On March 8, 1857, women garment and textile workers marched in New York to protest their 12-hour workday and their low wages and terrible working conditions. As they moved from their poor Lower East Side neighborhood up to the wealthier section of town, the police attacked the march, arrested many of the women and trampled some of the women with their horses.
– 3 years later, in March, 1860, the women garment and textile workers formed their first union.
– 48 years later, on March 8, 1908 thousands of women from the needle trades industry marched again in New York. In 61 years their condition had not improved much: their demands were still the same, shorter hours, an end to child labor and the right to vote.
– In 1910 Clara Zetkin (a communist and leader of the women’s struggle in Germany) proposed the founding of International Working Women’s Day.
– In 1917, the women textile workers in Petrograd, Russia struck against the long bread lines and famine, poor living and working conditions. They were soon supported by other workers, resulting in a general strike. The date of that women’s demonstration, March 8, 1917, marked the first day of the Russian Revolution.
