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International Women's Day: Meet Remarkable Women of the World

The world celebrates International Women’s Day on March 8 – a holiday that marks the role of women in different fields from science and military to politics, business and culture.
Sputnik
The idea of International Women’s Day arose in the early 1900s. The first Women's Day was celebrated following the decision of the Socialist Party of America on February 28, 1909. American women celebrated it on the last Sunday of February until 1913.
In 1910, at a meeting of the Socialist International in Copenhagen, Denmark, it was proposed to establish International Women's Day to celebrate the movement for women's rights and help to establish universal suffrage. The proposal received unanimous support from a conference with more than 100 women from 17 countries, but no specific date was set for the day.
Women's Day in tsarist Russia was established on March 2, 1913, in St. Petersburg at a meeting on equality between men and women.
In the USSR, the holiday was accompanied by glorifying the image of a Soviet woman - worker, mother and communist. In 1963, the USSR hosted the World Congress of Women, and in 1965, March 8 became an official day off. The USSR became the first, and for a long time remained the only European country where March 8 was celebrated at the state level. The Soviet Union played an important role in popularizing the holiday around the world.
Since the dawn of human civilization, the world has seen many women who influenced the course of history. Have a look at Sputnik’s photo gallery to learn more about them.
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Valentina Tereshkova was a Soviet cosmonaut and the first woman to visit space on a solo mission on the Vostok 6 spacecraft. She continues her service to her country, now serving as prominent Russian MP.

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Ludmila Pavlichenko was a Soviet sharpshooter who decimated at least 309 Nazi soldiers and officers. She was granted a Hero of the Soviet Union and Veteran of Battle for Sevastopol.

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Meet the lady who mastered radiation. Maria Sklodowska-Curie was a physicist and chemist who meticulously studied radioactivity. She was the first woman ever to win Nobel Prize as well as the only person who won a Nobel Prize in two different scientific fields.

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Junko Tabei is a Japanese mountaineer. She was the first woman to stand on the summit of Mt. Everest in Nepal on May 16, 1975.

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Meet Nadia Comaneci – Romanian gymnast and five-time Olympic gold medalist. In 1976, being only 14, she became a first ever gymnast to be awarded a 10.0 perfect score at an Olympic Games.

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Kathrine Switzer is an American marathon runner. She had to list herself as "K. Switzer of Syracuse" to participate in all-male Boston Marathon in 1967.

During the race, the manager of the competition tried to throw her out, pushing her and pulling at her clothes. However, Kathrine successfully stayed in line and finished the race.

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Have a look at Hedy Lamarr, actress and inventor. Lamarr, along with composer George Antheil, designed and patented a communications system that has become the underlying technology of the cell phone in 1942

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Eileen Chang (Zhang Ai-ling) – famous Chinese writer, known for portraying life in 1940s Shanghai and Hong Kong. A number of her works inspired movie adaptations – including Love in a Fallen City and Lust, Caution – and remain significant today.

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