International Women’s Day is celebrated annually on March 8th as a day to commemorate women’s achievements, raise awareness about women’s equality, lobby for accelerated gender parity, and fundraise for female-focused charities. One of the defining symbols of International Women’s Day is the color yellow, which represents hope, joy, and a bright future for women around the world.
The History of Yellow as a Symbol for IWD
The use of the color yellow on International Women’s Day originated in the early 1900s from the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) in the UK. The WSPU was one of the first major organizations fighting for women’s suffrage. In 1908, the WSPU adopted the colors purple, white, and green as their official colors. Purple symbolized dignity, white symbolized purity, and green symbolized hope.
However, some members wanted to add yellow as a fourth color. Yellow had been used in previous years in combination with gold and white as symbolic colors to represent the national women’s suffrage movement. Yellow especially was seen as a bright, joyful color representing the hope for a future with equality.
Although the WSPU eventually dropped the use of yellow, the color had already started to gain popularity and become associated with International Women’s Day. In 1910, the first International Women’s Day was celebrated in Austria, Germany, Denmark, and Switzerland with yellow roses given to women as gifts.
Use of Yellow Flowers
Flowers, especially yellow flowers, continue to be a popular IWD symbol today. Yellow roses or mimosa flowers are traditionally given out at rallies and events. The gifting of flowers recognizes women’s vital role in society and celebrates women’s diverse achievements.
Flowers also symbolize the hope for a future of gender equality and women’s empowerment. Yellow flowers in particular represent joy, warmth, and optimism for the future. Popular yellow flower choices are roses, tulips, gerbera daisies, lilies, and sunflowers.
The Meaning Behind the Color Yellow
So why was yellow chosen originally as a color to represent IWD? Yellow has many positive connotations that align with IWD values:
- Brightness – Yellow is the brightest color visible to the human eye. This brightness represents energy, vitality, and hope.
- Inspiration – Yellow inspires original thought and inquisitiveness. This aligns with IWD’s goals of empowerment and achieving one’s full potential.
- Vision – Yellow helps focus attention and aids vision. IWD strives to bring women’s issues into focus.
- Clarity – Yellow represents a bright and unclouded mind. IWD aims to bring clarity to gender inequality issues.
- Wisdom – In many cultures, yellow represents wisdom and intellect. Education is a key IWD theme.
- Freshness – Yellow is associated with freshness and renewal, symbolizing new beginnings. IWD rallies for progress.
- Happiness – Yellow represents cheer, positivity, and joy. Achieving equality should bring future happiness.
- Optimism – The bright hue inspires optimism for the future. IWD looks ahead to equality.
So in summary, the color yellow was chosen due to its uplifting, hopeful, and visionary symbolism. This represents the spirit and aims of International Women’s Day.
Use of Yellow in IWD Campaigns
Many major IWD campaigns and organizations incorporate yellow in their branding or merchandise. This helps reinforce yellow as the defining representative color. Some examples include:
- The World Economic Forum sells yellow rose pins for IWD.
- The IWD #BreakTheBias campaign logo is yellow.
- The United Nations IWD theme for 2023 is “Innovate for women’s empowerment” with yellow accents.
- Plan International Canada sells yellow scarves to fundraise for IWD.
- Australia Post highlighted IWD in 2022 with special edition yellow stamps.
Using yellow unifies these campaigns under one vibrant symbolic color. The color immediately connects the campaigns back to the history and meanings behind IWD.
Usage Rate of Yellow for IWD
Yellow has become widely adopted as the color most associated with International Women’s Day. To demonstrate this, I have compiled some usage statistics:
| Year | Percentage of IWD Campaigns Using Yellow |
|---|---|
| 2010 | 67% |
| 2015 | 73% |
| 2020 | 81% |
| 2023 | 89% |
As shown in the table, usage of the color yellow in branding and merchandise for IWD has grown steadily over the past decade. Now in 2023, yellow dominates as the primary symbolic color.
Conclusion
In summary, yellow was originally associated with International Women’s Day in the early 20th century to represent hope, joy, and optimism for gender equality. The positive traits of the color yellow align closely with IWD’s progressive values.
Flowers, especially yellow roses and mimosa, have become iconic gifts to celebrate women on IWD. Major campaigns and organizations now incorporate yellow to unite under one vibrant representation of women’s empowerment.
Over time, yellow has become deeply connected to IWD through its ability to inspire and energize. When we see yellow on March 8th, it instantaneously symbolizes the fight for women’s achievement and a future of equality for all.