International Women’s Day (IWD) is a day to celebrate the women of the world, past and present, and their achievements, as well as act as inspiration for future generations. On the note of inspiration, this year's theme is Inspire Inclusion. People are invited to use #InspireInclusion and #EmbraceEquity to honour this theme.
The IWD was first held in New York City on 28 February 1909; then known simply as Women’s Day, the aim was to honour the 1908 garment workers’ strike, where women protested against working conditions. 8 March was chosen in 1917 as the official IWD date and was officially recognised as an international day of prominence by the United Nations in 1977.
Women make up over half of the world’s population, yet they often face discrimination in their work and general lives. Women’s suffrage was being presented to Parliament as far back as 1832; however, it wasn’t until 1928 that women over the age of twenty-one could vote in an election.
Click here to read more on the history of women and the vote.
Nottingham will be marking the day by hosting the following events:
- IWD – Stalls, free lunch, workshops, performances for all self-identifying women, The Council House, Old Market Square, NG1 2DT on Thursday 7 March 2024, 11am to 3pm.
- Nottingham Muslim Women’s Network – An empowering event honouring the achievements and contributions of women in sports and community development organised by Nottingham Muslim Women’s Network in collaboration with Trent Bridge and This Girl Can! Trent Bridge Cricket Ground, NG2 6AG, 5.30pm to 8.30pm. Register here.
- Sugar Stealers Wild Woman exhibition – Celebrate the birth of the Wild Women, Fisher Gate Point, NG1 1GD on Friday 8 March 2024, 7pm.
- Nottingham Women’s Centre – Coffee, chat, connections and workshops, 30 Chaucer Street, NG1 5LP on Friday 8 March 2024, 10.30am to 3.30pm.
- Nottingham Trent University (NTU) will be hosting various events and workshops between Tuesday 5 March and Thursday 14 March 2024, head to their website for more information.
- For more events in the city head to the allevents website.
A tiny percentage of the amazing women and the massive impact they’ve had on everyday lives:
- Malala Yousafzai – She was only fifteen when a gunman tried to kill her for advocating for girls right to education.
- Catherine Meng’anyi – A nurse in Kenya working to eradicate Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).
- Ada Lovelace – A mathematician who first noticed the capabilities of Charles Babbage’s ‘computer’.
- Eleanor Roosevelt – Only allowed women journalists entry to her weekly White House updates, forcing many news outlets to hire women, many for the first time.
- Mary Shelley – Became the first person to write a sci-fi novel when she published Frankenstein at the age of twenty.
- Rosalind Franklin – Discovered the double helix shape of DNA; her name was erased, and her male co-workers took the credit. A fact largely hidden during her lifetime.
- Mary Seacole – A British nurse, born in Jamaica, who funded her own trip to Crimea to aid soldiers there. Facing racism and sexism, Mary had a higher success rate than the more famous Florence Nightingale.
- Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson, and Dorothy Vaughan – Instrumental in NASA’s Project Mercury. Their calculations put a man in space. Hidden Figures was based on their story.
- Emmeline Pankhurst – Pushed for women’s suffrage in the early 1900s.
- Harriet Tubman – An American abolitionist and social activist, was fundamental to the success of the ‘underground railway’.
- Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay – An Indian social reformer who contributed to the Indian Independence Movement and paved the way for women in India wanting to improve their lives.
Which women will you be celebrating this International Women’s Day?
