The Truth Behind March 8th International Women's Day
Their demands were simply "better working conditions and equal pay for equal work." But what really happened on March 8, 1857? And does the famous fire actually date back to 1911? Find out the full story in our article.
Harsh working conditions, long working days, and low wages in return for all of it… When the female workers at a textile factory in New York City, whose conditions were growing worse by the day, decided to go on strike, the date on the calendar was March 8, 1857. The strike became one of the most significant actions in the American labor movement. The women's uprising gave rise to a great wave of worker solidarity.
The origins of International Women's Day (March 8) emerge when we leaf through the dusty pages of history as follows:
On March 8, 1857, approximately 40,000 textile workers at a textile factory in New York City went on strike demanding better working conditions. It is said that after police attacked the workers and locked them inside the factory, a fire broke out and 129 female workers lost their lives when they were unable to escape the barricades erected in front of the factory.
It was in response to this that, at a meeting of women affiliated with the Second International in Copenhagen, Denmark on August 26–27, 1910, German politician and women's rights advocate Clara Zetkin proposed that March 8 be commemorated as "Internationaler Frauentag" (International Women's Day) in memory of the female workers who died in the 1857 textile factory fire — and her proposal was unanimously accepted.
However, when experts examine the history of fires in America, the only fire that aligns with a strike and locked doors is the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire.
At the turn of the 20th century, New York City was the sector employing the most workers in the American garment industry. Following the economic crisis of 1908, wages were cut — and workers were even charged for the needles and thread they used, as well as for electricity and the chairs they sat in. Weekly working hours sometimes reached 75, yet workers were paid just $5.
When the date reached November 25, 1909, approximately 20,000 shirtwaist workers — 80% of them women — employed across 600 shirtwaist factories in New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, out of a total workforce of around 40,000, went on strike. Their demands were entirely humane: "An end to the subcontracting system, a 52-hour work week, daily overtime capped at 2 unpaid hours, and no deductions from workers' wages for materials or electricity." The strike, which was dubbed the largest women's strike in American history, came to an end in February 1910 with most of their demands being accepted.
Only one company refused to sign the agreement — the Triangle Shirtwaist Company.
On March 25, 1911, the Triangle Shirtwaist Company was operating on the top three floors of the Asch Building. A fire — likely started by an unextinguished cigarette, though this has not been confirmed — broke out on the 8th floor, and the workshop, filled with scraps of paper and fabric, was quickly engulfed in flames. Before the workers could understand what was happening, they began to flee in panic. Everyone rushed to the elevators and the fire escape, but only one elevator was in service, and the doors leading to the fire escapes were locked.
Of the 146 people who lost their lives in the fire, 129 were women. What caused such a massive loss of life was the factory owners' decision to reduce the number of working elevators to one — so they could more easily check workers' bags for theft at the end of the shift — and to lock the fire escape doors to prevent workers from leaving without permission. On April 5, 1911, a funeral procession of 80,000 people was held. The Women's Trade Union League and Local 25 combined the mourning march with a protest. Hundreds of thousands of workers, the majority of them women, walked off the job that day to join the procession. Both events, as recorded in history to this day, are deeply tragic.
International Women's Day was first commemorated on March 19, 1911, in Germany, Denmark, Austria, and Switzerland.
So — "International Working Women's Day" or "International Women's Day"?
Women are workers everywhere — whether paid or unpaid. A woman at home cares for her children, her partner, and her elderly relatives, and her unpaid labor cannot be overlooked. That is why, of course, we say International Women's Day…
In our country, March 8 was first celebrated in 1921 by communist women at a gathering held in a vineyard house in Ankara. After that day, a full 54 years would pass before March 8 could be commemorated again. When the year 1975 arrived, it was celebrated for the first time as a public event with the participation of 500 women in Ankara and Istanbul, with contributions from the Progressive Women's Association. Following the military coup of September 12, 1980, no celebrations were held for four years. Since 1984, International Women's Day has continued to be celebrated every year by various women's organizations.
And so our final words: Happy International Women's Day, March 8…
