Today, 8th March, is International Women’s Day! It is both a celebration of womanhood and a protest against society’s treatment of women.
On International Women’s Day we celebrate the achievements of powerful and influential women throughout history. We also use this day to fight for positive change to ensure that women around the world are able to feel safe, are treated with respect, and are judged fairly in the eyes of the law, the media, and society in general.
International Woman’s Day raises awareness of a number of issues that disproportionately affect women, including sexual assault, sexual harassment, domestic abuse, gender representation in the workplace, the gender pay-gap, workplace discrimination and cyberbullying. These are issues which are gaining public traction as more and more people start to think seriously about gender inequality and how it affects us all.
The theme for this year’s International Women’s Day is “Balance for Better”. A balanced world is a better world. How can we all help forge a more gender-balanced world? Celebrate women’s achievement. Raise awareness against bias. Take action for equality.
Balance is not a women’s issue, it’s a business issue. The race is on for the gender-balanced boardroom, a gender-balanced government, gender-balanced media coverage, a gender-balance of employees, more gender-balance in wealth, gender-balanced sports coverage, etc.
Gender balance is essential for economies and communities to thrive. Together we can make a difference.
Have a read of this ABC Life article about celebrating influential women, and take a moment to acknowledge the important women in your own life.