International Women's Day is the story of ordinary women as makers of history. It is rooted in the centuries-old struggle of women to participate in society on an equal footing. The idea of an International Women's Day first arose at the turn of the century, a period of industrialization, expansion, turbulence, booming population growth and urban poverty, and humanist cries of hope and protest. Like many things, this started in America. On March 8, 1857 women from New York City's clothing and textile factories protested poor working conditions and low wages. The protesters were attacked and dispersed by police.

More protests followed on March 8 in subsequent years, most notably in 1908 when 15,000 women marched through New York City demanding shorter hours, better pay and voting rights.

The first National Woman's Day was observed across the United States in 1909. The following year, the Socialist International, meeting in Copenhagen, established International Women's Day to advocate universal suffrage and push women's rights onto agendas.

The following year, more than one million participated in IWD celebrations in several European countries. Just six days later, the Triangle Factory Fire in a New York City tenement factory killed over 140 garment workers. The exit doors at Triangle were of course locked to ensure no one left a minute or two early. The juxtaposition of these two events gave impetus to the New York progressive movement that later was carried to the White House by the Roosevelts, and that ultimately transformed cold-blooded economic Darwinism into the 20th Century welfare state capitalism.

In the West, International Women's Day was prominently celebrated through the 1920's, after which attention diminished. It was revived by the rise of feminism in the 1960s. In 1975, the United Nations began sponsoring International Women's Day. Increasingly over the years, International Women's Day has assumed a global dimension for women in developed and developing countries alike. March 8 is a national holiday in many countries.

Bakersfield began celebrating International Women's Day in 2002, thanks to a collaborative effort by the League of Women Voters and the American Association of University Women. Each community celebrates IWD in its own way. We in Kern County celebrate it by simultaneously reflecting on its global and community dimensions. We do this by honoring the contributions of local women who are foreign-born. This hopefully serves two purposes: (1) raising public awareness and recognition of the immense contributions of our immigrant population and (2) empowering all of us through the inspirational examples of those women who have helped to make Kern County a great place to live.