Woman · Day · Book

Women's history, day by day

Most people know the date of their own birthday. Fewer people know which women in history were born on it. The dates on this page come from public records. Each one links to the record it comes from.

Women born on 8 March

These four women were all born on 8 March. Each line links to her record on Wikidata.

Every woman on a birthday list here has died. Trans women are women, and they belong on these lists too. Some days have few women on record. The editors of Women in Red counted 20.43% of English Wikipedia's biographies as being about women, as of 17 October 2026.

Why International Women's Day is on 8 March

In the United States, the Socialist Party of America held a day for women in New York on 28 February 1909. In 1910, Clara Zetkin proposed an international day for working women. A conference of socialist women in Copenhagen agreed to it that year. They set no date.

On 19 March 1911, more than a million people marked the first International Women's Day. They gathered in Austria-Hungary, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland.

In Petrograd in 1917, women textile workers began a protest for bread and peace on 23 February. Russia still used the old Julian calendar. In the calendar used across most of Europe, that day was 8 March. The United Nations began marking 8 March in 1975. In December 1977, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution for a day for women's rights and international peace.

Old dates and the 1752 calendar change

Britain changed from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar in 1752. Parliament passed the Calendar (New Style) Act in 1750. Under that Act, people in Britain went from 2 September 1752 straight to 14 September. Eleven days were left out. The same Act made 1 January the first day of the year.

A birthday written down in Britain before September 1752 is an old-style date. Its day in today's calendar is different. Wikidata's editors store each date with the calendar it was recorded in.

Birth dates nobody can pin down

Some women's birthdays are not known to the day. Anne Bonny was a pirate. Wikidata gives her birth year as 1697 in one record and as 1700 in another. Its editors have marked a third record, giving 8 March 1697, as unreliable.

Harriet Samuel was an English businesswoman. Wikipedia lists her among people born on 8 March. Wikidata records only her year of birth, which was 1836. Dates like these belong on a separate list, with each source beside its date.

Elected, and then seated

Constance Markievicz was elected to the House of Commons in December 1918. She won Dublin St Patrick's for Sinn Féin. She followed her party's policy and did not take her seat.

Nancy Astor won Plymouth Sutton at a by-election in November 1919. Hansard records her as sworn in on 1 December 1919. She was the first woman to sit as an MP.

Votes for women in the Acts

The Representation of the People Act 1918 is dated 6 February 1918. Under section 4, a woman aged 30 or over could register to vote for Parliament. She, or her husband, also had to meet a property test.

The Representation of the People (Equal Franchise) Act 1928 is dated 2 July 1928. Parliament passed it to make the vote the same for women and men.

Useful links