Women’s Day 2021 Live Updates: Celebrating the indomitable spirit of women

Happy Women's Day 2021 Wishes Images, Quotes Live Updates: The theme for this year's International Women's Day is #ChooseToChallenge. It indicates that a "challenged world is an alert world, and from challenge comes change"

Happy Women’s Day 2021 Live Updates: Every year, International Women’s Day is observed on March 8 to celebrate women, their rights, and their achievements. IWD began in the 1900s, and according to its website, “a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating women’s equality”.

On the occasion, Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to Twitter to salute the spirit of women. “Saluting our indomitable #NariShakti on International Women’s Day! India takes pride in the many accomplishments of the women of our nation. It is our Government’s honor to be getting the opportunity to work towards furthering women empowerment across a wide range of sectors.,” he tweeted.

International Women’s Day has been celebrated for over a century now. But while many people think of it as a feminist cause, its roots lie in the labor movement. It was first organized in 1911 by the early 20th century Marxist from Germany Clara Zetkin who was born in 1857 in Germany’s Wiederau.

She trained as a teacher and was also associated with the Social Democratic Party (SPD) — one of the two major political parties in the country today. She was a part of both the labor movement and the women’s movement.

In the 1880s, when anti-socialist laws were enforced, Zetkin went into self-exile in Switzerland and France. During this time, she wrote and distributed proscribed literature, and met leading socialists of the time. She also played a significant role in the formation of the Socialist International.