A year later, the Czar and his family were under Bolshevik house arrest and moved to different places until the fateful night of their execution on July 17, 1918, inside the basement of the Ipatiev House in Yekaterinburg. There are many accounts of the life they lived during the time of their house arrest, including those revealed from the girls’ journals and letters, as well as from witnesses. In the earlier time of the family’s house arrest, the young male guards and the Romanov girls in fact were in friendly terms with each other. Maria, the Czar’s third daughter, was said to have had a thing with one of the boys. The boy who had a crush on Maria gave her a cake on her 19th birthday. He was removed and allegedly the other guards were immediately replaced by hardline Bolshevik guards.

The story of the Romanovs tends to end with the climax of their execution, the infamous execution that went all wrong. To the surprise of the firing squad, the children did not die of the shots fired at their bodies. Thus, other violent methods were employed, turning the execution into a blood bath.

Only later when disposing the bodies, the men understood why the children survived the initial shots. Jewels were sewn into their undergarments. Journals left by the children revealed that the girls had done this with aim of saving the Romanov’s jewels, but unintentionally the jewels had shielded them from the Bolsheviks’ bullets.

Actually, the execution was followed by another scenario gone wrong: the Bolshevik’s ill-prepared attempt to dispose of the bodies. The executors were drunk and brought only one shovel (yes, one!), and their truck broke down. Sounds like a joke, but nonetheless, a fact which is part of a history that wouldn’t be revealed until decades later.

-Some Thoughts from the Cappuccino Girl- (2021)

#Romanovs #Russia #history

I've also written a post on the Romanovs on Blogspot: https://feministpassion.blogspot.com/2018/08/in-name-of-revolutionary-justice.html