The development history of International Women’s Day

Origin of the holiday

On the United Nations’ website introducing International Women’s Day, the origin of International Women’s Day is attributed to a series of major events of the women’s rights movement in the early 20th century. These events include: American socialists designated February 28 as National Women’s Day in 1909; in 1910, at the Copenhagen Conference of the Second International, more than 100 women representatives from 17 countries, led by Zetkin, planned to establish the International Women’s Day. International Women's Day, but no exact date was specified; on March 19, 1911, more than 1 million women in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland gathered to celebrate International Women's Day; on the last Sunday of February 1913, Russian women held protests against They celebrated their International Women's Day with demonstrations during World War I; on March 8, 1914, women in many European countries held anti-war demonstrations; to commemorate the nearly 2 million Russian women who lost their lives in World War I, on March 8, 1917 On February 8 (February 23 in the Russian calendar) Russian women went on strike, kicking off the "February Revolution". Four days later, the Tsar was forced to abdicate, and the provisional government announced that women would be given the right to vote. It can be said that it was this series of women's movements that took place in Europe and America at the beginning of the last century that jointly contributed to the birth of the "March 8th" International Women's Day, rather than the "International Women's Day" that people take for granted, it is just an international event. the legacy of the communist movement.

The rapid development of large-scale capitalist industry in Britain, France and other countries provided economic conditions for the emergence of the women’s movement. In the 1830s and 1940s, Britain, France and other countries entered the stage of great development of the machine industry. stage, the factory system with large machines as the main body replaced the handicraft system, and social productive forces developed rapidly and hugely; the bourgeois revolution achieved victory in various countries, providing political conditions for the emergence of the women's movement, and bourgeois women actively participated in the The bourgeois revolutionary movement and the women's movement began to rise with the bourgeois revolution; the bourgeois Renaissance movement, the religious reform movement and the ideas of "freedom", "equality" and "natural human rights" in the Enlightenment provided the basis for the emergence of the women's movement. Ideological conditions, such as the American Declaration of Independence and the French Declaration of Human Rights, inspired women's awareness of their struggle for equal rights and were the direct ideological roots and theoretical basis of the women's movement.

Under the influence of the industrial revolution, advanced women broke through the feudal shackles since the Middle Ages and entered society, possessing the same social weight as men. However, the emerging male-dominated politicians still looked down upon women, so they began to fight for equal rights.

Development History

The idea of ??establishing International Women's Day first emerged in the early 20th century, when Western countries were in the stage of rapid industrialization and economic expansion. Poor working conditions and low wages have led to protests and strikes. On March 8, 1857, female garment and textile workers in New York, USA, took to the streets to protest against poor working conditions and low wages. Although the authorities later deployed police to attack and disperse the protest crowd, the protest led to the establishment of the first trade union organization two years later in March.

In the following years, similar protest marches were held almost every year on March 8. The most eye-catching one was in 1908, when nearly 15,000 women took to the streets of New York, demanding shorter working hours (eight-hour work day), increased wages, and the right to vote (women's suffrage), etc., and called for a symbolic economy The slogan of “bread and roses” for security and quality of life. Women's Day was first celebrated on February 28, 1909, when the American Socialist Party issued a manifesto calling for commemorative activities to be held on the last Sunday of February each year. This annual celebration continued until 1913.

On August 26 and 27, 1910, on the eve of the Copenhagen Congress of the Second International, Caitkin chaired the Second International Socialist Women’s Conference as secretary of the International Women’s Secretariat. Zetkin drafted a "Resolution on the Basic Principles of the Struggle for Women's Suffrage." The resolution was passed with 90 votes in favor and 10 votes against.

This resolution stipulates that "the class-conscious political organizations and trade unions of the proletariat in various countries unanimously agree that socialist women in all countries should have a festival every year. The main purpose is to help women obtain the right to vote, and it must be in accordance with socialist principles. and to treat women's suffrage demands along with the entire women's issue Women's Day must be international and carefully prepared.

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The Second International Socialist Women’s Conference did not have a separate resolution on establishing International Women’s Day, let alone which day is Women’s Day. Since the Copenhagen Women’s Conference did not stipulate International Women’s Day, Specific date. Therefore, the activities to celebrate this holiday before 1922 were relatively random.

On March 19, 1911, proletarian women in some European countries celebrated International Women's Day for the first time in history. Activities. Rallies for suffrage were held across Germany, with more than 5,000 male and female workers participating in Berlin alone. Women in Denmark, Austria, Switzerland and other countries also held rallies and marches with a total of more than one million people. People held various activities to celebrate International Women's Day.

Six days later, on March 25, the famous New York Triangle Underwear Factory fire occurred in New York. The fire swallowed the lives of more than 140 female garment workers. Most of them were Italian and Jewish immigrants, and poor working conditions were believed to be the main reason for the heavy casualties.

Modern developments< /p>

On the eve of the outbreak of World War I, European women also took to the streets on March 8, 1913, to oppose the war by holding peaceful rallies.

Between 1912 and 1915. , every March 19th, Zetkin publishes an article in "Equality", the official publication of the International Women's Secretariat, to commemorate International Women's Day. The reason why the celebration of International Women's Day is chosen on this day is. To commemorate the uprising of Paris workers and working women against government troops' attack on the National Guard artillery positions on the Montmartre Heights on March 18, 1871. This uprising led to the birth of the Paris Commune.

Memorial International. The Women's Day event later proved to be a prelude to the Russian Revolution. During the Russian February Revolution in 1917, Petrograd women workers responded to the Bolsheviks' call and held a celebration of International Women's Day on March 8 (February 23 in the Russian calendar). The demonstration demanded "bread and peace" and participated in a strike of 90,000 male and female workers. It later developed into an uprising against the imperialist war and the tsarist autocracy. After the success of the October Revolution, the Bolsheviks. The women's rights activist Alexandra Mihalovna Kollontai persuaded Lenin to make March 8 an official holiday. During the Soviet period, "heroic women" were commemorated every year on this day. "Worker".

After the November Revolution in Germany in 1918, the female revolutionary Rosa Luxemburg was killed by the reactionaries. Therefore, the celebrations of International Women's Day from 1919 to 1921 were all held on March 5. This day. This day is Luxemburg's birthday. Lenin's two commemorative articles "Welcoming International Women's Day" and "International Working Women's Day" were both written on March 4.

On September 9-15, 1921, the Second International Conference of Communist Women was held in Moscow, with 82 representatives from 28 countries attending the meeting. At the meeting, Bulgarian female communists suggested that in order to commemorate the heroic struggle of Russian female workers in the February Revolution of 1917, March 8 of each year should be designated as International Women's Day. The Second International Communist Women's Conference adopted this suggestion and passed a resolution to designate March 8 as International Women's Day.

Since then, proletarian women in various countries have celebrated their festivals in different ways on this day every year. However, due to the development and changes of the times, the purpose is not only to fight for women's suffrage. Beginning in 1922, the Soviet Union's "Pravda", the official publication of the Executive Committee of the Communist International, "International Newsletter", and "The Communist International" have opened columns in March to introduce International Women's Day and the proletariat of various countries. Women's struggles and living and working situations.

However, among the people, the political color of the festival gradually weakened and evolved into an opportunity to express respect and love for women, similar to Western Mother's Day and Valentine's Day. To this day, this day is still a legal holiday in Russia, and men give gifts to women to celebrate their holiday.

In Western countries, commemorations of International Women's Day were held normally during the 1920s and 1930s, but were later discontinued. It was not until the 1960s that it gradually recovered with the rise of the feminist movement.

The United Nations has celebrated International Women's Day since the International Women's Year in 1975, confirming the tradition of ordinary women striving for equal participation in society. In 1997, the General Assembly passed a resolution requesting each country to select a day of the year to declare as the United Nations Women's Rights and World Peace Day in accordance with its own history and national traditions and customs. United Nations initiatives led to the establishment of national legal frameworks for the achievement of equality between men and women and raised public awareness of the urgent need to advance the status of women in all aspects. The Origin of the Festival

Since the Chinese celebrated International Women’s Day on March 8th for the first time in 1924, the festival has become an important venue for the two parties to lead China’s women’s movement. "March 8th" International Women's Day represents the revolutionary tradition and its special public cultural space as a century-old women's movement in China. The first time the Chinese publicly and officially celebrated International Women's Day was in Guangzhou in March 1924, which was the honeymoon period of the first international cooperation.

The Second National Congress of the Communist Party of China held in July 1922 began to pay attention to women's issues, and proposed "women's liberation" in the "Resolution on the Women's Movement" of the Second Congress of the Communist Party of China. It must be accompanied by the liberation of labor. Only when the proletariat gains political power can women be truly liberated." This later became a consistent guiding principle for the women's movement. Subsequently, Xiang Jingyu served as the first Minister of Women of the Communist Party of China. In the following years, she led many struggles of female workers in Shanghai. In 1922 alone, she launched 18 strikes among 30,000 female workers in 60 silk factories in Shanghai. However, the strength of women within the Communist Party of China was weak at that time. In June 1922, there were only 4 female party members, and by June 1923, there were only 13 female party members. The need to establish a broad united front for the women's movement is urgent. In the "Resolution on the Women's Movement" of the Third National Congress of the Communist Party of China in June 1923, it was proposed that "general women's movements such as the feminist movement, political participation movement, abolition of prostitution, etc., "It is also very important", "Female members of our party should guide and unite such movements anytime and anywhere. The slogans should be "the great unity of the national women's movement", "break the old etiquette of slave women", "education equality between men and women", "vocational education for men and women" "Equality", "Women should have the right to inherit inheritance", "Freedom for men and women to socialize", "Freedom to marry and divorce", "Equal wages for men and women", "Maternal protection", "Supporting working female compatriots". In addition to these slogans, we should also add "Down with the warlords" and "Down with foreign imperialism" are the two slogans of the national revolutionary movement to guide women, who account for half of the country's population, to participate in the national revolutionary movement."

In the year when the Second National Congress of the Communist Party of China was held, Sun Yat-sen convened a meeting on the improvement of the Kuomintang in Shanghai, reorganized the Kuomintang again, and stipulated in the newly revised party platform and general constitution the establishment of a "Women's Committee" to "Investigating the situation of women at home and abroad, and studying solutions to domestic women's problems." In Guangzhou in early 1924, women had few opportunities for education and employment. According to statistics, there are only over 200 female teachers and female medical staff in the city, and only over 6,000 female students. After the Kuomintang achieved cooperation, along with the vigorous national revolutionary movement, women in Guangzhou, close to Hong Kong and Macao, began to accept the influence of the international women's revolutionary movement. In January 1924, He Xiangning, Minister of the Women's Department of the Central Executive Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang, put forward the proposal of "women are equal in law, economy, and education" at the National Congress of the Kuomintang held in Guangzhou. The political platform of the "Declaration of the First National Congress" clearly stipulates: "Confirm the principle of equality between men and women legally, economically, educationally and socially, and promote the development of women's rights." This established the equal legal status of women in all aspects of society. principle. He Xiangning's status as the most important leader of the women's movement in the early days of the Chinese Kuomintang is unquestionable. During this period, as a party department of the Kuomintang Central Committee, the Women's Department of the Kuomintang also paid attention to "the national revolution is the only way for women to survive" and closely linked women's liberation with national salvation; at this point, the women's work of the two parties of the Kuomintang Have basic political knowledge.

When the first cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Kuomintang was realized, in accordance with the resolutions of the two parties, female Communist Party members and youth league members joined the Kuomintang as individuals and participated in the leadership of the Kuomintang's women's departments at all levels. Xiang Jingyu, Cai Chang, Deng Yingchao, Yang Zhihua and other early leaders of women's work in the Communist Party of China all held leadership positions in the Central Women's Department of the Kuomintang and the women's departments of local party headquarters in Shanghai, Guangdong and other places.

Development History

The commemoration of International Women’s Day in Guangzhou in 1924 not only became the first public commemoration of March 8th Day in China, but also became the first national event *An important venue for the united front of the women's movement with bipartisan cooperation. "International Women's Day has therefore become a grand festival for women to educate, review their own strength and strengthen unity."

In late February 1924, in At a meeting of cadres of the Central Women's Department of the Kuomintang, He Xiangning proposed to hold a conference in Guangzhou to celebrate International Women's Day. The Central Women's Department would be responsible for initiating rallies and demonstrations. After the meeting, He Xiangning took on the preparations for the commemorative activities. On March 3, 1924, Guangzhou Zhixin School gave a special lecture entitled "The Nature of International Women's Day" to introduce the history and significance of Women's Day. This speech can be said to be the first time that a Chinese political party introduced "International Women's Day" to the Chinese public. Festival" concept.

On March 4, 1924, the Women's Department of the Central Committee of the Kuomintang issued a notice in the name of Minister Zeng Xing, calling on women's groups in Guangzhou to hold demonstrations on March 8 in response to the "great unity demonstrations" of women around the world. Movement" and sent representatives to participate in the preparatory meeting held at Zhixin Girls' School on the afternoon of March 5. At 2 pm the next day, hundreds of women representatives from all walks of life in Guangzhou held a preparatory mobilization meeting in the auditorium of Zhixin Girls' School and elected He Xiangning as the chairperson of the meeting. He Xiangning said that the women's demonstration in Guangzhou on March 8 will be the first "March 8" Women's Day commemoration event organized in China, and it is of great significance. The delegates applauded warmly and offered their suggestions and suggestions for organizing this event. The final decision of the meeting: 1. On March 7, 12 people were sent in cars to distribute leaflets on women’s issues in the main streets of Guangzhou to arouse citizens’ attention and mobilize women from all walks of life to participate in conferences and parades; 2. On March 8 at 11 am A demonstration meeting will be held in the First Park at that time, and the Guangdong Provincial Department of Education and the Guangzhou Municipal Education Bureau are requested to notify all students from provincial and municipal schools to participate; 3. After the meeting, a parade will be held on the streets of the city, and a car team and a speech team will be prepared to accompany it. Ask the Municipal Public Security Bureau to send military police for protection; 4. Determine various banners and slogans, such as "Liberate the status of China's colonies", "Liberate women from the oppression of the capital system", "Demand for women's labor rights, equal education rights, and equal wages." , women’s suffrage and all the rights women deserve”, etc.

"Guangzhou Republic of China Daily" cheers for Guangzhou's activities to commemorate the "March 8th" Festival. On March 5, the newspaper published an article "Celebrating International Women's Day", which introduced in detail the history of "International Women's Day" and the celebration of March 8th in Germany, Britain, Austria and Soviet Russia. On March 6, another commentary titled "Women's Day" was published, pointing out that Chinese women have been subject to "men's power" for thousands of years and "hardly consider themselves human beings." It emphasized that the Kuomintang Central Committee proposed to hold the "March 8th" Women's Day event. The purpose is to raise women's consciousness, get rid of bad habits, and then seek women's "consciousness" and "independence." On March 7, the newspaper also published the "International Women's Day Campaign", announcing the specific time, location and parade route of the National Women's Department of the Central Committee of the Kuomintang in Guangzhou to commemorate the "March 8th" commemoration event, and issued a mobilization order to the majority of women.

On the morning of March 8, 1924, China’s first public event to commemorate the International Women’s Day was held in Guangzhou. A temporary stage was set up at the music pavilion in the First Park in the city center. A banner reading "Celebrate International Women's Day" hangs directly above. Slogans such as "Women demand labor rights" were also posted around the venue. Around 10 o'clock, more than 2,000 students and women from more than 30 schools, including Zhixin School, Normal School, Law and Politics School, Municipal School, Women's Vocational Training Institute, Nanny School, and Tuqiang School, and women from all walks of life participated. The conference officially started at 11 o'clock and was hosted by Shen Huilian, the principal of Guangzhou Industrial School. Afterwards, He Xiangning presided over the conference and delivered a speech, introducing the origin of Women's Day and the significance of commemorating it, describing the various sufferings suffered by women under the oppression of imperialism and feudalism, and encouraging women to resolutely take the "overthrow" Feudalism, overthrow imperialism and women’s path to liberation.” Participants responded with warm applause and slogans. Liao Zhongkai also came to join in the fun and delivered a speech on "The Nature of International Women's Day". Communists such as Qu Qiubai and Yun Daiying were also invited to participate and speak in support of the women's mass movement. The women attending the meeting were enthusiastic, with loud slogans such as "Down with foreign imperialism" and "Elimination of concubinage and polygamy" one after another.

After the celebration, He Xiangning and Zeng Xing, together with the patrol commander Shen Huilian, the general secretary Tang Yungong, the picket Liao Bingjun and others, took the participating women from the First Park and marched on the streets on foot, as scheduled. The route passes through Jixiang Road, Yuehua Road Governor's Office, Guangren Road Provincial Department of Finance, Yonghan North Road, and then turns from Tianzi Wharf to Pearl River Causeway, Taiping South Road, Yide Road, Weixin Road, and finally returns to the First Park Disband. Along the way, the marchers chanted slogans such as "Down with feudalism," "Down with imperialism," "Protect child laborers and pregnant women," and "Abolish the prostitution system." "For the first time, the demands of Chinese women have been put forward in an all-round way." He Xiangning also organized more than 10 people to distribute conference slogans and leaflets, and sent 27 speech teams to give speeches in factories, theaters and other places to promote the spirit of the conference and inspire the awareness of women. Many women watching the excitement stood on both sides of the street, chanting slogans in response, and some even joined the parade. Many female students also went to other streets in the city to give speeches and distribute leaflets in more than a dozen cars with various flags planted to publicize the significance of commemorating the March 8th Day and seeking women's liberation. Taking this as an opportunity, the women's movement in Guangdong gradually developed, and more and more women joined the torrent of women's liberation and the national revolution. Women participated in the struggle as an important force. It is of great significance to integrate the struggle for women's rights into the current trend of the times for civil rights. "It is the prelude to the systematic and planned progress of the Chinese women's movement under the same goal and the same strategy."

The Women's Departments of the two parties of the Kuomintang held a series of activities around the "March 8th" International Women's Day in late February and early March 1924, setting the precedent for Chinese people to celebrate International Women's Day. This year, "except for Guangzhou, the women's community elsewhere has never heard of any action on International Women's Day." But since then, "March 8" International Women's Day has spread rapidly among women's groups across China, and every year Celebrations continue. On March 8th, 1925, International Women's Day, women representatives from all over the country gathered in Peiping to hold a demonstration to protest against the Duan Qirui government's absurd suffrage regulations that regarded women as non-citizens. On the March 8th International Women's Day in 1926, "especially working women in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hankou, and Tianjin" "launched a large-scale commemorative movement with great vigor." In Yang Zhihua's memories, this year's commemorative activities were not only huge in big cities like Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, but also went deep into small and medium-sized cities such as Meizhou, Wuzhou, Yibin, Baoding, Youluling, and Pingjiang.

On March 8, 1927, Wuhan was even more lively than ever - 100,000 (some say 200,000) women marched to celebrate International Women's Day. In the 1990s, Huang Dinghui, a Communist Party member with a legendary life experience (called Huang Mulan at the time and minister of the Wuhan Women's Department of the Communist Party of China) said in an oral recollection: "In 1927, I was appointed as the 'March 8' International Women's The director of preparations for the holiday celebrations... On March 8, more than 100,000 women gathered in the central square of the city. We held a meeting first. Many famous figures from the two parties of the Kuomintang came. Song Qingling, He Xiangning and Liu Yazi also came. I was the chairman of the meeting. This was a great honor given to me by the party and the people. This incident made many people still remember me. After the speech, the meeting ended, and then more than 100,000 women marched to the guests. ”

Although the first cooperation between the Kuomintang and Communist Party failed shortly afterwards, the “March 8th” International Women’s Day served as an important education and mobilization venue. This tradition has been maintained in the women's work of both parties in the country. In 1932, to celebrate the first "March 8th" International Women's Day after the establishment of the Provisional Central Government of the Soviet Union of China in Ruijin, "a large-scale mass commemorative meeting was held with tens of thousands of people participating." Mao Zedong delivered a speech and " Reviewed the Women's Red Guards in the Soviet Area." After the establishment of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region, the annual "March 8th" International Women's Day not only has regular celebrations, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China will also issue targeted documents and instructions in advance, such as the 1938 "Central Committee for the "March 8th" "Instructions to Party Committees at All Levels on March 8th" Day Work", 1941 "Instructions from the Central Committee to Party Committees at All Levels on March 8th" Day Work", and 1943 "Decision on Current Women's Work in Various Anti-Japanese Base Areas", etc. March 8th Festival and the celebrations and commemorative activities surrounding the festival have become an important starting point for the Communist Party of China to issue women's work policies every year, establish a united front for women's work, and mobilize grassroots women to participate in the women's movement; this tradition continues in The New China period has also been well inherited.

As for the Kuomintang, the function of International Women's Day as an important public activity space for mobilizing women did not disappear with the failure of the Great Revolution. Although the Nanjing National Government adopted austerity policies for the mass women's movement, whether it was during the "New Life Movement" or later during the Anti-Japanese War, the "March 8th" International Women's Day was not only an important holiday, but also a loud clarion call for battle. . Non-governmental women's organizations have taken advantage of the unique opportunity of International Women's Day to mobilize women to participate in the women's movement in various forms. For example, on International Women's Day in 1931, women from all walks of life in Nanjing gathered and petitioned the National Government and the Central Party Committee of the Kuomintang, asking the government to set a quota for women to participate in the National Assembly. This event indirectly contributed to the successful election of the National Congress in 1936. Women's representation, this is an important step taken by the women's political participation movement in modern China.

Before the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, the celebration of International Women's Day on March 8th became an important venue for all walks of life in China to demand "stopping the civil war" and "unite to resist Japan." The female writer Xie Bingying once wrote the article "The Troubled 'March 8th Movement'" to commemorate the "128th Movement" in Shanghai during the Songhu Anti-Japanese War in 1932. She and her friends founded the magazine "Women's Light" at their own expense and devoted themselves to the Anti-Japanese War. A demonstration was planned for March 8, but ended up being patrolled and banned on Women's Day. On March 8th Day in 1936, although the government had ordered a ban on gatherings and parades, grand demonstrations were still held in Peiping, Shanghai and other places. The Communist Party of China even organized more than 2,000 women from all walks of life to commemorate the event. At the conference, slogans such as "Women's community unite" were put forward, and a huge demonstration was held after the conference. This was the forerunner of the women's movement in the future national resistance war. During the Anti-Japanese War, various celebrations were held every year on March 8, International Women's Day, whether in Chongqing, Yan'an, Xi'an, Chengdu, or the isolated island of Shanghai. Taking 1940 as an example, “Not only were large cities such as Chongqing, Chengdu, Jinhua, Kunming, Guilin, Guizhou… held enthusiastic rallies to commemorate the March 8th Movement, tens of millions of people marched, and special issues were issued… everywhere Remote villages and towns also held commemorative events to commemorate the March 8th Movement. In order to strive for the victory of the National War of Resistance, women from all over the country unanimously proposed to "implement constitutional government", "anti-Wang Su rape" and "national propaganda". Women's Unity' slogan." "March 8th" International Women's Day is an important venue for the two parties of the Communist Party of China to lead the Chinese women's movement. This is worthy of attention; and the revolutionary and fighting nature behind China's "March 8th" commemoration activities are also worth remembering. . As soon as the Anti-Japanese War ended in 1946, the International Women's Day celebrations on March 8th that year evolved into a stage where the two parties of the Communist Party of China competed for the right to speak and lead the Chinese women's movement.

Modern Development

After 1949, "People's Daily" published an editorial on March 8th International Women's Day every year. It is an important part of the large-scale commemorative activities of March 8th Day." Obviously, since the Great Revolution, the tradition of using "March 8th International Women's Day" as an important carrier to carry out women's work has been well inherited in New China.

On the March 8th International Women's Day in 1951, women's demonstrations were organized in Beijing and Shanghai to protest against the US armed occupation of Japan. In Shanghai, it was said that there were 100,000 people marching. These two marches were on the On the cover of issues 19 and 21 of "New China Women". "These two large-scale women's rallies are the first major women's rallies organized by the Women's Federation of the two places after the founding of the People's Republic of China. Such activities not only show the patriotism of Chinese women, but the intended audience is not just US imperialism. The organizers and participants Anyone who understands this will understand that as single-sex women’s demonstrations, they demonstrate the power of women in New China, and the audience can include all Chinese men and women who still discriminate against women.” Even in New China, for official women’s leadership organizations such as the Women’s Federation, It is still of great significance to use the activities of International Women's Day, a festival with distinct gender attributes, to demonstrate the collective political subject of "new Chinese women".

The selection and commendation activities of “March 8th Red Flag Bearers” and “March 8th Red Flag Collective” since 1960 have also included “New Chinese Women” symbolized by “Female Model Workers” since the founding of the People’s Republic of China. The image is given a clearer gender attribute. The selection activity of "March 8th Red Flag Bearers (Collective)" began in 1960. On January 29, 1960, "People's Daily" proposed the selection criteria.

The "People's Daily" notice on February 15, 1960 further pointed out that the significance of the competition is that "women across the country must set up ambitions and set high aspirations, and strive to become a socialist who is red, diligent, skillful and thrifty." Working women have made greater contributions to completing and overfulfilling the 1960 national construction plan and building socialism at a high speed. On March 5, 1960, the commemoration "... On March 8th International Women's Day, a broadcast conference was held in Beijing to commend and encourage 10,000 (actually 10,002) "March 8th Red Flag Bearers" (6,305) and "March 8th Red Flag Collectives" (3,697). It is hard for people to imagine the unprecedented grandness of this broadcasting commendation conference. “From the frontier to the inland, from the coast to the mountainous areas, our vast motherland is the venue for the broadcasting conference. More than 120 million women from all ethnic groups and all walks of life attended the conference. "

Although affected by the Cultural Revolution, the business work of the All-China Women's Federation basically stopped during the Cultural Revolution, and the "People's Daily" stopped publishing the "March 8th" editorial from 1967. However, the Chinese Communist Party led by Kang Keqing and Deng Yingchao The efforts of women's work leaders enabled this tradition to be restored in 1973, which was fully consistent with the process of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China re-establishing women's organizations and re-emphasizing women's work. A symposium was held in the capital hall for women from all walks of life to celebrate International Women’s Day. The selection activities of the “March 8th Red Flag Bearers (Collective)” that had been interrupted during the Cultural Revolution were resumed in 1979 – making the “March 8th” International Women’s Day the most important event since 1924. The tradition of International Women's Day as an important venue for the Chinese women's movement and women's work continues.