International Women’s Day was last week and while me and my closest girlfriends were congratulating each other on this tremendous occasion that celebrates womanhood, I could not help but notice how differently this holiday is celebrated in different countries and across history.
As someone who was born and spent part of her childhood in Eastern Europe, International Women’s Day isn’t quite like it is in the US. In America, we are constantly lauding the trail-blazers, scientists, politicians and “girl-bosses” that have made broad changes to society, science and the arts. Instagram is full of reels that remind us of the women whose achievements have not been as publicized and whose breakthroughs have had an impact on us. In fact, the most recent reel that I saw on Instagram was all about what life would be like without the inventions that women have contributed to the world. And while I agree that these should be celebrated, this is not exactly what International Women’s Day meant to me growing up.
In Eastern Europe, Women’s Day is simply about celebrating the ordinary (but to us, extraordinary) women that have impacted us. Flowers are randomly handed out to women on the streets with shouts and cheers of “Happy International Women’s Day,” and everyone reaches out to their closest female friends and relatives to remind them that they have made an impact on who they are. I remember one of my friends and some of the other boys from his class rented out a limousine, bought snacks and drinks and drove the girls from his class around the city as a surprise celebration for International Women’s Day. There was even a reel I saw recently that showed the streets and subways of Moscow filled with men and women carrying bouquets of flowers — either ones they were going to give or had received. Women’s Day in many different countries is not necessarily just about the achievements of women, but about the individual women in our lives: our moms who make us dinner and help us with homework, our grandmothers who spoil us with sweets and our teachers who ensure we learn.
In many countries Women’s Day has more than one aspect. One of my friends from Turkey noted that back home, while the holiday is similarly celebrated with regular women receiving flowers everywhere on the streets from random people, it is also a reminder of the lack of rights women have, and the fight for their safety and independence. Each year since 2003, women from across Turkey gather in what is known as the “Women’s Day March” to protest women-targeted violence. In 2021, President Erdogan of Turkey withdrew the country from the Istanbul Convention, a European treaty that was created to prevent gender-based violence and ensure victim protection. This move has made the March and the fight for women’s rights even more critical. The “Women’s March” brings girls and women of all ages together to protest this and other judicial decisions.
While the various meanings allocated to “International Women’s Day” that we see today in different countries is interesting, we cannot forget the origins of the holiday itself. The origins of March 8 being the date for International Women’s Day comes from the Soviet Union, which lauded the holiday as a celebration of the role of the women that participated in the Russian Revolution. On March 8, 1917 (or Feb. 23 via the Julian calendar), there was an enormous strike of female textile workers in St. Petersburg. This ended in the workers eventually demanding “bread and peace,” a plea to the imperial regime to put an end to the food shortages and military operations in World War I. This was the spark that turned into the February Revolution, which helped to overthrow the Imperial government in Russia. International Women’s Day only became popular abroad after the UN began to promote it in the late 1970s, which is how it spread to America and beyond.
For a holiday that is barely 100 years old, there certainly have been many meanings attached to March 8. It was once a celebration of revolutionaries that helped to collapse an empire and build a new regime. It celebrates the domesticity and familial duties of women, as well as the trail-blazing efforts of many who have spent years unrecognized for their work. It also celebrates a continued fight around the world to give women rights where they do not have them.
Lusine Boyadzhyan is a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences. She can be reached at lboyadzhyan@cornellsun.com.
