IWD

"Grant Women the Right to Vote." Women's Day, March 8, 1914

The text in small print below the poster translates as follows: Women fulfilling their complete duties as workers, mothers, and community citizens, paying state as well as community taxes, have so far been denied full citizenship rights due to prejudice and by a reactionary attitude. Fighting for this natural human right must be the unwavering will of every woman and female worker. There must be no reposing, no resting. Therefore, come all, you women and girls.

Regarding the above poster, it looks that International Women's Day, now celebrated annually on March 8, is a German invention.

We are mistaken: The first Women's day was organized in New York by the Socialist Party of America on February 28, 1909, demanding, above all, female suffrage. The 1910 International Socialist Woman's Conference in Copenhagen suggested that a Women's Day be held annually to fulfill its demand.

Wikipedia knows: Women gained suffrage in Soviet Russia in 1917, and March 8 became a national holiday. The day was then predominantly celebrated by the socialist movement and communist countries until it was adopted in 1975 by the United Nations.

In Germany, the Weimar Constitution gave women the right to vote in 1919. On March 8, 2019, the centenary of the IWD was commemorated all over Germany.


Following the proclamation of the German Republic on November 9, 1918, Freiburg's women became active, claiming their rights to vote.

An add-in the Freiburger Zeitung on Christmas Eve 1918
 inviting women of any state or rank to a rally about
 The Revolution and the Right to Vote. Men are admitted.

Snapshot at the 2019 Fasnet (carnival) in Freiburg (©BZ).
After all: Freedom is female, alluding to the fact
that the German word Freiheit is of the feminine gender

The state of Berlin - yes, our capital is a federal state - declared March 8 an official holiday, and Freiburg will celebrate the 100th IWD with a series of events over ten days.

At the town hall, women in blue? (©BZ/Thomas Kunz)

On March 13, Red Baron will participate in a feminist history workshop, hoping that, as in 1918, men will be admitted.

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