International Women’s Day originated in the struggle for equal rights and the right to vote for women and was first initiated by the social democrat Clara Zetkin on 19 March 1911. Millions of women from several countries demonstrated publicly on that day with the battle cry “Out with women’s suffrage!” for equal pay and a right to co-determination. In 1921, Women’s Day was moved to 8 March at Zetkin’s request, because on 8 March 1917 women textile workers in St Petersburg had gone on strike under the slogan “Peace and Bread!”, thus making the day globally significant.
International Women’s Day is a public holiday in 26 countries around the world. Within Germany, only in the federal state of Berlin – since 2019.
In keeping with Women’s Day, Furore Verlag has published four volumes of the series “Mund auf statt Klappe zu” (“Shout up with your song! Songs from the Women’s Movement”) in recent years, in which songs of the international women’s movement from different epochs and countries have been published.
The history of the women’s movement includes numerous songs that musically underpinned and loudly expressed demands for equal rights, appropriate working conditions, political and social participation, self-determination and development.
The selection, which ranges from workers’ songs to women’s suffrage songs and self-determination songs, takes into account different eras and countries.