Meet the woman behind International Women’s Day

International Women’s Day (IWD) is a day where women all over the world are celebrated every year, on March 8.  This day is designated to draw attention to the important contributions that women make to society, politics, the economy, and science. Sometimes a month-long celebration, IWD aims to demonstrate that, in a world dominated by males, women can contribute intelligently to decision-making.

Throughout history, women have accomplished amazing things, and we should be proud of them every day. One of such is Clara Zetkin, a German politician and activist. She is the brain behind the global celebration of International Women’s Day to honour women.

Born Clara Josephine Eissner, Clara Zetkin was a German Marxist theorist, communist activist, and advocate for women’s rights. She was born on July 1857 in Königshain-Wiederau, Germany. She was the eldest of three children. Her father, Gottfried Eissner, was a village school teacher, a devout protestant while her mother, Josephine Vitale had French roots and was highly educated.

Early Life, Education and Career

Clara moved with her family to Leipzig in 1872. There, she enrolled at a teacher’s training college for women. She found her purpose in politics and became an active member of the Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands also known as the Social Democratic Party of Germany in the English language.

Her intense interest in social democracy was, however, halted when Otto von Bismarck, the German Chancellor, outlawed social gatherings in the nation. She soon found herself in active politics due to her association with Russian revolutionaries. She met her first husband Ossip Zetkin, the revolutionary from Russia. They had two sons, Kostja Zetkin and Maxin Zetkin.

She later married painter Georg Friedrich Zundel after Zetkin fell ill and died.

Her engagement in politics offended her family, which resulted in their breakup. That did not deter Clara as she carved a niche for herself by taking keen interest in women’s politics, particularly the socialist struggle for women’s suffrage and equal opportunity.

She contributed to the growth of Germany’s social-democratic women’s movement. Clara also founded the Die Gleichheit (Equality), the SPD women’s weekly, from 1891 to 1917.

Worldwide Women Rights Revolution

Interestingly, Clara wasn’t the only woman fighting for equality for women. Around the same time, there was a lot of discontent and heated discussion among women, worldwide. Women were becoming increasingly outspoken and involved in the fight for change as a result of the oppression and unfairness they faced.

For instance, in the United States of America, a group of 15,000 women marched through New York City in 1908, calling for voting rights, higher wages, and fewer working hours.

The first International Conference of Socialist Women was held in Stuttgart. Zetkin was elected chairwoman of the International Women’s Secretariat.

Copenhagen hosted the second International Conference of Working Women in 1910. It was there the concept of an International Women’s Day was proposed by Clara Zetkin who was the head of the Social Democratic Party’s ‘Women’s Office’ in Germany at the time.

She suggested that a celebration of Women’s Day be held annually on the same day in every nation in order to advocate for their demands.

Zetkin’s initiative was unanimously welcomed by the conference of over 100 women from 17 nations who represented unions, socialist parties, working women’s groups, and the first three women elected to the Finnish parliament. This led to the creation of International Women’s Day.

March 8 set as official IWD date

After debates and a number of instances, it was decided to celebrate International Women’s Day on March 8, which is equivalent to February 23 on the widely used Gregorian calendar. This date has been observed globally for the occasion ever since.

Zetkin went on with politics and after the start of the First World War, as a representative of the left-wing current within the SPD, she rejected the policy of “truce”.

Clara joins communist party, KPD

In 1916, Zetkin joined the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) and helped create the Spartacist League as well as the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany (USPD), which broke away from the SPD in 1917 over the latter’s pro-war attitude.

A year later, Clara Zetkin was imprisoned for four months because of her convocation of the International Socialist Women’s Conference. She was released on accounts of getting sick.

Clara went on to chalk many success including head of the magazine ‘The Communist Women’s International’, becoming president of the International Red Aid.

She received several awards to her credit which include the Order of Lenin, Order of the Red Banner, and numerous national and international honours on her 70th birthday.

The iconic pioneer of the political left in Germany lived alternately in Germany and the Soviet Union. She became the first member of the KPD to give a speech in the Reichstag in which she called for solidarity with the Soviet Union

The woman activist died on June 20, 1933 in Arkhangelskoye near Moscow after a serious illness.

Some quotes by Clara Zetkin

“Women’s propaganda must touch upon all those questions which are of great importance to the general proletarian movement. The main task is, indeed, to awaken the women’s class consciousness and to incorporate them into the class struggle.”

“In individual industries where female labour pays an important role, any movement advocating better wages, shorter working hours, etc, would not be doomed from the start because of the attitude of those women workers who are not organised.”

“The proletarian woman fights hand in hand with the man of her class against capitalist society.”

“When the men are silent, it is our duty to raise our voices in behalf of our ideals.”

“When the men kill, it is up to us women to fight for the preservation of life.

“We would, however, perform an injustice to the bourgeois women’s rights movement if we would regard it as solely motivated by economics. No, this movement also contains a more profound spiritual and moral aspect.”