International Women's Day 2020 #EachforEqual #IWD2020

 March 8 is International Women’s Day—a day to celebrate all the achievements, successes and contributions women have made in working towards gender equality, and a call to continue to work towards these goals.   The first International Women’s Day was held on March 19, 1911where a million plus people gathered in Denmark, Austria, Switzerland and Germany to show their support via public events. 

The theme for 2020’s International Women’s Day is #EachforEqual.  The IWD campaign describes this aptly:

“An equal world is an enabled world.   Individually, we're all responsible for our own thoughts and actions - all day, every day.  We can actively choose to challenge stereotypes, fight bias, broaden perceptions, improve situations and celebrate women's achievements. Collectively, each one of us can help create a gender equal world.  Let's all be #EachforEqual.” (IWD, 2020).

The Government of Canada also launched a campaign for this year’s International Women’s Day called #BecauseofYou.  This campaign features Canadian trailblazers who challenge societal norms, and break barriers in their fields to make the world a better place.

On March 8 let’s celebrate International Women’s Day together, reflect on the challenges and successes of the past, and continue to move forward and work towards gender equality:

…’Each for Equal’ means it’s everybody’s business, everybody has a role; to achieve equality everyone’s going to have to be involved,” Cobie Rudd

“Women’s equality can’t wait. It’s going to take everyone to think and be inclusive - all the time, everywhere. Let’s all be #EachforEqual” (Lean In, 2020)

“Projecting current trends into the future, the overall global gender gap will close in 99.5 years, on average, across the 107 countries covered continuously since the first edition of the report... At the slow speed experienced over the period 2006–2020, it will take 257 years to close this gap” (World Economic Forum 2019, p.6).

"The story of women's struggle for equality belongs to no single feminist nor to any one organization but to the collective efforts of all who care about human rights"   Gloria Steinem

“When we demand Woman Suffrage, we can only do so on the ground, not that it should be a right attached to the possession of a certain amount of property, but that it should be inherent in the woman herself” Clara Zetkin

“International Women’s Day is a time to recognize the outstanding achievements and contributions of women and girls who have helped create a better world. .. The only way to move forward is to remember where we came from and those who brought us here. This year’s theme,  Because of You, asks everyone in Canada to honour the role models in their own lives. I encourage all Canadians to take part and recognize the incredible impact of the women making change in their communities.”  The Honourable Maryam Monsef, P.C., M.P. Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Rural Economic Development