International Women's Day
How the world celebratesMarch 8 falls on the same day in all seven places compared here, and is treated completely differently by each legal system. China gives women a paid half-day, written into the State Council's holiday regulation. Taiwan lists it as a "festival" but its statute states plainly that it is not a day off. The United States does not use the single date at all, designating all of March as Women's History Month. Brazil is the odd one out: its national women's day sat on April 30 until a 2025 law moved it to March 8. What this page compares is not who values women more, but how far each system formally recognises the same date.
Quick answers
- When is it?
- United States · March 1, 2027–March 31, 2027; India · February 13, 2027; China · March 8, 2027; Indonesia · March 8, 2027; Japan · March 8, 2027; Taiwan · March 8, 2027; Brazil · March 8, 2027
- How do places mark it?
- United States · Women's History Month; India · राष्ट्रीय महिला दिवस; China · 妇女节（国际劳动妇女节）; Indonesia · Hari Perempuan Internasional; Japan · 国際女性の日; Taiwan · 婦女節; Brazil · Dia Nacional da Mulher / Dia Internacional da Mulher
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How the world celebrates
- February 13, 2027Local date
Indiaराष्ट्रीय महिला दिवस
February 13 is India's राष्ट्रीय महिला दिवस (National Women's Day), marking the birth of the poet and independence activist Sarojini Naidu (born February 13, 1879). Known as the Nightingale of India, or Bharat Kokila, she became the first woman governor of the United Provinces — today's Uttar Pradesh — after independence. The Speaker of the Lok Sabha and others pay tribute each year. Note that this day commemorates a specific historical individual, which is a completely different lineage from March 8 and its origins in the international labour movement; conflating the two is the most common error when researching India.
- March 1, 2027– March 31, 2027Local date
United StatesWomen's History Month
The United States has no official March 8 observance; instead the whole of March is Women's History Month. The legal basis is Public Law 100-9, enacted March 12, 1987, which designated March 1987 as Women's History Month and requested the President issue a proclamation calling on Americans to observe it with appropriate ceremonies. Before that, Public Law 97-28 of 1981 had designated only the week beginning March 7, 1982. From 1988 to 1994 Congress passed legislation each year requesting a proclamation; since then presidents have issued them annually on their own. So the American model is "presidential proclamation plus a whole month", not "one day plus a holiday" — which is why searching for official US activity on March 8 specifically tends to come up empty.
- March 8, 2027Local date
China妇女节（国际劳动妇女节）
China is the only one of the seven that grants leave. Article 3 of the Measures on National Annual Festivals and Commemorative Days lists Women's Day among "festivals and commemorative days on which some citizens have time off", stating that "on Women's Day (March 8), women have half a day off" — the entitlement is limited to women, and it is half a day, not a full one. The same article gives youth aged 14 and over a half day on Youth Day, children under 14 a full day on Children's Day, and serving military personnel a half day on Army Day: the logic is consistent, leave is granted by status. The provision has survived every revision of the measures, most recently the State Council's amending decision of November 2024. How a workplace actually schedules the half day varies widely.
- March 8, 2027Local date
IndonesiaHari Perempuan Internasional
Indonesia calls March 8 Hari Perempuan Internasional, organised by the Ministry of Women's Empowerment and Child Protection (Kementerian PPPA), typically through ministerial addresses, joint events with women's organisations, and campaigning against gender-based violence. It is not a red-letter day and carries no leave. Indonesia separately observes Hari Ibu on December 22, often translated as Mother's Day, but its origin is the first Indonesian Women's Congress held in Yogyakarta on December 22, 1928, formalised as a commemorative day by Presidential Decree No. 316 of 1959. It is a women's movement anniversary rather than a domestic Mother's Day — a misreading that is common inside Indonesia too.
- March 8, 2027Local date
Japan国際女性の日
Japan calls March 8 「国際女性の日」, led by the Gender Equality Bureau of the Cabinet Office. It is not a statutory holiday and does not appear in the Act on National Holidays. The government's practice is for the minister responsible for gender equality to issue a message each year, with the Cabinet Office keeping an archive of past messages. In other words Japan recognises the day through official speech rather than through leave or legislation. Note that March 1–8 is separately designated Women's Health Week, and June carries Gender Equality Week; the three are thematically close but institutionally distinct, not different names for one event.
- March 8, 2027Local date
Taiwan婦女節
Taiwan's 婦女節 appears in Article 5(5) of the Act on Commemorative Days and Holidays, dated March 8, classified as a "festival" rather than a "commemorative day". Article 6(3) of the same act is explicit: festivals other than those in paragraph 1 are not days off — and paragraph 1 covers Lunar New Year's Eve and New Year, Children's Day, Tomb Sweeping Day, Labour Day, Dragon Boat Festival, Teachers' Day and Mid-Autumn Festival. So Women's Day in Taiwan has legal standing but no holiday. In practice agencies and schools run talks or award ceremonies, employers decide for themselves whether to offer flexibility, and retailers treat it as a sales window. Note separately that Children's Day on April 4 is a day off; the two were once combined as a single "Women's and Children's Day", but the current statute handles them separately.
- March 8, 2027Local date
BrazilDia Nacional da Mulher / Dia Internacional da Mulher
Brazil's entry changed very recently. Law No. 6,791 of June 9, 1980 created the "Dia Nacional da Mulher", but placed it on **April 30**, with the stated aim of encouraging women's integration into the development process. Law No. 15,261 of November 13, 2025 amended it: the national women's day moved to March 8, and "Dia Internacional da Mulher" was formally added to the national calendar of commemorative dates. The same 2025 law also created a Dia Nacional das Meninas on October 11. Neither is a national public holiday; they are entries on the official commemorative calendar. So sources published before 2025 may still give April 30 as Brazil's national women's day.
- March 8, 2027Local date
Indiaअंतर्राष्ट्रीय महिला दिवस
India marks March 8 as अंतर्राष्ट्रीय महिला दिवस, led by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, with central and state award ceremonies and policy announcements, and a themed backgrounder published each year by the Press Information Bureau. It is not a public holiday. What makes India distinctive is that it has two women's days: the international one on March 8 and a national one on February 13. Among the seven places compared here, this "international day plus national day" structure occurs only in India.
Sources and dates
Dates follow local time zones, calendars, and official notices. Check the source when a date is estimated or locally variable.