International women’s day is a day set aside to celebrate the achievements of women in political, cultural, economic, and social activities. It’s also a day for a call to action towards hastening gender equality.
This article looks at some facts about international women’s day, so you know more about it and how you can support and celebrate women.
Some Facts about International Women’s Day
On March 8, every year, for over a century, with the first gathering being in 1911, groups worldwide mark international women’s day by fundraising for female-centered charities, celebrating women’s achievements, advocating for accelerated gender equality according to the international women’s day website. Also, international women’s day belongs to all groups everywhere. Every group is expected to celebrate it as their day and do what they can to impact women positively.
Every international women’s day since 1996 has had a theme. This year, the theme is Break the Bias. Whether knowingly or unknowingly, bias impedes the forward growth of women, and knowing that such bias may exist in our workplaces, at home, culturally, socially, or politically, is not enough. We need to take action towards breaking them and making it an equal playing field for everyone. The goal is to work towards a gender-equal world free of discrimination, stereotypes, and bias.
This year’s celebration is the 111th international women’s day, and it’s marked with the symbol of crossed arms.
Three colors symbolize international women’s day: white, green, and purple; white stands for purity, green signifies hope, and purple represents justice and dignity.
According to the world economic forum, none of us will see gender equality in our lifetimes. Sadly, neither will many of our children, as gender equality will not be attained for almost a century. There’s work to be done, and we can all put in the effort.
Ways you and your organization can celebrate international women’s day
Thinking of how you can play your part in advocating for gender equality? You can do the following things.
- You can host an event in honor of the women in your organization to celebrate international women’s day.
- You can run a campaign to advocate for women’s right
- You can launch an initiative that caters to women’s needs
- You can take a picture of you and others crossing your arms to show solidarity, and you can share your break the bias images on social media using #IWD2022
- You can report achievements of women doing great things around the world
- You can donate to women-focused charities. Basically any activity supporting women is a way to celebrate women.
Conclusion,
Happy International women’s day to every woman, myself included. We are beautiful and strong, and daily we strive to break the bias against us in different spheres of our life—cheers to growth.
