The story of Clara Zetkin, a socialist leader who founded "Women's Day". Let’s learn more!

The second International Conference of Working Women was held in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1910. At a time when women's involvement as working professionals was quite rare, 100 women from 17 different nations who represented unions, socialist parties, and working women's groups came together. One of them, Clara Zetkin, came up with the concept of an International Women's Day more than a century later, and it is still celebrated all over the world.

To bolster collective efforts, she proposed designating one day annually for women to express their calls for equality. The conference unanimously approved it.

As part of what is known as First Wave Feminism (from the mid-19th century to the 1920s), Zetkin's demand was followed by a number of other protests and groups in the West at the beginning of the 20th century. She made the following contributions to the cause of women, despite the fact that socialism usually eclipsed feminism in her view.

Zetkin was born in 1857 and grew up as the effects of capitalism became evident in German society. The rapid expansion of manufacturing in the region was devaluing women's domestically created items. She would consider the treatment of women in capitalism as a result of this.

Due to the ban on women attending universities, Zetkin was unable to continue her education after completing secondary school. Other political rights, including the ability to vote, were also curtailed. According to an essay in the journal Feminist Studies titled "Clara Zetkin: A Socialist Approach to the Problem of Woman's Oppression," she was introduced to socialist concepts by her brother and a classmate.

She countered, however, that this independence benefited the capitalists alone. These new economic variables have been usurped by the capitalists, who have monopolized the means of production (land and capital), causing them to function solely in their favor. After being freed from their husbands' financial reliance, women simply switched masters and are now under the control of capitalists. The husband's slave turned into the employer's slave.

She did point out that women now had some opportunities to attain economic equality with men. Zetkin also maintained that capitalism alone was to blame for the disparity between men and women in the family and that socialism would eliminate it, but he did not provide examples of how this would be accomplished.

According to the essay in Feminist Studies, Zetkin's views on women evolved with time, and he now views them according to their gender rather than just their class. She claimed that men and women were equal in spite of their inequalities. By organizing and attending conferences like the one that led to the creation of Women's Day, she sought to promote global solidarity among socialist women.

She advocated for the inclusion of women in senior roles within her party while being marginalized. She began running a fortnightly publication with contributions from female socialist writers between 1892 and 1917. The essay claims that "Zetkin remained vigilant against the socialist camp's discriminatory treatment of women." She was quick to condemn "male chauvinism in public".