International Women’s Day is celebrated globally on March 8 every year for the purpose of equality between men and women and to show respect to women.
But have you ever thought about what purple colour has added to do with this international day? Each day has a different history behind the symbol of a different colour. Purple is the symbol of Women’s Day. And there is the history behind this colour.
At the beginning of the 20th century, purple, white, and green colours were used by British women who marched for their right to vote. They used to say, purple is a symbol of nobility. White symbolizes purity and green hope. So officially purple is the colour of women’s day but unwritten white and green are also mixed with women’s day. Not only that, purple is a mixture of red and blue. Red is the symbol of revolution. Blue is also mixed in that revolution. So, Women’s Day has five colours – purple, green, white, red, and blue.
Meanwhile, Pantone is an international organization that works with colours used in various products. The company is well known for manufacturing colour mixing and colour matching machines. In 2018, Pantone named purple the colour of the year. But it is not the purple colour we see with our eyes. This violet is ultraviolet light.
Purple is named ‘Colour of the Year’ to honour the rays that carry the unknown existence of space. According to Pantone, purple is as infinite as space and the possibility of something new.
And this idea given by Pantone was adopted by the International Women’s Day celebration authority.
It is known that purple has been used many times before to establish women’s rights as a symbol of equality. When British women marched for suffrage in the early 20th century, they too favored the colour purple. They used white and green along with purple to show their rights.
The fight for women’s rights was limited to elite women only. Later, American author Alice Worker wrote a book about the discrimination of African American women, named ‘The Colour Purple’, for which Alice became the first non-white woman to win the Pulitzer Prize.
In keeping with history, the purple colour was officially associated with Women’s Day from that year. 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 – Purple has been chosen as the colour of Women’s Day for these six years. Today is no exception. Purple has also been used many times as a symbol of equality.
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