Women in Russia gained the right to vote as a result of the celebration

In 1913, International Women’s Day was recognized in Russia for the first time, and it catapulted to become part of what led to the Russian Revolution in 1917. Women's lives in the Russian Empire before the Revolution were extremely diverse. While wealthy women had access to limited education, especially when women's higher education courses were introduced in the late 1870s, peasant women (who comprised the majority of the Empire's female population in the 19th century) were mostly illiterate. Despite class differences, society remained strongly patriarchal, and women of all backgrounds were not able to vote or hold public office until 1917.

In 1917, women in Russia celebrated the day by going on strike for 'food and peace' in order to protest World War I and fight for gender equality. The protest was led by Poliksena Shishkina-Iavein, President of the League for Women's Equal Rights and Russia's first female gynecologist, and the revolutionary Vera Figner, and up to 40,000 women participated. Tsar Nicholas II, the country's leader at the time, was unsatisfied and directed General Khabalov of the Petrograd Military District to put a stop to the protests; and to kill any lady who refused to stand down. But the ladies were undaunted and continued their protests, leading the Tsar to abdicate just days later. The Russian interim government then granted women the right to vote.