This years IWD message, is Choose to Challenge. Hollie Hughes tells us what’s on and how you can support and celebrate IWD 2021. 

International Women’s Day (IWD) is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of all women and women-identifying individuals. The day is all about unity, reflection, advocacy and action – and marks a call to action for accelerating gender equality in all aspects of society.

IWD is an opportunity to appreciate and celebrate the achievements of women everywhere and every year IWD promotes a new theme which aims to emphasise the importance and value of female voices. This year’s theme is #ChooseToChallenge, emphasising that a challenged world is an alert world and we’re all responsible for our own thoughts and actions so we should be doing everything we can to challenge gender inequality.

Here at the University of Newcastle (UON), IWD celebrations are held annually on or around the 8^th of March and form an integral part of how the University raises awareness for the need for gender parity.

In 2021, UON is celebrating the United Nations’ theme: Women in Leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world. This theme highlights that despite the pivotal role women have played in effective responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, women continue to be significantly under-represented in parliaments and leadership spheres globally. As a proud supporter of IWD UON are hosting an extensive calendar of events on and off-campus – to see the full selection of what’s happening visit the UON website.

Alongside these valuable events, the University of Newcastle Students Association (UNSA) are hosting various events in celebration including showcasing some of the University’s female leaders through an online panel conference.

As well as attending IWD events, we should all choose to challenge and call out gender bias and inequality in our everyday lives in order to ensure a lasting impact more substantial than one day a year.

Individually, we can all choose to seek out and celebrate women’s achievements and collectively, we can all help create an inclusive world. From challenge comes change, so let’s all choose to challenge.

Feature Image: Madelyn Gardiner, Yak Media Designer