2026 marks a special milestone in the history of celebrating, empowering, and recognising women – their achievements as well as their struggles – across the world. 115 years on since the first official recognition of an ‘International Women’s Day’ in Austria, Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland, this day continues to grow in global visibility and now has come to incorporate much more than the economic rights of women.
Set in motion by feminists and activists driven by gender-equality, the roots of what has today come to be known as International Women’s Day (IWD) can be traced back in history to advocates of women’s rights and protections. Notably, we come to 1776. Abigail Smith Adams, the First Lady to President John Adams, urging her husband and Founding Fathers to “remember the ladies” in their new laws. Like other women at the time, Abigail had no formal education and very little rights, but occupying herself with the literature in her family’s library, she quickly came to learn several subjects. In her letter she wrote of the importance of educating women and their protection. This advocacy had a profound influence coming from a woman in such a position, and a chain of further female advocates was to follow in the coming years…
- In 1792 came Mary Wollstonecraft’s ‘A Vindication for the Rights of Woman’, now focusing on the equality of women, opposing their supposed inferiority and subsequent political, social, economic, and educational incompetence.
- Then, between 1857 and 1911, several strikes and protests are held, with women marching the streets for fairer working conditions, equal rights, and suffrage.
- onwards from this point, a train of recognition of International Women’s Day as an official celebration emerges. Global celebration of International Women’s Year, Women’s History Week, Women’s History Month, and other dedicated periods to the acknowledgement and awareness of women take place.
Now, IWD branches beyond the recognition of women’s equality. Gaining traction within the world of social media, IWD’s celebration is widespread and engaging. Using annual themes to spotlight specific problems within gender inequality and to drive targeted action rather than just recognition, themes bring a focus to leadership, violence, and justice.
IWD provides the opportunity for people to bring global issues to attention, empowering women in different detrimental circumstances across the world, from continuously existing patriarchal regimes, to women living in states undergoing war, to those racially discriminated against and previously under-recognised and unidentified, such as women identifying as transgender.
As we see social media, window displays, and banners and signs in streets flooded with the colour purple, we are reminded of more than just the achievements of women: we are reminded of their suffering, global and historical, the escalation of their voices and, most importantly, their authentic, rightful and moving existence.