Where is World Women’s Day a holiday?

Is International Women’s Day 2026 – also World Women’s Day or just called Women’s Day – a statutory holiday on March 8th? Yes – but only in two federal states, and not very long.

Where is World Women’s Day a holiday in Germany? And what is the meaning behind it? Here you will find the most important information about this special day.

March 8: Where is International Women’s Day 2026 Legal holiday?

International Women’s Day on March 8th has been one since 2019 Holidays in Berlin. At the time, the Berlin House of Representatives decided to have a corresponding amendment to the law. Berlin was the first federal state to declared international women’s day a public holiday.

2023 followed the Holidays in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Here, too, March 8th is a holiday, so that people do not have to go to work or school. The business has closed. Apart from these two federal states, people do not have work -free or school -free that day.

By the way: you will also find with us The overview of all appointments for statutory holidays in Germany.

How long has international women have been around? Origin and history

The World Women’s Day was initiated in August 1910 by the German socialist Clara Zetkin at the second congress of the socialist international in Copenhagen. For the first time, on March 19, 1911, more than a million people in Germany, Austria-Hungary, Denmark and Switzerland demanded that women are allowed to dress and vote. Except in Finland, women were nowhere approved in Europe.

What happens on World Women’s Day in Germany?

Especially in the new federal states, the day has long been connected to red cloves. Women’s day was a socialist event in GDR times. The focus was on fewer political demands than celebrating together. An often male member of the management honored deserved colleagues.

The feminists of the Federal Republic, on the other hand, saw the Women’s Day of the Eastern Bloc countries critically: « In the 1970s we did not know any March 8, » wrote « Alice Schwarzer in 2010 about what they think » Mother’s Day « .

Today, dealing with the day has changed: in many German cities on March 8, the gender equality will be discussed at events.