While most of the nation is prepping up for St. Patrick’s Day in the coming weeks, International Women’s Day on March 8th will pass by without even a blip on the radar of the American mainstream.

Celebrated since 1911, International Women’s Day was established to bring international attention to women’s struggle for equal rights and suffrage, which was becoming more apparent in the days of massive global industrialization. Women were taking on a more noticeable role in society and their societal contributions were beginning to be acknowledged as equal to that of a man’s. Behind the founding of International Women’s Day is Clara Zetkin, a German social activist and former secretary of the International Socialist Women.