International Working Women's Day

-Rupkatha

This year, as always, the “Happy Women’s Day” messages started flooding my DMs on March 8th. But unlike every other year, this time I saw some of my friends reposting a story about how the movement for equal rights and better working conditions for women has been reduced to a celebration centered on marketing and performative gestures rather than meaningful change.

It was an honest, angry rant calling out makeup and clothing brands for using the day to push products with lines like “celebrate girlhood with this” or “treat yourself to that.” The story reflected on the pain and struggles of womanhood that often go unnoticed, even on Women’s Day. It was really nice to see everyone suddenly realizing what capitalism quietly did there. It has taken moments of empowerment and turned them into opportunities for profit. It sells the idea of self-love and success through products: a dress to mark your achievement, a lipstick to “bolden your look” while chasing your dreams. But the truth is, it was never about your dreams. 

This system has mastered the art of reading your emotions, your sadness, your heartbreaks, your accomplishments; And monetizing them. It glorifies retail therapy, not as healing, but as a tool to keep you spending. All while smiling back at you with a smug, hollow face. And the even more problematic thing is, with more advanced technology, it really can know everything we do, or everything we want. It tracks our data, and our feeds automatically change, if you’ve noticed. 

While studying this topic, another realization crossed my mind: the patriarchal and capitalist systems uphold and reinforce each other, successfully maintaining the image of the “ideal woman.” Brands that sell clothes, makeup, and lifestyle products often promote this image, sometimes through direct slogans, and sometimes more subtly, through deeply internalized patriarchal messaging.

The idea of the “ideal woman” has shifted over time. From being an ideal wife, mother, and homemaker who stays home to care for her husband and children—to now being an ideal wife, mother, and homemaker who also works a full-time job and returns home to perform all the same unpaid labour. Although more men are participating in domestic duties, the ideal image of a woman still remains as someone who can balance office and home perfectly, creating an unrealistic and problematic standard for every girl and woman.  

While criticizing the brands that monetize this day, we must understand the history and the original purpose behind its naming. It was initially called 'International Working Women's Day' and was later renamed 'International Women's Day’. while this shift advocates for inclusivity, it also risks erasing March 8th’s radical, working-class roots and the struggle that gave birth to it.

International Women's Day traces its origins to 28 February 1909, when the Socialist Party of America organized a “Woman’s Day” in New York City to support women workers demanding better labour conditions. Inspired by this, Clara Zetkin, a German communist activist, proposed the idea of a “Working Women’s Day” at the 1910 International Socialist Women’s Conference in Copenhagen, which was unanimously approved, but no fixed date was set. The following year saw coordinated demonstrations across Europe. 

A pivotal moment came on 8 March 1917 (23 February in the old Russian calendar), when women workers in Petrograd took to the streets protesting Russia’s involvement in World War I, harsh working conditions, and food shortages. This protest sparked the February Revolution, which ultimately led to the fall of the Romanov dynasty and set the stage for the October Revolution. In recognition of women's vital role, Vladimir Lenin declared 8 March as International Working Women’s Day in 1922, and it was thereafter celebrated annually in socialist countries. The United Nations formally recognized and began promoting the day in 1977, encouraging global observance in the spirit of women’s rights and world peace.

While the struggle for equal rights for women rages on, the fight for fair wages, safe and dignified working conditions, and basic human rights remains prevalent. Women continue to face exploitation, disrespect, and violence in workplaces across sectors. A deeply entrenched patriarchal system, that enables male entitlement fuelled by toxic masculinity, not only permits sexual harassment but protects perpetrators, making it easy for abuse to be ignored, dismissed, or silenced. Workplace harassment happens in countless ways- from professors demanding sexual favours from students in exchange for a degree, to household maids being routinely shouted at, groped, or beaten. Unequal opportunities and treatment still run deep. Women are denied paid maternity leave, or worse, fired for getting pregnant. In many offices and factories, there isn’t even a toilet for women, let alone a breastfeeding room. Wage disparities remain in all occupations. 

In the Indian labour market, the low participation of women in formal employment has intensified these concerns. This gap has driven millions of women into informal work, where female participation now exceeds that of males. This raises urgent questions about structural inequality and systemic failure in ensuring fair employment for women. Decent work and gender equality are core components of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (2015). Yet for millions of women, particularly in the informal sector, these commitments remain unfulfilled. The informal economy continues to be marked by job insecurity, low wages, and a lack of basic protections. Thus thrives a system that denies women both dignity and economic stability. 

We can still see that the core issues the women of Petrograd rose up against on March 8th, 1917, like exploitation, inequality, and injustice, remain unresolved. That’s why this day isn’t just a date on the calendar; it’s a reminder of what we’re still fighting for, just as our foremothers did in their time. March 8th is not about celebrating “womanhood” in the polished, market-friendly way the patriarchal capitalism has carefully carved out for us. It’s about reclaiming this day as one rooted in the demand for equal rights, dignity, and justice for all.

March 8th will continue to be the day we show our collective female rage, not by justifying mindless consumerism with “I’m just a girl,” but by standing in solidarity with every woman and gender-marginalized person fighting to exist. They want us to “celebrate” womanhood by spending, while millions of women can’t afford basic rights, let alone overpriced Women’s Day tokens. Sisterhood isn’t complete without standing with working-class women, unpaid caregivers, domestic workers, and everyone pushed to the economic margins. This struggle is about refusing to let this day be sold back to us.