Life 6th March 2023 by Grace Mollaghan

Everything You Need To Know About International Women’s Day 2023

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International Women’s Day is back again on Wednesday 8th March – a day to celebrate the women at large and also an opportunity to show how much you appreciate the kick-ass women in your life. IWD is about celebrating how far women have come in terms of social, economic, cultural and political equality but it’s also about reevaluating how far we have to go and what we can do to accelerate gender equality in every aspect of life and society. It’s an annual opportunity to highlight the challenges of gender stereotypes and bias, gender-based discrimination and social inequality whilst encouraging each other to stand up for what is right, just and fair in all aspects of our lives.

This year the theme of IWD is #EmbraceEquity; highlighting the fact that equal doesn’t always mean fair. According to the Cambridge Dictionary, equity is defined as a “situation in which everyone is treated fairly according to their needs”. Whilst equality means equal opportunities and rights in all aspects of life, law and career, equity pertains to the fairness of outcome.

People all begin their journeys at different starting points, particularly when it comes to differing genders, races and education. Just because we are all offered the same opportunities does not mean that we are all equally equipped to to climb the same ladder at the same speed. Differences must be accounted for, which is why equity is so important. Embrace equity by using the hashtags #EmbraceEquity and #IWD2023 on your posts showing you doing the Embrace Equity Pose. Join the thousands of people online with the embrace equity post now!

 

Only when we band together, striving for the same goals, will we truly drive change in the world. This is the purpose of International Women’s Day; to celebrate, drive change and work to build a better future for women to come.

As kick-ass feminist writer Gloria Steinem once said, “The story of women’s struggle for equality belongs to no single feminist, nor to any one organisation, but to the collective efforts of all who care about human rights.” We can all do our part to celebrate women this International Women’s Day – the fight for true equality is not yet over, but together we can make the world a safer and more positive place for women each and every day.

 

This year IWD have chosen 2 charities to fundraise for; The World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) and Catalyst, a nonprofit working to promote and champion gender inclusion in the workplace. You can donate to these charities via the IWD website.

This year you can get involved in events all over Ireland celebrating International Women’s Day, with virtual and in-person events taking place in Dublin, Galway, Drogheda, Belfast and Leitrim.

To find out more about IWD’s amazing work and partners, check out the website internationalwomensday.com. You can even find some great resources there to celebrate IWD, how to get involved and how to host your own feminist event.

 

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