In 1977, the UN General Assembly invited their member states to recognize a day dedicated to Women’s Rights and International Peace by proposing the 8th of March which aligned with Italy’s honor day for women. Just across the border from Italy, the UN European headquarters in Geneva Switzerland, had begun celebrating International Women’s Day two years earlier in 1975, but this was only four years after most Swiss women had finally gained the right to vote in federal elections in 1971.

Switzerland trailed far behind other European countries and the United States, however, by the late sixties in the US, fewer and fewer people acknowledged a day dedicated to honor women’s rights. This was until  “Laura X” an advocate who organized a Women’s rights march in Berkeley, California, on International Women’s Day in 1969 helped to foster interest again in documenting movements that support women. The march and protests prompted the creation of the Women’s History Research Center, a place where information and archival material from the women’s movement between 1968 to 1974 are kept.

The history of international women’s day since the establishment is nuanced and unique in every region of the world. However, the day ties in closely with several important themes: Women’s suffrage, equal working rights, reproductive rights, and advocating against violence.

This coloring activity created by Nikita Lai Jing Tse brings meaning behind the symbolism of different flowers into focus on this day and every day that women are acknowledged and honored.