This movement started on 8th of March in 1875, in EEUU when hundreds of women known as “garment workers”, workers of textile factory from New York, demonstrated seeking equal pay and an improvement in their working conditions. Lamentably, one hundred twenty women workers were killed by the police. However, two years later, this led to the creation of the first women’s syndicate in history.
In 1908, 15.000 women workers took to the streets of New York under the banner of “Bread and Roses” fighting against endless working hours, inhumane conditions and their miserable salaries. Shortly thereafter, the event that would definitively mark the history of the feminist movement took place. On 25th of March in 1911, 146 women workers in New York City died in a huge fire in the textile factory. The responsible for these deaths were the factory owners, for not wanting to grant better salaries and better working conditions in the labor strike that took place just a year earlier.
The movement that was beginning to gain strength in the United States also came to Europe. Specifically, it was in 1910 at the II International Conference of Socialist Women in Copenhagen, which was attended by more than 100 women from different countries, including Clara Zetkin, a politician involved in the struggle for equality. It was she who launched the proposal, approved unanimously, to commemorate Women’s Day in March with the aim of achieving women’s suffrage.
In 1977, the UN General Assembly proclaimed a resolution on the United Nations Day for Women’s Rights and International Peace. Women’s Day was recognized as an international celebration in this year and has become a tradition in most countries in Europe and the USA.
In Spain, it was not until 1977 that the first feminist demonstration took place, denouncing the inequality of rights between the sexes as well as other social issues: decriminalization of abortion, sexual freedom and maternity. In Spain, on 8th of March is a very important day for women and we do not celebrate that day, but we go out to the streets to fight for our rights and for equality. In many cities in Spain there are demonstrations and thousands of people walk through the streets to arrive at a large square and there one woman reads a “manifesto”.
As this day is very important for us, therefore, we wanted to be part of this day in Tryavna, adapting our day to the celebration of Bulgaria. On 8th of March in Bulgaria, they celebrate mother’s day and it’s typical to give one rose to the women. In this way, we gave many roses to some women in Tryavna. We made many handmade roses with a special message each one and we went to share them out to the school, to the kindergarten, to the SOS, to some museums and to the city council.
Some of these messages were:
Ти си прекрасна, такава, каквато си!- Eres Hermosa tal y como eres!- You are beautiful, just as you are!
Ти си свободна, така че лети!- Eres libre, así que vuela!- You are free, so fly!
Actually, we enjoyed preparing all the roses and we had a great day handing them out to all the women at the different places. To our surprise, when we arrived to SOS Village to give them the roses, all women workers had prepared a special meal for this day. We tasted a lot of typical Bulgarian food and the best part is that it was handmade!!! Obviously, everything was delicious ☺
Български