International Women's Day is a global observance to celebrate women's achievements and highlight gender equality, women's rights, and challenges still to be addressed. It is not a national public holiday across all of Germany. However, Berlin and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern have made March 8th an official public holiday in their states.

When is International Women's Day?

International Women's Day in Germany is observed annually on March 8.

The following is the list of International Women's Day from 2020 to 2049.

The History of International Women's Day?

The idea came from Clara Zetkin, a German activist, at the International Socialist Women's Conference in Copenhagen in 1910. The first International Women's Day was celebrated in 1911 in several European countries, including Germany, to demand women's suffrage, labor rights, and equality. Over the decades, it spread worldwide and became a symbol of both celebration and protest for women's rights.

The United Nations officially recognized International Women's Day in 1977, giving it a global framework. Since then, it has been marked every March 8 as a day to celebrate women's achievements and raise awareness about gender equality.

In 2019, Berlin became the first and only federal state in Germany to declare March 8 a public holiday. This decision reflected Berlin's progressive and diverse character, recognizing the city's strong tradition of social movements and gender equality activism.

In Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the state parliament passed legislation in 2022 to make March 8 a holiday there.

Since then, schools, government offices, and many workplaces in Berlin and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern close on March 8, making it a statutory holiday.

The day is marked with marches, rallies and cultural events, especially around symbolic places. It is both a celebration of women's achievements and a call to action for ongoing struggles in equality.