What's Going On And What You Can Do For International Women's Day 2019
Every year on March 8, International Women’s Day brings women the world over together to not only celebrate all of the social, economical, political and cultural achievements made by women, but to address society’s gender bias and work for equality.
Founded back in 1911 and backed by over a million people across Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland, International Women's Day has become a globally recognised and supported event, and this year’s theme #BalanceIsBetter focuses on bringing gender equality within the workplace. Their slogan for the 2019 theme, ‘better the balance, better the world’, brings attention to the importance of women in the working world, where equality is required in order to make both economies and communities truly flourish. With no industry sector excluded, IWD’s #BalanceIsBetter campaign believes that gender balance within job sectors are not a women’s issue, but a business issue.
A really easy way for you to show your support is something that doesn’t have to just be done on International Women’s Day – in fact you can do it whenever – and that’s write to your local MP, Ministers, Senators, or other government representatives demanding change for women. Another thing that we should be doing all year round is elevating the voices of those the most often unheard or shut out. There are women across the globe who are silenced, suffering the worst forms of oppression and then need to be uplifted and heard. Fight for them today, tomorrow and always.
International Women’s Day gives women the opportunity to come together at events, workshops, conferences, awards ceremonies and more – and anyone, anywhere can check out what’s going on in their local regions via the IWD Event Search. Alternatively on March 8, the Women’s Strike will once again be taking place to highlight the importance of a woman’s impact in society, whether they take the day to strike against a paid corporate position, or unpaid domestic work in homes. IWD also says that a subtle way to show support is to wear purple, but perhaps if you’re not much of a purple person, you could wear red to stand in solidarity with the Women’s Strike.
If you can’t make time to attend an event, you can opt to focus less on using your voice and more on using your wallet. Treat yourself or someone you care about to any of the dozens of limited edition gifts and fashion pieces in honour of International Women’s Day. Forever 21 and Madewell are teaming up with Girls Inc, & Other Stories are hosting a judgement-free dance party for women in LA in collaboration with the LA Municipal Dance Squad, and Net-A-Porter have released limited edition t-shirts from the likes of Isabel Marant and Victoria Beckham with 100% of the profits going to Women to Women International. And that’s just to name a few.
If you’d rather just stick to showing your support via social media, use the #BalanceForBetter hashtag, and share yourself striking the #BalanceForBetter pose. No matter how little or how large you choose to make your contribution to International Women’s Day is, it matters. So celebrate yourself, celebrate others, celebrate the women who inspire you, and the achievements that women have made the world over – and let’s kick gender bias out of our society.
