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Press for Progress! International Women’s Day 2019

March 2019
Sheila Pantry OBE

Get ready for International Women’s Day 2019!

Right now is a great and important time in history to do everything possible to help forge a more gender-balanced world. Women have come a long way, yet there’s still more to be achieved. As the world heads toward International Women’s Day 2019, step-by-step planning is underway to celebrate women’s achievements and tenaciously challenge bias.

The International Women’s Day 2019 campaign theme of #BalanceforBetter is a call-to-action for driving gender balance across the world. How will you help make a difference?

IWD 2019 relationships are open

International Women’s Day is celebrated annually on March 8, yet the global campaign theme continues all year long to encourage action. The International Women’s Day website is the go-to hub for everything IWD and provides detailed information, guidance and resources.

There are many relationship opportunities available and project collaborations on offer. With the World Economic Forum’s 2017 Global Gender Gap Report findings telling us that gender parity is over 200 years away – there has never been a more important time to keep motivated and #PressforProgress. And with global activism for women’s equality fuelled by movements like #MeToo, #TimesUp and more – there is a strong global momentum striving for gender parity.

And while we know that gender parity will not happen overnight, the good news is that across the world women are making positive gains day by day. Plus, there is indeed a very strong and growing global movement of advocacy, activism and support.

So we cannot be complacent. Now, more than ever, there is a strong call-to-action to press forward and progress gender parity. A strong call to #PressforProgress. A strong call to motivate and unite friends, colleagues and whole communities to think, act and be gender inclusive.

International Women’s Day is not country, group or organisation specific. The day belongs to all groups collectively everywhere. So together, let’s all be tenacious in accelerating gender parity. Collectively, let’s all Press for Progress.

IWD campaign theme continues all year

March 8 sees the annual IWD campaign theme kick off for the year ahead, although many groups around the world adopt and promote the campaign theme from early in the year. The IWD campaign theme provides a unified direction to guide and galvanize collective action. The campaign theme does not end on International Women’s Day. It’s just the start. Throughout the year many groups worldwide adopt the IWD campaign theme for further campaign work, gender-focused initiatives, continuing activity and events. A great example of this was in 2017 when the USA Women’s Hockey Team went on to adopt the #BeBoldForChange IWD campaign theme to later rally for equal pay, boycotting the national finals unless a suitable deal was struck. Many fans and further teams supported the campaign.

Collectively we can all play a part

Collective action and shared responsibility for driving gender parity is what makes International Women’s Day successful. Gloria Steinem, world-renowned feminist, journalist and activist once explained “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.”

Started by the Suffragettes in the early 1900s, the first International Women’s Day was celebrated in 1911. International Women’s Day belongs to all communities everywhere – governments, companies, charities, educational institutions, networks, associations, the media and more. Whether through a global conference, community gathering, classroom lesson or dinner table conversation – everyone can play a purposeful part in pressing for gender parity.

So make International Women’s Day YOUR day and do what you can to truly make a positive difference for women. Press for Progress!

More information: https://www.internationalwomensday.com/Theme