How to celebrate International Women’s Day
Women’s Day was first celebrated in 1911 in four countries Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Denmark. Since then it became recognized by the United Nations as an international event. 8th March for over a century now is a day to celebrate women’s accomplishments and achievements in various fields as well as an opportunity to raise awareness of continued biases and still evident gender inequalities.
Join the #ChooseToChallenge campaign
This year's International Women's Day theme is “Choose to challenge". You can show your support and solidarity by raising your hand and letting everyone know that you commit to calling out gender bias, inequality and question stereotypes. You can choose to help forge an inclusive world by posting a picture of yourself with a hand raised and say what do you choose to challenge. For example, you might want to #ChooseToChallenge the status quo or maybe that strong leadership is defined by action and not gender.
Appreciate and empower the women in your life
Having an amazing support system from a group of female friends can be very inspiring. It enables you to ponder on the issues you experience and bounce ideas off each other to find solutions. Knowing that you have someone to rely on and can trust with almost everything is truly uplifting. Female friendships can be super complicated but that’s the beauty of it. If the relationship is strong and based on trust, disagreements and fights are completely natural. It’s all about forgiveness which can make your bonds even tighter.
Along the way, you meet so many diverse people and it is important to remember that some girls are not surrounded by supportive women and may feel lonely. So why not try to become a person who empowers others? As difficult and serious it might sound, a simple question about how someone is feeling can spark an inspiring conversation. Think about honouring this day by reaching out to someone you haven’t talked in a while or maybe just met. It doesn’t matter if it’s your sister, grandmother, girlfriend or daughter. You may not be aware of their struggles but still make their day better by having a quick chat. Just let them know how amazing they are!
Watch movies, documentaries
Feeling down and underappreciated? Have a movie night which will make you proud to be a woman. Those films are not only for entertainment purposes, they are here to remind you that you can be as awesome, ceiling-smashing and strong-minded as the lead characters:
· Powerful women in Academia: Hidden Figures (2016), Radioactive (2019), Gravity (2013), Contact (1997), Enigma (2001), On the Basis of Sex (2018)
· Fun and badass: Ghostbusters (2016), Charlie's Angels (2019), The Devil Wears Prada (2006), The Runaways (2010), Wonder Women (2017)
· Animations: Moana (2016), Persepolis (2007), Zootopia (2016), The Incredibles (2018)
· Tearful and emotional dramas: Wild (2014), Mona Lisa Smile (2003), Roma (2018), Erin Brockovich (2000)
This list focuses on women’s resilience and independence. A dose of motivation and inspiration is guaranteed after watching any title from above. Just hit play and enjoy the stories made about, for and by women.
