International Women’s Day

SUCH CELEBRATION FINDS ITS ROOTS AT THE BEGINNING OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY, HOWEVER IT IS ONLY IN 1945 THAT IT IS OFFICIALLY PROCLAIMED IN ITALY, SO AS TO GIVE VOICE TO WOMEN’S RIGHTS. PATRIZIA VOLPATO SRL FEELS VERY CLOSE TO THIS ANNIVERSARY AS IT WAS ACTUALLY A WOMAN, PATRZIA VOLPATO, WHO GAVE BIRTH TO THE COMPANY IN 1980.

Origins

The International Women’s Day was established so that women could give voice to their rights as workers and citizens equal to men.

The origins of a precise day meant for thinking over and discussing about women’s role are to be found at the beginning of the twentieth century, starting from specific political currents typical of that period, such as socialism. At the congress of Stuttgart in 1907 first and in USA after, in 1908, people began to discuss in detail topics such as the universal suffrage, the exploitation of women workers and sexual discrimination. In 1909 the first National Women’s Day in USA was born.

In Europe since 1910, following the conference held at Copenhagen of the “Internazionale Socialista”, the first International Women’s Day was proclaimed, to promote the rights of the female gender with the aim to ensure the right to vote for women. Hundred women from 17 different countries actually participated to such conference, yet still an official date to celebrate this occurrence was not established.

In 1917, in conjunction with the First World War, a series of manifestations led by women occurred in Russia to protest against the ongoing conflict and these continued and fueled other protests until tsarism fell: consequently 8 march 1917 was chosen by the Comunist Party as the official date for the “international women workers’ day”, marking the symbolic beginning of the Russian Revolution of February.

However, we must wait until 1977 for 8 March to become the official date of such celebration worldwide.

International Women’s Day in Italy

In Italy, the first Women’s Day celebration was organized in 1922 by the Communist Party. During the Fascist period such occurrence was more related to politics than to women’s rights. On March 8, 1945 instead, our country celebrated the first Women’s Day in the areas of Italy already freed and in the same year women obtained the right to vote.

The relationship between mimosa and 8 March

The tradition to offer women yellow flowers, precisely mimosas, to celebrate Women’s Day occurs in Italy only. Since in the Italian Peninsula such official celebration began in the second post-war period, it was decided to choose a flower that was cheap and easy to find also in the fields after winter time: that is mimosa. The first proposal had been violets, a symbol of the European Left parties who were supporting such initiative, however, it was then considered too expensive and too difficult to find, therefore not compliant with the period of economic and social struggles that Italy was going through.

Moreover, due to its conformation, mimosa represents solidarity and sympathy between women, since the small yellow flowers are close to each other on the twig that keeps them together.

Women’s Day became a popular recurrence only starting from the Seventies yet the symbol of mimosa was a success right from the beginning, as a matter of fact still today, on March 8, it is offered to women.

Women and the Working Universe

Today the celebration of Women’s Day represents most of all an occasion to think about women’s role within society and within the working universe, starting from gender equality and gender gap. Detailed data offer a clear scenery: the difference between men and women  within the working and the social spheres are unsettling. However, there also are some encouraging data, such as the ones reported by Unioncamere and Infocamere that “register one million and 340 thousand female companies in Italy; such companies, which make up for 22% of the total, in the last 5 years have grown at a much more intense speed than the male companies: +2,9% against the +0,3%.”*

The example of Patrizia Volpato srl

The female entrepreneurship is a very important topic for our company since it was actually founded by the businesswoman and designer Patrizia Volpato in 1980, an historical period when women rights within the working sphere were deeply underestimated. After more than 40 years since its beginnings, the company follows the footprints of its founder, a woman with a strong character and a farsighted vision, therefore it evolves without never forgetting its own origins.

*(source: www.youngwomennetwork.com)