Something akin to the modern International Women's Day, which is celebrated all over the world on March 8, was in the days of Ancient Rome. Then free girls and women went to the goddess of News for a blessing. To demonstrate their favor to the gods, they dressed in the best clothes and precious jewelry. Men on this day gave them small gifts.
But the history of the modern holiday "International Women's Day" began on March 8, 1957. Then factory workers in New York took to the streets to fight for equal rights: reducing the working day to 10 hours (was 16 hours) and equal pay for men and women. The activists also tried to draw attention to equally important issues. In particular, women's education, better working conditions and the ability to vote on an equal footing with men. It is from March 8 that the struggle of women for their rights begins.
After the March 8 demonstrations, the first girl was accepted into the university, and women's unions began to spring up all over the world. New strikes in New York began on February 28, 1908, when about 15,000 disgruntled women gathered on the streets. A year later, in 1909, American socialists decided to introduce International Women's Day. Then the holiday was proposed to be celebrated on the last Sunday of February.
In 1910, Clara Zetkin (an activist of the German and international communist labor movement) initiated the creation of International Women's Day, so that women around the world went to demonstrations and rallies, defended their rights and attracted the public to gender inequality. The celebration of the day was moved to March 8 only in 1914. In 1975, the United Nations proclaimed this day International Women's Day.

There are three main versions of who invented International Women's Day on March 8. According to the first version, in 1910, American socialists met with Clara Zetkina and Rosa Luxemburg during the Second International Conference in Copenhagen. It was there that it was decided to introduce such an important holiday for women. True, it was called differently: International Day of Women's Solidarity in the Struggle for Economic, Social and Political Equality with Men. However, the date of March 8 for the celebration was not immediately chosen. Initially, in Europe, all events were held on March 19th.

According to the second version, International Women's Day arose after demonstrations of textile workers that took place on the territory of the United States, especially in New York. They demanded better working conditions, as well as an increase in wages to match those of men. On March 8, 1910, the holiday was introduced in America, and then it spread to other countries of the world. However, this version does not explain why this date was chosen. According to the third version, which is quite interesting, Clara Zetkin and Rosa Luxembourg chose March 8 to celebrate International Women's Day, because this figure resembles female forms.