Why Is Women's Day on March 8? History, Wishes and Gifts

March 8 is International Women's Day. In much of the world it is a day for talking about women's rights; in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and the other countries that kept it from the Soviet calendar, it is also a day off, a day of flowers, and the day every woman you know — your mother, your partner, your colleagues — expects at least a message. This is where the date actually comes from, where it is a day off in 2027, what to write, and how to send flowers to someone you cannot hand them to.

Is March 8 a day off in 2027?

In 2027 March 8 falls on a Monday, which matters most where it is a public holiday:

• Kazakhstan: a public holiday and a day off. With the weekend before it, that is three days in a row on a five-day week — Saturday 6 to Monday 8 March.
• Uzbekistan: International Women's Day is on the list of public holidays in the Labour Code, so Monday 8 March is a day off.
• Ukraine: March 8 is still listed as a holiday in the Labour Code, but under martial law holidays do not bring a day off. A bill to drop the date was registered and never took effect, so for as long as martial law lasts, March 8 is an ordinary working day.

In most of Western Europe and North America it is not a public holiday at all, which is why the day looks so different depending on where your family lives.

Why Women's Day is on March 8

The holiday was not founded on March 8, and for its first years it had no fixed date. The documented timeline goes like this:

• 1909: the Socialist Party of America holds a Woman's Day in New York on 28 February.
• 1910: at the International Socialist Women's Conference in Copenhagen, German delegates including Clara Zetkin propose an annual Women's Day. The hundred delegates from seventeen countries agree — but set no date.
• 1911: the first International Women's Day, on 19 March, is marked by more than a million people in Austria-Hungary, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland.
• 1917: on 8 March (23 February in the old Julian calendar), women textile workers in Petrograd walk out demanding "bread and peace". The strike becomes the start of the February Revolution.
• 1921–1922: the date is fixed to 8 March at the Second International Conference of Communist Women, and the following year it is declared International Women's Day in the new Soviet state.
• 1965: a decree of 8 May makes March 8 a non-working public holiday in the Soviet Union — the day off that several countries still keep.
• 1975–1977: the United Nations first celebrates the day during International Women's Year, and in 1977 the General Assembly invites member states to observe a day for women's rights.

So the short answer to "why March 8" is 1917: the date is the anniversary of the Petrograd strike, counted in the modern calendar.

The 1857 march that probably never happened

Many March 8 articles still open with a story about New York garment workers marching on 8 March 1857 — sometimes called the "march of empty pots". Researchers describe it as a myth. One detail makes the point on its own: 8 March 1857 was a Sunday. The dates that can actually be documented begin in 1909.

Women's Day wishes you can send

A few lines, written for this page, for the people you are most likely to be writing to:

• For your mother: Happy Women's Day, Mum. Everything I know about being kind and stubborn at the same time, I learned from you.
• For your partner: Happy March 8. You make ordinary days feel like this one — flowers included.
• For a friend far away: I cannot bring you tulips this year, so this message is carrying them. Happy Women's Day — I miss you.
• For colleagues: Happy International Women's Day to the women who make this team work. Thank you for the ideas, the patience and the deadlines you rescue.
• Short and warm: Happy Women's Day. May the spring be as good to you as you are to everyone around you.

What to give on March 8

Flowers are the present most people reach for — usually tulips or mimosa, bought the morning of the 8th. Beyond that, the gifts that land best are the ones that show attention rather than budget:

• flowers with a handwritten card, even a short one;
• something she mentioned wanting and forgot about;
• an evening out or a morning off, planned so she does not have to;
• for colleagues, one shared treat for the office rather than gifts one by one;
• and for someone far away, a call — and a gift that actually arrives.

A bouquet that arrives in Telegram

Telegram gifts are real items that appear in the recipient's profile, bought with Telegram Stars and sent in a chat. Two of them suit March 8 almost too well: the Red Rose, at 25 Stars, and the Bouquet of Flowers, at 50 Stars. Neither wilts, and both stay in her profile after the day is over.

The standard way to send one is covered step by step in how to send a Telegram gift, and what Stars are and what they cost in what Telegram Stars are. There is also a second way, and it is the one we built: in Gift Club you can win a Telegram gift and pass it on to someone else with a link.

How to pass on a gift you won in Gift Club

1. Win one. Gift Club is a Telegram mini app. Its boxes, scratch cards and games such as Plinko, Minefield and Coin Flip pay out in Stars and in Telegram gifts. They are paid games — a round costs Stars, and a round can lose.
2. Open it in your collection. A gift you win lands there. You can send it to your own Telegram account, exchange it for Stars, or give it away.
3. Create a gift link. Choose Send to Friend and create a link. There is a small fee in Stars, shown before you confirm, and the gift is locked while it waits to be claimed.
4. Send the link with your wishes. She opens it, claims the gift in the Gift Club app, and it appears in her collection. You get a notification when it has been claimed.

Two things to know before you press send. A gift link is one-time, and the gift goes to whoever claims it first — so send it in a private chat, not in the office group. And if it has not been claimed yet, you can cancel the link and the gift goes back to your collection. You cannot claim your own link.

What this app is, plainly

March 8 is a family occasion, so this is worth saying directly. Gift Club's games are paid, they are for adults, and winning a gift is never guaranteed — you can spend Stars and win nothing. The return each game is designed to pay back is published, and a round can be checked after the fact; both are explained in the RTP index and in provably fair verification. If what you want is simply to give her flowers in Telegram, buying the gift directly in Telegram is the certain route.

FAQ

Why is International Women's Day on March 8? Because of 1917: on 8 March, by the modern calendar, women textile workers in Petrograd went on strike, and the protest became the start of the February Revolution. The date was fixed to March 8 in 1921.

Did Women's Day start with a march in New York in 1857? Researchers describe that story as a myth — 8 March 1857 was a Sunday. The documented history starts with a Woman's Day in New York in 1909.

Is March 8, 2027 a day off in Kazakhstan? Yes. It is a Monday, so on a five-day week the days off run from Saturday 6 to Monday 8 March.

Is March 8 a day off in Ukraine? It stays in the Labour Code as a holiday, but under martial law holidays bring no extra day off, so it is a working day.

What flowers do people give on March 8? Most often tulips or mimosa. In Telegram, the Red Rose and the Bouquet of Flowers gifts do the same job at a distance.

What if the wrong person opens my gift link? The gift goes to whoever claims it first, so send the link in a private chat. If nobody has claimed it yet, you can cancel it and get the gift back.

Keep reading

• How to Send a Telegram Gift — the standard route, step by step.
• What Are Telegram Stars — the currency gifts are bought and sent with.
• Nauryz: Traditions, Greetings and a Gift That Arrives in Telegram — the next spring holiday, two weeks later.