Topic: International Women's Day
How does China mark International Women's Day?
妇女节（国际劳动妇女节）
- Local date
- March 8, 2027
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.
What is this topic?
March 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.
Sources and dates
Dates follow local time zones, calendars, and official notices. Check the source when a date is estimated or locally variable.