International Womens Day !!

What is International Women’s Day?

International Women’s Day (8 March) is a day for us to join voices with people around the world and shout our message for equal rights loud and clear:?“Women’s rights are human rights!”

We celebrate all women, in all their diversities. We embrace their facets and intersections of faith, race, ethnicity, gender or sexual identity, or disability. We celebrate those who came before us, those who stand beside us now, and those who will come after.

It’s a time to celebrate the achievements of women, whether social, political, economic, or cultural.

Why does International Women’s Day matter?

Because we’re not there yet.

IWD is a day to recognise how far we’ve come towards gender equality, and how far we have left to go. Back in 1911, only eight countries allowed women to vote, equal pay for equal work was unheard of – if women were allowed to work at all – and reproductive rights were non-existent.

We have come a long way. Whereas once women couldn’t vote, we’re now leading countries. While we once faced restrictions on where we worked, we’re now running corporations. In countries such as Australia we have rights our grandmothers could only have dreamed about, but we still don’t have complete equality. And the majority of the world’s women aren’t anywhere near as close to that goal as we are.

More than 100 years ago, that first march was about ending harmful workplace conditions, equal rights, equal pay, and an end to exploitation. And sadly, those aims are still relevant today.

Progress should be linear, but it’s too often accompanied by a step back. Sometimes, even once laws and rights are established, they are ignored anyway. For example:

• Despite domestic violence laws, public awareness and access to legal protections, Australian men are still killing women partners or exes at the rate of?one a week.
• Reproductive rights are a political football. Here in Australia access varies by state, and in some parts of the United States?laws have passed?making terminations inaccessible, no matter the reason behind the woman’s decision.
• Climate change is increasing violence against women and girls, according to a?major report?in 2020. Case studies included domestic abuse, human trafficking, sexual assault, and violence against women environmental rights defenders.

IWD is a once-a-year chance to remind governments, businesses, and everyone else watching that women aren’t going anywhere, and we’re prepared to take action to achieve our human rights.

Because progress hasn’t been equal.

Some women feel they have not encountered discrimination or harassment, or faced systemic barriers to their success, but that’s not the experience of all women. IWD is an opportunity to acknowledge the compounded challenges faced by women of colour, women with disabilities, and queer or trans women, and stand in partnership with them.

It’s also a show of solidarity with our sisters living in countries who may not be able to march out of fear for their safety.

47,000?women and girls were killed by their male partners or family members in 2020 – and those are only the deaths we know about

47?countries still have no repercussions for husbands who rape their wife

2.7?billion women are legally restricted from having the same choice of jobs as men

13.3%?is the size of Australia’s gender pay gap

45?countries do not have specific laws against domestic violence

30%?of women globally have experienced sexual or physical violence?in their lifetime

On International Women’s Day we remember that as long as one woman faces discrimination, harassment, inequality, or oppression, WE ALL DO !!.