I suspect I'm the friend who reminded you of Clara Zetkin, a fervent campaigner for women’s rights and universal suffrage. She represented the German Communist Party in the Reichstag from 1920 to 1933, and opened the 1932 parliamentary session with a 40-minute attack on Adolf Hitler.
(As I include this information with the poem I email every year to friends on International Women's Day.)
I've seen various posts decrying the celebration of women on this one day of the year. But I think it's still important to mark it.
Only one year after IWD was first proposed in 1910, the Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire broke out in New York on Saturday, March 25, 1911. Within half an hour, 146 of the 500 workers—mostly young women—were dead. Many of them had jumped to their deaths because factory owners had locked the fire escape exit doors.
The next morning, throughout New York’s garment district, more than 15,000 shirtwaist makers walked out. They demanded a 20-percent pay raise, a 52-hour workweek and extra pay for overtime. (See https://aflcio.org/about/history/labor-history-events/triangle-shirtwaist-fire). Their struggle eventually led to the enactment of numerous laws covering fire safety, factory inspections and sanitation and employment rules for women and children.
If we understand and honor the struggle of these brave women, I think that we can also (deservedly) celebrate International Women's Day. For sure, things are bad now. But we can also be inspired by women in previous centuries who fought for and gained vital and important rights for women AND men - and this at a time when women didn't have the vote in almost all countries. (An exception was Australia.)
Hi Alona,
I suspect I'm the friend who reminded you of Clara Zetkin, a fervent campaigner for women’s rights and universal suffrage. She represented the German Communist Party in the Reichstag from 1920 to 1933, and opened the 1932 parliamentary session with a 40-minute attack on Adolf Hitler.
(As I include this information with the poem I email every year to friends on International Women's Day.)
I've seen various posts decrying the celebration of women on this one day of the year. But I think it's still important to mark it.
Only one year after IWD was first proposed in 1910, the Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire broke out in New York on Saturday, March 25, 1911. Within half an hour, 146 of the 500 workers—mostly young women—were dead. Many of them had jumped to their deaths because factory owners had locked the fire escape exit doors.
The next morning, throughout New York’s garment district, more than 15,000 shirtwaist makers walked out. They demanded a 20-percent pay raise, a 52-hour workweek and extra pay for overtime. (See https://aflcio.org/about/history/labor-history-events/triangle-shirtwaist-fire). Their struggle eventually led to the enactment of numerous laws covering fire safety, factory inspections and sanitation and employment rules for women and children.
If we understand and honor the struggle of these brave women, I think that we can also (deservedly) celebrate International Women's Day. For sure, things are bad now. But we can also be inspired by women in previous centuries who fought for and gained vital and important rights for women AND men - and this at a time when women didn't have the vote in almost all countries. (An exception was Australia.)
Happy International Women's Day, every day.
Yes, Josie, it was you! And you're right. it's easy to be cynical, but it would be worse to not remember these women at all.