Perhaps not the most well-known name, but still, Luise Ziezt begins this new series of Remarkable Women. She was born in the spring of 1865 in Bargteheide, Prussia, German Empire. She started working at an early age as her dad had a home weaving business where she too had to put in hours. She later studied to become a kindergarten teacher, got married in Hamburg in 1890, and became politically active there. She was a good speaker, and easily agitated others to join the common cause, i.e. to improve the workers' conditions - and especially those of women.
In 1908 as Germany made it legal for women to participate in party politics, Luise became the first woman appointed to the executive committee in the Social Democratic Party of Germany. 
In 1911 Luise Ziezt organized the first International Women’s Day in Germany which had the previous year been celebrated in Copenhagen, Denmark. The day, then on March 19th, was observed by over a million people in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland. There’s a neat article about it here.
Luise also wrote regularly to a couple of social democratic women’s magazines. Often about the women’s suffrage, demanding women the right to vote - which finally happened in November 1918. At the height of her political career, she became the first female member of the new Reichstag in 1919. She was 54 years of age. She died of a stroke just three years later. This loud-speaking, fierce woman had unbeknownst to many a faint heart - affected by criticism from both men and women, but still always going forward with her mission.
