Women’s Day is celebrated around the world on March 8. On this date, there is a tendency to give flowers to women. Naturally, there is nothing wrong with this. However, this day is not an excuse to receivecolorful bouquets, but rather a reminder of women’s struggles throughout history.
Here, we have already highlighted someillustriousPortuguese women whose journeys deserve to be celebrated. However, in this article, the goal is different: we want to explain theorigins of Women’s Day,taking abrief look at history.Shall we ‘discover’ some interesting facts?
The beginnings of labor struggles
The 20th century was fundamental to the fight for gender equality. However, we cannot fail to mention the relevance of the 19th century, at a time when the Industrial Revolution was completely changing the face of the modern world.
On the other side of the Atlantic, in the United States of America (USA), there were several episodes of protests by courageous women who demanded shorter working hours and equal rights to men. In this context, New York City was one of the main epicenters.
Inspired by previous movements, in 1908, a group of New York women workers went on strike, demanding an end to child labor and the right to vote. Soon after, more specifically a year later, the US established National Women’s Day on February 28.
The revolution of Russian female workers
It is said that March 8 was chosen because on this day in 1917, Russian women workers took to the streets, raising their voices for better living conditions.
In total, more than 90,000 female workers marched in the demonstration that became known as “Bread and Peace” at the beginning of the revolution.
Creation of International Women’s Day by the UN
The struggle and spirit of resilience throughout history led the United Nations (UN) to designate March 8 as International Women’s Day in 1975.
According to the Jacques Delors European Information Center, the date was only officially recognized in December 1977 by the UN General Assembly through Resolution 32/142.
A look at Portugal
As in other countries, women in Portugal have had to come a long way. This is especially true if we consider the role of women, particularly during the Estado Novo regime. In the 1930s, women could only work with their husband’s prior authorization.
In the 1960s, women achieved the right to vote. However, this scenario excluded all those who were illiterate, which at that time was the majority.
With the April Revolution of 1974, greater equality for all in the eyes of the law was achieved. Alongside all this, we would like to make another important point, given that, since 2007, abortion has been legal in Portugal up to ten weeks.
