International Women’s Day: Celebrating 110 years of female empowerment

This year marks the 110th anniversary of the first International Women’s Day. Celebrated each year on 8 March, it was born out of the suffragette movement in the US in 1909 during which women were campaigning for shorter hours, better pay and the right to vote.

The movement was picked up in Europe and the first International Women’s Day was celebrated across Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland in 1910. The power of women banding together to create lasting change was cemented on 8 March 1917, when Russian women launched a strike which ended in the forced abdication of Czar Nicholas II and led to the establishment of a new government which granted women voting rights.

In 1918, women in Ireland were given the right to vote. Not every woman was eligible, however – it only applied to women over 30, those with property or a university education. It would take another four years for the full parliamentary franchise to be granted to women under the provision of the State’s new constitution. Women in Britain would have to wait until 1928, while French women were only granted the right to vote in 1945. International Women’s Day was recognised by the United Nations and proclaimed as the United Nations Day for Women’s Rights and International Peace in December of 1977.

The aspirations of International Women’s Day mirror the fundamental goals of our international programme work around the Right to Be Heard and Advancing Women’s Rights. In Rwanda, for example, we provide training to poor female farmer on their rights, which improves their economic stability and overall community resilience to any potential shocks. In Malawi, our 50:50 Elect Her campaign encourages more women to get involved in what has traditionally been a male-dominated political arena. Having more women in parliament not only brings new voices and perspectives to politics, it gives women across the country an opportunity to air their views, concerns and hopes at a national level.

Closer to home, we are also advocating for women who carry out most of the underpaid and unpaid care work. Women’s influence and decision-making in Ireland is deeply constrained, with under representation at the highest political and business levels leading to the continuation of gender inequality.

Read our submission to the Citizens’ Assembly here