To escape the flames, the young women, some holding hands, stepped off the window sills and fell to their death many stories below. Ever since day, International Women's Day, March 8, has been linked indelibly with the Triangle fire. Actually, three years earlier Clara Zetkin proposed International Women's Day at a women's conference in Copenhagen as a way to honor a big rally on Manhattan's Lower East Side to demand women's suffrage and a strong union in the needle trades. Discrimination against women still persists. Frederick Engels, collaborator with Karl Marx, argued women's oppression would exist as long as there is private property.
Women are still underrepresented in the nation's legislatures.
Anti-women violence is a major issue. Women themselves are spearheading the struggle to close the wage gap, joining unions, running for political office and leading mass movements. But men, too, must embrace this struggle. Women are an important part of labor and democratic sturggles and will play an important role in this year's election.