SAN DIEGO, Calif. (FOX 5/KUSI) — International Women’s Day (IWD) has been a day to celebrate and champion women’s rights and equality for more than a century.

The day, which landed on Sunday this year, was first observed in 1911.

The idea of having an international day to celebrate women first came to fruition in 1910 when the leader of the Women’s Office for the Social Democratic Party in Germany tabled the idea during the International Socialist Women’s Conference, according to the IWD website.

The idea received support from more than 100 women representing 17 countries at the conference. On March 19, 1911, Austria, Denmark and Switzerland became the first countries to celebrate the holiday. More than a million women and men attended rallies that day.

This year marks 115 years of the IWD movement, and a chance to celebrate some of San Diego’s very own noteworthy women.

Ellen Browning Scripps

The Scripps name is familiar to most San Diegans. But what some might not know is that it was La Jolla’s Ellen Browning Scripps who founded Scripps Memorial Hospital and Scripps Metabolic Clinic, and broke many barriers for women at the time.

Scripps was one of the first women to attend college in the U.S., a successful journalist and one of the few women to grace the cover of Time Magazine in 1926.

Besides healthcare, Scripps’s legacy can be felt throughout San Diego — she helped establish the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla Woman’s Club and The Bishop’s School, as well as La Jolla Public Library, Scripps College, Children’s Pool and Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve.

Kate Sessions

Another San Diego landmark, Kate Sessions Memorial Park, was created to honor the late Katherine Olivia “Kate” Sessions, a pioneer in horticulture.

Sessions owned a flower shop and nurseries in Coronado, City Park, Mission Hills and Pacific Beach — making her a “central figure in California and national horticulture circles with her landscaping, plant introductions, and classes,” according to San Diego History Center.

She won the prestigious Frank N. Meyer medal of the American Genetic Association in 1939 for her work in plant introduction.

She also helped establish Balboa Park in the city and has been referred to as the “Mother of Balboa Park.” A bronze statue of her was erected in 1998.

Mother Rosalie Clifton Hill

Mother Rosalie Clifton Hill helped to found what is today known as the University of San Diego.

In 1937, Mother Hill traveled to San Diego with Bishop Charles Francis Buddy from San Francisco to create a Catholic college for women and another for men.

Classes for the College of Women began in 1952, and in 1954, classes started at the College for Men, according to USD.

In 1967, students could take classes at either college regardless of gender, and in 1969, the two colleges began merging into the modern USD of today.

Sally Ride

Sally Ride became the first American woman in space when she rocketed out of Earth’s atmosphere on the Space Shuttle Challenger in 1983.

Ride completed two trips to orbit aboard the shuttle before she became an award-winning professor at UC San Diego, according to NASA. She was also the director of the University of California’s Space Institute.

In 2001, she created Sally Ride Science, which motivates girls and young women to pursue careers in STEAM.

Bonnie Dumanis

Bonnie Dumanis was sworn in as district attorney for San Diego County in 2003, becoming the first woman to ever hold the role. She was also the first openly gay district attorney in the country and the first Jewish DA in San Diego.

Before stepping into the job, Duamnis was a judge, where she helped to create local drug and domestic violence courts.

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 5 San Diego & KUSI News.