International Women’s Day: From Inez Milholland to the Remarkable Women Who Changed the World

Every year on March 8, the world marks International Women’s Day (IWD), a worldwide moment to celebrate women’s achievements while pushing for equal rights and opportunities for all. Sitting in the heart of Women's History Month and first recognized by the United Nations in 1977, the day has become both a celebration and a call to action. And in 2026, that call feels especially urgent.

Women and girls have never been closer to equality, and yet in many places, they are also closer to losing it. Legal protections against domestic violence have expanded in some countries, but across the world, women still do not enjoy the same legal rights as men. In many places, the systems designed to protect women and girls are failing, leaving millions exposed to discrimination, violence, and injustice.

Ahead of the 70th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW70) at the United Nations this March, a new report warns that backlash against gender equality is intensifying. Laws are being reshaped to restrict women’s freedoms and silence their voices, reminding us that progress is not permanent unless it is protected. “As the world navigates democratic backsliding, rising conflicts, economic pressures, and shrinking of civic space, there is an increasingly organised pushback at gender equality and regression of women's rights,” said Sarah Hendriks, UN Women Director of Policy, Programme and Intergovernmental Division, during a briefing in New York.

Women currently have only 64 percent of the legal rights that men do worldwide. 90 percent of organizations working to end violence against women and girls report reductions in essential services, and only 5 percent believe they can sustain their current operations for more than two years.

From March 9 - 19, global leaders, activists, and policymakers will gather at UN Headquarters in New York for CSW70, the United Nations’ largest annual forum dedicated to gender equality. 

While these global conversations unfold today, the fight for equality dates back more than a century. Our film Into Light tells the story of one of the most powerful figures of the American suffrage movement: Inez Milholland.

(Inez Milholland, Library of Congress)

Milholland became one of the most electrifying voices advocating for women’s voting rights in the early 20th century. Born into a progressive New York family, she studied at Vassar College before earning a law degree from New York University. She used her career to advocate for labor rights, children’s rights, and women’s suffrage.

She became an icon in 1913, when she dramatically rode a white horse at the head of the massive suffrage parade in Washington, D.C., leading more than 8,000 marchers the day before President Woodrow Wilson’s inauguration. In 1916, while speaking at a suffrage event in Los Angeles, she collapsed at the podium after pushing herself through a grueling speaking tour despite severe illness.

The legacy of the suffrage movement opened the door for generations of women who would go on to reshape the 20th century.

Our documentary Remarkable Women of the 20th Century celebrates many of those pioneers, highlighting women who made lasting contributions in politics, culture, science, and the arts.

The film introduces audiences to extraordinary figures, including Amelia Earhart, Eleanor Roosevelt, Katharine Hepburn, Edith Piaf, a legendary French singer, Rosa Parks, a civil rights activist, and many more. Each of these women expanded what was possible in her time, proving that representation and opportunity can reshape entire fields.

More than 100 years after the first International Women’s Day in 1911, many of the same issues remain at the center of global conversations.

Gender inequality continues to shape income levels, access to education, healthcare outcomes, and political representation. Violence against women remains one of the most pervasive human rights violations in the world, affecting nearly one in three women during their lifetime.

Films like Into Light and Remarkable Women of the 20th Century help connect those past struggles with today’s conversations about equality and justice. They remind us that the rights many women hold today did not appear overnight; they were won through the bravery of those willing to fight for them. 

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