No, Apple didn't cut International Women's Day from its calendar

A viral Instagram post stated that Apple has removed the holiday, but that's not quite right.
 By 
Anna Iovine
 on 
The Calendar application is seen on an iPhone
Credit: Jaap Arriens / NurPhoto via Getty Images

This week, a viral Instagram post stated that Apple cut International Women's Day (March 8) from its calendar — but that's not quite right.

Bellesa, a sex toy brand, posted on March 4, "Apple quietly removed International Women's Day from the calendar. That's weird." The carousel post goes on to explain how one can add it to their own Apple Calendar. International Women's Day was first observed in 1911, according to the IWD website, and is now run by various groups across the world. It's nestled in Women's History Month, and is a day to celebrate women's achievements and advocate for their rights.

This post, which has over 41,000 likes as of publication, came after Google Calendar removed Black History Month, Pride Month, and more holidays around three weeks ago. The tech giant stated it was due to a move to only include public holidays and national observances, but the removals prompted public outrage, as their timing aligns with the anti-diversity push fueled by Donald Trump's second presidential term.


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Since coming back into office in January, Trump has overseen the removal of LGBTQ White House pages and language about queer and trans people on other government websites, as part of an overall crusade to end Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs. Tech companies have started to comply with this, such as Meta and Google removing its DEI programs. (Apple shareholders recently voted to keep its DEI policies.)

Given the anti-DEI push, commenters easily believed that Apple made this move. But according to Politifact, this isn't the case because Apple apparently never had International Women's Day on its calendar in the first place. Apple told Politifact that neither International Women's Day nor Women's History Month were ever featured on Apple Calendar.

Mashable has reached out to both Apple and Bellesa, and will update this story if we hear back.

Topics Apple Gender

anna iovine, a white woman with curly chin-length brown hair, smiles at the camera
Anna Iovine
Associate Editor, Features

Anna Iovine is the associate editor of features at Mashable. Previously, as the sex and relationships reporter, she covered topics ranging from dating apps to pelvic pain. Before Mashable, Anna was a social editor at VICE and freelanced for publications such as Slate and the Columbia Journalism Review. Follow her on Bluesky.

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