The History of International Women’s Day

The first “Woman’s Day” celebration took place in Chicago on May 3, 1908. Organized by the U.S. Socialist Party, it brought together an audience of 1,500 women who demanded economic and political equality, on a day officially dedicated to “the female workers’ causes.” The following year, women gathered in New York for a similar celebration. Inspired by these American initiatives, European socialists soon followed suit. Find out more in this video about International Women’s Day. Written and narrated by Dr. Birgitte Søland. A textual version of this video is available at This is a production of Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective at the Goldberg Center in the Department of History at The Ohio State University and the Department of History at Miami University. Be sure to subscribe to our channel to receive updates about our videos and podcasts. For more information about Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective, please visit . Video production by Laura Seeger and Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle. Audio production by Paul Kotheimer, College of Arts & Sciences Academic Technology Services. The Origins’ editorial team includes Editors Nicholas Breyfogle, Steven Conn and David Steigerwald; Managing Editors Lauren Henry, Sarah Paxton, and Renae Sullivan; Associate Editors: Mina Park and Kristin Osborne We thank the Stanton Foundation for their funding of this and other Origins projects. Follow us on Twitter: @HistoryTalkPod and @OriginsOSU, Facebook: @Origins OSU and Tumblr: at .