Today is International Women’s Day. A celebration of the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. Find out what the day is about, why it’s important we celebrate it and how you can get involved.
What is International Women’s Day?
A call for women’s equality worldwide, International Women’s Day (IWD) has been observed since the early 1900s. Thousands of events take place globally each year including marches, talks, concerts, exhibitions and debates. IWD is a national holiday in several countries while others choose to mark it with gifts. In China, many women are given a half-day off work to signify solidarity and strength.
For an overview of the history and significance of IWD, this BBC article is a good place to start, while this historical rundown from the International Women’s Day website offers a more in-depth take.
IWD is one of the most important days of the year to celebrate women’s achievements, educate and raise awareness of women’s equality, call for positive change, lobby for gender equality and fundraise for charities that support women.
Why is it important?
World-renowned feminist, journalist, and activist Gloria Steinem reportedly once explained: “The story of women’s struggle for equality belongs to no single feminist, nor to any one organisation, but to the collective efforts of all who care about human rights.”
This IWD theme for 2025, “Accelerate Action”. This year’s theme is a call for urgent and transformative change. Equality can’t wait: everyone, everywhere must work together to take bold, decisive action to make women’s rights and gender equality a reality.
At the current rate of progress, it will take until 2158, roughly five generations from now, to reach full gender equality, according to data from the World Economic Forum. The gender gap is the difference between women and men in terms of social, political, intellectual, cultural, or economic attainments or attitudes. Gender inequality underpins many problems which disproportionately affect women and girls, such as domestic and sexual violence, lower pay, lack of access to education, and inadequate healthcare.
The Global Gender Gap Index aims to measure this gap in four key areas: health, education, economics and politics. It calls for increased momentum in addressing the systemic barriers and biases that women face in their personal and professional lives. In 2024, the UK ranked 14th on the Global Gender Gap Index, placing it behind European countries including Belgium, Spain, Ireland and Germany.
How can I show my support this International Women’s Day?
Significant barriers to women’s equality remain, but with the right action and support, positive progress can be made for women everywhere. Things you can do include:
- Take time to reflect. We can all helpfully reflect on our own assumptions and biases about gender. We can notice more when our preconceptions don’t fit the behaviours we actually see. Educate yourself and others about feminism, equal rights, barriers, bias, and gender stereotypes.
- Be a good ally. BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour offers some practical tips on your allyship journey– and explains how even small changes can make a great impact.
- Appreciate the women in your life. Take time to acknowledge and express gratitude to the women who’ve made a positive impact on you. This could be a friend, colleague, mentor, or family member, or somebody you had a chance meeting with.
- Share IWD across your networks. Share what you’ll be doing for IWD across your socials with the hashtags #IWD2025 and #AccelerateAction.
- Support the supporters. In the UK, just 1.8% of the £4.1 billion worth of grants awarded to charities in 2021 went to women’s and girl’s charities. There are thousands of amazing projects out there needing support, with just one example being The Circle NGO which has a global focus on supporting women and girls. IWD also has a list of charities it supports, including details about each and ways you can get involved.
- Attend an IWD event. Look out for local and virtual events in your area. The IWD website events page lists some of these.
You can also check out our latest good reads article with books to read for Women’s History Month.
