For many years, International Women’s Day (IWD) has been celebrated on March 8th. The IWD’s distant precursor was a New York rally of 15,000 women in late February 1908—yes, more than 100 years ago—for shorter hours, equal pay, and the right to vote. In 1910, at the second “International Conference of Working Women” in Copenhagen, with 100 women from 17 countries taking part, the German Clara Zetkin suggested celebrating International Women’s Day on the same day in all countries in order to make the demands together. And so it happened.

In those early years, more than 1 million women (and men) took part in the demonstrations for the right to work, vote, study, participate in public life and for an end to discrimination. The First World War partially broke the rhythm, but when women in Russia started a strike for “Bread and Peace” on March 8, 1917 and 4 days later the Tsar abdicated and women were given the right to vote (!), the movement broke out again and started again. In those first years it was strongly influenced by socialism, after all it was all about social equality issues and the working women all came (necessarily) from a lower social class.

After World War II, women finally got the right to vote in most Western European countries, but questions about various freedoms (study, work) still remained unanswered. An important demand that came along was the demand for reproductive rights. From 1975 the United Nations supported the day, from 1996 the organization also gave it a motto.

Don’t wish me a happy International Women’s Day on March 8th.

Unfortunately, IWD is now heavily commercialized in 2023. It sometimes seems more like Mother’s Day than a day to continue fighting for equality, equal opportunities or less violence against women. Of course we can take a moment on March 8th to reflect on what we have already achieved as a society in terms of women’s equality, but it is particularly important to recognize that the battle is truly not over. There is still a gender pay gap that really cannot be explained solely by women working part-time or in other sectors more than men. There are still far too few women in all decision-making bodies, be they political or corporate/organizational types. And women still have less access to digital resources for themselves and their families.

The United Nations want to draw attention to the latter this year with their topic “DigitALL: Innovation and Technology for Gender Equality”. At Amazone vzw – the house of women’s organizations – a lunch will be organized on March 7th for all actors in Belgium who want to get involved.

The ladies chosen to be the Inspiring 50 Women in Technology will also meet on March 16th to discuss how we can be good role models for other women and how we can get more girls choosing technology. Because there are many opportunities for women there and it’s never too early to get them involved.

Those who would like to contribute to gender equality themselves will find many more besides these initiatives! On March 8, I wish all women and men a lot of courage and determination to continue to work for more equality between women and men, be it at home, at work or in society. But please don’t wish me a ‘happy’ International Women’s Day on March 8th… there is still too much to do for that.