International Women’s Day is held on 8 March each year, with events and activities taking place across the globe. It celebrates the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. It also marks a call to action for accelerating gender equality to create a world where women and girls everywhere have equal rights and opportunities.
International Women’s Day in Western Australia is an opportunity to demonstrate our commitment to gender equality and to celebrate the contributions women make to our communities.
The benefits of diversity and inclusion for business, the community and for individuals are wide‑ranging. It makes our families and communities more welcoming places, it helps our businesses to deliver better outcomes and improves the safety of public spaces.
There are many ways that everyone – individuals, community organisations, businesses, state and local government departments, schools and universities – can take part in International Women’s Day.
Here are some ideas to get you started:
- Post an appreciation of someone who has supported you or inspired you as a woman and use the hashtag #GenerationEquality.
- Attend an event to celebrate women’s achievements. You can find details on the events calendar here.
- Read a book or watch a movie written by or about women. Some lists of inspiring books for International Women’s Day are provided in the Department of Coomunitues toolkit here.
- Organise an event – such as a fair, a music or dance performance, or a workshop – with community groups to increase community connections.
- Look at ways to increase gender equality in your organisation and activities.
- Hold a community quiz night on the theme of women, for example, women’s achievements, women in history or women leaders.
- Hold discussions in the classroom relating to the significance of International Women’s Day. Guide the discussion by providing some statistics on women’s issues. Books and resources to assist are listed in the back of this toolkit.
- Incorporate International Women’s Day into regular classes, such as art, language or science, and use the results to further promote International Women’s Day within the school community.