Since those early years, International Women's Day has assumed a new global dimension for women in developed and developing countries alike. The growing international women's movement, strengthened by four global United Nations women's conferences, has helped make the commemoration a rallying point to build support for women's rights and participation in the political and economic arenas.

Movement in the United States

The very first National Woman's Day was observed in the United States on 28 February. The Socialist Party of America designated this day in honor of the 1908 garment workers' strike in New York, where women protested against working in unsafe conditions.

1848

However, the first milestone in the US was much earlier — in 1848. Indignant over women being barred from speaking at an anti-slavery convention, Americans, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott, congregate a few hundred people at the nation’s first women’s rights convention in New York. Together they demanded civil, social, political and religious rights for women in a Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions. However, due to its ties with socialism and communism, perhaps it is not surprising that International Women’s Day did not catch on in the United States the way it did in other countries.

1908
Great unrest and critical debate was occurring among women. Women's oppression and inequality were spurring women to become more vocal and active in campaigning for change. Then in 1908, 15,000 women marched through New York City demanding shorter hours, better pay and voting rights.

1909
In accordance with a declaration by the Socialist Party of America, the first National Woman's Day (NWD) was observed across the United States on February 28.

1910

In 1910 a second International Conference of Working Women was held in Copenhagen. A woman named Clara Zetina,, introduced the idea of an International Women's Day. She proposed that every year in every country there should be a celebration on the same day — a Women's Day — to press for their demands. The conference of over 100 women from 17 countries, representing unions, socialist parties, working women's clubs — and including the first three women elected to the Finnish parliament — greeted Zetkin's suggestion with unanimous approval and thus International Women's Day was born.

1911
Following the decision agreed upon at Copenhagen in Denmark in 1910, International Women's Day was honored for the first time in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland. More than one million women and men attended rallies, campaigning for women's rights to work, vote, be trained, to hold public office and end discrimination. However less than a week later on March 25, the tragic 'Triangle Fire' in New York City took the lives of more than 140 working women, most of them Italian and Jewish immigrants. This disastrous event drew significant attention to working conditions and labor legislation in the United States that became a focus of subsequent International Women's Day events.

1913-1914
On the eve of World War I campaigning for peace, Russian women observed their first International Women's Day on February 23, the last Sunday in February. Following discussions, International Women's Day was agreed to be marked annually on March 8, that date translated in the widely adopted Gregorian calendar from February 23 — and this day has remained the global date for International Women's Day ever since. In 1914, women across Europe held rallies to campaign against the war and to express women's solidarity.

1975
International Women's Day was designated, for a first the time by, the United Nations.

2011

Marked the 100 year centennial of International Women's Day — with the first event held exactly 100 years ago

The world has witnessed a significant change and attitudinal shift in both women's and society's thoughts about women's equality and emancipation. Many from a younger generation may feel that all the battles have been won for women, while many feminists from the 1970's and beyond know only too well the longevity and ingrained complexity of patriarchy. However, with more women in the boardroom, greater equality in legislative rights, and increased critical mass of women's visibility as impressive role models in every aspect of life, one could think that women have gained true equality. Nonetheless the unfortunate fact is that women are still not paid equally to that of their male counterparts, women still are not present in equal numbers in business or politics, and globally women's education, health and the violence against them is worse than that of men. Nonetheless, great improvements have been made and so, each year the world inspires women and celebrates their achievements.