How Feminists Ruined International Women’s Day
By Allison Schuster
A devastating fire known as the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire in 1911 claimed the lives of more than 140 working women, mostly Italian and Jewish immigrants, in New York City. It went down in history as the deadliest industrial disaster in New York and one of the deadliest in the nation’s history.
Part of first-wave feminism was about protesting the working conditions that gave rise to this tragedy. At that stage, feminism was a movement I would have been proud to support. Flash forward to the modern day, and International Women’s Day (IWD) is an overly-reverential holiday that’s riddled with hypocrisy.
Now, the country celebrates IWD on March 8 every year. Across Instagram, many girls and women will use the day as an opportunity to express their First World discontentment and to pat themselves on the back for being in the fight for already-achieved women’s rights. Just one year prior to the Triangle fire, women from all over the world gathered at the International Conference of Working Women and agreed there should be a day for women to protest gender-based injustice globally. Their causes included protesting world wars, fighting for women’s suffrage, and rallying for fair working conditions.
After years of feminist progress, the United Nations officially recognized the international holiday in 1975. But, according to the IWD’s own website, by 2000, “there was little mainstream activity occurring for International Women’s Day in most countries. The world had moved on.”
When I was growing up in the 2000s, I hadn’t even heard of the day. Over the next decade, there began an inorganic push to reignite the holiday that had been naturally dying as the cause faded into obsolescence. Former president Barack Obama designated the month of March as “Women’s history month” in 2011, and called on Americans to honor IWD.
A-list celebrities and the Left’s political darlings succeeded in reviving the day. Now, it looks vastly different from its 20th century counterpart. No longer is the day marked by disenfranchised women advocating for their right to hold public office and protesting gender discrimination. Now, top-paid Hollywood elites and business leaders are the biggest promoters.
Some big businesses give their female employees the day off work and offer them a day of luxury benefits. IWD has become mainstream among elites rather than oppressed women, and it shows.
The women who choose to celebrate IWD today are the same who can’t define what a woman is. It’s the same who refused to condemn the rape and pillage of Israeli girls, mothers, and grandmothers in the greatest anti-Jewish atrocity since the Holocaust. Or worse, they denied it happened. There’s still plenty afflicting women around the world, and I’m not against a day that focuses on genuine progress. This day, however, has been co-opted by privileged fourth-wave feminists whose efforts are misguided.
The issues that early feminists fought for – humane working conditions, the right to have their voices heard – still affect women. Why don’t we focus on fighting for the little girls in China making the clothes celebrities and politicians wear? I try to honor women not just on March 8 but everyday. I avoid shopping in fast fashion, an industry tied to child labor, and instead buy from small businesses. I pray for women undergoing difficult pregnancy and support laws that give them real choice, as opposed to pro-abortion legislation. I call my mom to say I love her. I cheer on my female friends in their successes and support them in their hard times. I honor my body by eating nutritious foods and dressing modestly.
Most of those taking part in this day don’t stand up for the most vulnerable and tear down women who don’t fit their often anti-woman agenda. These activists chanted “say her name” after Brianna Taylor died but ignored the murder of 22-year-old Laken Riley just last week.
The Left is obsessed with empty gestures and virtue-signaling. I wasn’t racist for not posting a black square on Instagram in the summer of 2020, and I’m not anti-woman for not posting a social media graphic today. Maybe instead of belittling other women through shallow virtue-signaling, activist women should pour more love and energy into the women in their personal lives.
Much like the feminist movement as a whole, IWD has taken something that once served women and used it as a weapon to marginalize many of them. I’m not opposed to a day to recognize women, but the means must not be in vain.
Allison Schuster is a communications strategist and policy advisor to the Center for Education Opportunity for the America First Policy Institute, as well as a contributor for The Federalist. She lives in Washington, D.C. but escapes to New York whenever possible.
