In her monthly column, Nottingham East MP Nadia Whittome writes about the history of International Women's Day, and how the Labour government's new Employment Rights Bill will tackle aspects of gender equality.
International Women’s Day is seldom remembered today for its radical roots. In a sea of social media posts about personal empowerment or campaigns that serve as a marketing opportunity for businesses, it’s easy to forget International Women’s Day started as a demand for women’s liberation in the form of better workers' rights and social justice. This year, I’d like to reflect on this important history and welcome the government’s Employment Rights Bill as a step towards the real gender equality those early activists fought for.
On 28 February 1909, during the Second Industrial Revolution, the Socialist Party of America organised its first ‘National Woman’s Day’ in New York. One year prior, 15,000 women had marched through New York City demanding better pay, shorter working hours and voting rights. Inspired by this movement, members of the German Social Democratic Party Clara Zetkin and Kate Duncker proposed the establishment of an annual ‘Woman’s Day’ at the 1910 International Socialist Women’s Conference in Copenhagen. They wanted to unite women worldwide in the struggle for equal rights. The conference of over a hundred women from seventeen countries unanimously approved the idea, and so the first International Women’s Day was born in the following year.
On 19 March 1911, over a million people observed the first International Women’s Day in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland, attending rallies for suffrage and an end to gender discrimination. However, just six days later, the Triangle Shirtwaist Fa ’ in New York City killed more than 146 garment workers, most of whom were Italian and Jewish immigrants. This tragedy drew even more attention to poor working conditions and labour rights in the US, becoming a focus of subsequent International Women’s Day events and inspiring the famous Bread and Roses slogan – a call for fair wages and better living conditions.
International Women’s Day changed the course of history. Russian women first campaigned for peace before the outbreak of World War One in 1913. Then, in 1917, after two million Russian soldiers died in the war, the women’s protest sparked the Russian Revolution, which eventually saw the establishment of the Soviet Union. It wasn’t until 1975 that the United Nations first celebrated International Women's Day.
Despite the large political strides made since those early demonstrations towards gender equality, there is still much work to be done. In 2025, global gender inequality persists in the form of pay gaps, healthcare inequality, the burden of unpaid care and domestic labour, as well as harassment and violence. Unpaid care remains at the heart of women’s economic inequality in the UK, with women carrying out 50% more unpaid work than men.
It’s crucial to remember the history of International Women’s Day and the role unions and socialist movements have played in securing progress – the fight for equality is more than a 24-hour celebration
Factors such as racism, ableism, transphobia, and classism increase the likelihood of experiencing both violence and economic hardship. For example, not only are disabled people among those often hit hardest by cuts to public spending, but disabled women are also disproportionately at risk from all forms of violence and abuse from carers, partners and people in their community.
I am pleased to say that our government’s Employment Rights Bill will amend existing employment laws to better protect workers’ rights and improve gender equality. First, the Bill will introduce rights to guaranteed hours for those on zero-hour contracts, with reasonable notice of shifts and compensation for short-notice cancellation. This will provide job security to over half a million women.
Secondly, it provides better access to statutory sick pay (SSP). The new Bill will remove the threshold for eligibility and the three-day wait period. With women more likely to be ineligible for SSP than men due to systemic low pay, this could provide new sick pay rights to 1.5 million women. However, SSP still remains too low in the UK, especially to keep pace with the rising cost of living. In most EU countries, sickness payments are between 70-100% of average wages, while in the UK, this is at a shocking 17%.
Then, there are long overdue protections for pregnancy and maternity discrimination. The Bill will introduce new protections from dismissal for a woman who is pregnant and for six months after her return to work. Research shows that pregnancy and maternity discrimination is the number one employment law issue with which women seek help. The government must also improve access to legal aid to further progress on this issue. Cuts since 2012 have created significant barriers, especially for women fighting employment discrimination cases.
Finally, there are efforts to reduce the gender through strengthened reporting, requiring companies to publish the difference in average earnings between men and women each year. The Bill will introduce Equality Action Plans, which will set out how to address gender pay gap issues and support employees going through menopause. The government must follow through on its findings because women earn less per hour than men on average and are more likely to work fewer hours due to unpaid care responsibilities. This gender earnings gap compounds over a lifetime, contributing to a gender pension gap that leaves women with fewer savings and less wealth than men.
Campaigners call on the government to also tackle the root causes of workplace inequality: the lack of quality part-time and flexible work, which hinders women’s progression into higher paid and more senior positions; discriminatory and biased recruitment practices and unpaid caregiving duties outside of the workplace.
The changes the Bill will bring about didn’t happen overnight – they are the result of years of effort by trade unionists and activists fighting for workers' rights and gender equality. That’s why it’s crucial to remember the history of International Women’s Day and the role unions and socialist movements have played in securing progress.
As a lifelong feminist, I know the government can - and must - do more for gender equality. In the meantime, I welcome the Employment Rights Bill and will remain committed to fighting for women’s rights, both in and out of the workplace, alongside activists and trade unionists. Together, we can ensure that the fight for our rights doesn’t just take place on one day, but continues every day of the year.
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