‘Women’s Day’ (8 March) was first celebrated in Turkey in 1921, but was halted by the military coup of 1980. After a 4-year hiatus it began to be celebrated again in 1984. Although 8 March has created a certain organisation amongst women in Turkey, this has not been sufficient to reduce the incidence of violence, sexual abuse and rape or exploitation of women’s labour.

On 8 March 1857 in New York 40.000 textile workers started a strike to demand better working conditions. However, after the police attacked the factory and the workers staged a lock-in, a fire broke out leading to the deaths of 129 workers, most of them women. More than 100,000 attended the funerals of the workers.

On 26 - 27 August 1910 in Copenhagen women of the 2nd International held an International Socialist Women’s Conference, at which Clara Zetkin, a leader of the German Social Democratic Party proposed celebrating 8 March as ‘World Women’s Day’ in memory of the women workers who died on 8 March 1857. The conference passed the proposal unanimously.

8 March has overcome bans to reach the present day

In the early years there was no specific date for the celebration but it was always in spring. The date was fixed at an International Women’s Conference in Moscow in 1921. Between the First and Second World Wars the event was banned in some countries. By the end of the 1960s the day was celebrated in the United States and then on 16 December 1977 the United Nations recognised 8 March as the UN Day for Women’s Rights and World Peace.

Military coup cleared women from the streets

In Turkey World Working Women’s Day was first celebrated in 1921, as ‘Women’s Day’. In 1975 it began to be celebrated more broadly and in the same year a "Turkey 1975 Women’s Year" congress was held. After the military coup of 12 September 1980 there was no celebration for 4 years. Since 1984 International Women’s Day’ has been celebrated by various organisations.

Men continue to carry out murders

Despite the celebration of Women’s Day, ‘male violence’ has reached frightening levels in Turkey, while worldwide thousands of women are murdered by men. According to unofficial figures, 237 women were murdered in Turkey in 2013. In the first ten months of 2014 this figure had risen to 255. In January 2015 twenty women were murdered by people such as their husbands, boyfriends or fiances, while in February 8 women were the victims of male violence, including Özgecan Aslan.

Seen as fitting for women: death, torture, rape…

According to a Council of Europe report in 2002 the most common cause of death and serious injury amongst women between the ages of 16 and 44 was violence. In the United States of America every year around 4 million women are abused by their partners, with 4,000 of these incidents resulting in death.

During the Second World War many women were used as sex slaves. In 1971 during the independence war in Bangladesh between 250 - 400 thousand women were raped, with 25 thousand resulting pregnancies.  In Bosnia more than 20 thousand women were raped. During the civil war in Rwanda, over 15 thousand women were raped. Today, thousands of women abducted by ISIS are being sold in slave markets and suffering rape. In some countries, women continue to suffer punishments such as being stoned to death and flogging. In Sudan women are punished for wearing trousers, in Iran for listening to music with men and in Saudi Arabia for driving cars.

Exploitation of women’s labour

Women’s labour is also exploited and women generally earn less than men for doing the same work. While in Turkey the proportion of men in the work force is 69.5%, amongst women the figure is 27.9%. In rural areas the figure is as high as 44.4%, but in urban areas only 15.2%.