Celebrate International Women’s Day

Today (March 8), International Women’s Day is celebrated around the Globe. It is a day to celebrate women’s achievements, and it is about unity, reflection and action.

It has been celebrated on March 8 of every year since 1914, when the fight was about getting women around the world the rights to vote, but now there is a new emphasis on placing women in positions of power. International Women’s Day (IWD) is campaigning all over the Internet and has created a website to educate and empower women and men that dream and want a balanced and better world. Last year’s campaign was about ‘Time is now’ and focused on activist’s efforts. This year the theme is #BalanceForBetter, and it calls for people everywhere to “build a gender-balanced world.”

The page has identified three ways in which an individual could help forge a more gender-balanced world:

A balanced world is a better world. In Dublin, there are many organisations that have joined and supported the campaign.

Griffith College Dublin, for instance, celebrated the day with a series of talks over breakfast this morning.

Nadia Ramoutar, Suzanne Carthy and Colm Dempsey were the speakers who emphasise the importance of equality.

For the three speakers, the key aspect that will change stereotypes and mindsets is education. The three speakers agreed that schools and families have the power to educate children and make them aware. That genders are equal and that violence is not right and should not be tolerated. Just a few takeaways from the talks: – “Laws don’t make the difference. Attitudes and education do!” – “Men shouldn’t change because they have to but because they want to”. And for this to happen education is needed – “Men do not act because they are out of control. It’s a learned behaviour of domination”. – We need to change the expectation society has from us as Women and as Mothers”, in order to enter an equal workforce.

And yes, it is a celebration day, but it is also a call to action to accelerate gender parity. At the end of the day, what we need is people who commit themselves. First, as individuals and then as groups, to try to make a difference in their sphere of influence. Among friends, family and co-workers, concrete steps must be taken to help build a more gender-balanced world.

We encourage our readers to watch some of the inspirational and inspiring videos of International Women’s Day today available on the Internet and use them to start the debate. And if you want to join the movement, use the hashtag #BalanceforBetter on your social media to show your support.