IWD
is now celebrated by countries to acknowledge the social, economic,
cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call
to action for accelerating gender parity and to fundraise for
female-focused charities.
This
year the campaign theme is ‘Women in leadership: Achieving an equal
future in a Covid-19 world’. Alongside this, a social media campaign
will be held to encourage women to #ChooseTo Challenge and to call out gender bias and inequality.
A
statement from UN Women – the United Nations Entity for gender equality
and the empowerment of women – explains more, “This year’s theme will
have an emphasis on why feminist leadership makes a difference. This
year’s theme is also aligned with the priority theme of the 65th session
of the Commission on the Status of Women, “Women’s
full and effective participation and decision-making in public life, as
well as the elimination of violence, for achieving gender equality and
the empowerment of all women and girls,” and the flagship Generation Equality campaign.”
According
to UN Women, the Covid-19 pandemic has taught the world that leadership
diversity and styles can make a difference. “When more women are in
decision-making positions, more inclusive decisions are made, different
voices are being heard and different solutions created,” UN Women said.
There
is, however, still a long way to go to achieve gender equality.
Currently, there are only 22 countries that are led by women as a head
of state or government and at the current rate of progress, it will take
130 years to reach gender parity at heads of government level, and in
national legislative bodies it will not be achieved until 2063, noted UN
Women.
“Despite
women’s increased engagement and representation in public life,
equality is far off and online/offline violence against women in public
life is widespread,” they wrote. “We can do more and better to promote
women’s role in public life and workplaces: improving legal frameworks,
especially through adopting and enforcing gender quotas, addressing
social norms and violence against women in public life, and increasing
funding to support women candidates.”
The
UN will be celebrating International Women’s Day on March 8,
from 10:00-12:30pm (EST), with an official commemoration event called ‘Achieving an equal future in a Covid-19 world on the way to the Generation Equality Forum’. The virtual event will gather leaders, youth voices and celebrities from across the world to discuss this year’s theme.
