International Women's Day 2021

International Women’s Day (IWD) is March 8^th and is a global celebration of the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating women’s equality.

HISTORY

IWD has occurred for well over a century, with the first IWD gathering in 1911 supported by over a million people. Today, IWD belongs to all groups collectively everywhere around the globe. IWD is not country, group or organization-specific.

2021

International Women’s Day 2021: Women in leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world. 

This year the International Women’s Day celebrates the tremendous efforts by women and girls around the world in shaping a more equal future and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and highlights the gaps that remain.

Women’s full and effective participation and leadership in of all areas of life drives progress for everyone. Yet, women are still underrepresented in public life and decision-making, as revealed in the UN Secretary-General’s recent report. Women are Heads of State or Government in 22 countries, and only approximately 25% of national parliamentarians are women. At the current rate of progress, gender equality among Heads of Government will take another 130 years.

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

Here are ways for you to make a difference:

•  Support the United Nations effort. Several initiatives have been implemented, including
• Act for Equal through Generation Equality 
• Speak up through both #actforequal anad #generationequality 
• Connect by signing up for UN Women updates

• Get involved. That can be in politics either directly or in support of a female candidate.

• Promote causes you are passionate about. That can be on social media such as Instagram, Facebook or even Pinterest.

• Support female-run businesses. Whereas women account for 40% of entrepreneurs they raise less than 10% of funding for their businesses according to a recent Crunchbase report. Seek out female businesses; women have proven to hire more and sacrifice greater.

• Donate to a female-focused charity. These could include Girls Inc. or Dress for Success. Note that GrayLane Beauty donates $1 for every full-size mascara sold to adult literacy programs in Nepal through buildon.org where over 90% of participants are women.

SUMMARY

Any opportunity to bring awareness to disparity between genders can be helpful. But to bring real change is through legislative action to ensure equal pay for equal work.