On March 8th, to celebrate International Women’s Day or “Festa della Donna”, the women of Rome will march through the city to highlight gender equality and women’s rights.

This rebellious spirit is nothing new. In 195 BC the women of Rome poured into the streets to have the Lex Oppia repealed. It was a law brought in during the Second Punic War that limited the “frivolous” spending of women, who were apparently bleeding their husbands’, and the city’s, coffers dry. The women were successful; the law was scrapped, and a tradition of indomitable female spirit has endured ever since.