Poster of the Week

International Women’s Day

New American Movement (NAM)

Salsedo Press

Offset, circa 1977

Chicago, IL

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY

On March 8, l857, women from the garment and textile industry in New York demonstrated to protest low wages, the 12‑hour workday,  and increasing workloads.  They asked for improved working  conditions and equal pay for all working women. Their march was  dispersed by the police. Some of the women were arrested and  some were injured. Three years later, in March of 1860, these women formed their own  union and again called for these demands to be met.  On March 8, 1908, thousands of women from the needles trade  industry demonstrated for the same demands. They also asked for laws against child labor and laws for the right of women to vote.  They declared March 8 to be Women's Day.

In 1910, Clara Zetkin, a German labor leader, proposed that March 8  be proclaimed International Women's Day in memory of those women who had fought for better lives.  For almost 80 years, March 8  has been celebrated in many countries, but has only been commemorated widely in the United States since 1970 with the development of the Women's Liberation Movement.

CSPG’s Poster of the Week was produced by the New American Movement (NAM), a socialist-feminist organization established in 1971.  NAM was part of the New Left that formed during the Viet Nam War.  In 1982, NAM merged with Michael Harrington’s Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee (DSOC) to establish Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).