International Women’s Day 2017: How it’s being celebrated around the world and how you can get involved

In a world filled with pussy-grabbing presidents and alt-right sexism, tomorrow’s International Women’s Day is more welcome than ever. This year’s theme is ‘Be Bold For Change’ and will see thousands of women across the world celebrating together, some even by walking out of their jobs or classes for the day.

Obviously not everyone has the ability to miss a day’s work or school, but luckily there are thousands of ways other than that to celebrate IWD together. Here’s just a few.

Repeal the 8th

Tomorrow thousands of women across the UK and Ireland will strike in solidarity with Irish women demanding the repeal of the 8th Amendment.

The 8th Amendment of the Constitution of the Republic of Ireland gives explicit recognition to the right to life of an unborn child, making it a criminal offence to have an abortion, for which womb bearers can face up to 14 years in prison. This includes pregnancies conceived by rape or when the foetus cannot survive outside the womb.

You can find out more about the campaign on their Facebook page.

Send flowers

In some countries like Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Croatia, Colombia, Estonia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine the old historical custom of giving women flowers on IWD still prevails.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BRVu8XfBzCW/?tagged=internationalwomensday

If you can’t get the day off work but still want to celebrate, why not send some flowers to the women in your life who mean a lot to you? That would be nice.

Dining for women

Dining for women is “a global giving circle dedicated to transforming lives and eradicating poverty among women and girls in the developing world”. They have chapters across the USA where women come together to share a meal and fundraise together to help improve women’s lives across the world. Which is better than eating alone tomorrow night to be honest.

Sponsor a sister

For just $35 you can sponsor a woman who’s been a victim of war crimes via the Women for Women organisation. The fee provides a monthly stipend for your “sponsored sister” which allows a woman to afford basic necessities and begin to save. The organisation aims to have 200 sponsored members by March 31st.

Watch Embrace

Embrace, a documentary created by the Body Image Movement, will be showing in cinemas across the UK for IWD. The documentary follows Taryn who’s on a journey to feel more positive about herself and her body. Find your local screening on the website or look on Eventbrite and Facebook for your nearest cinema.

Pledgeforparity

As part of the ‘Be Bold For Change’ theme of this year’s IWD, you can make a pledge on the official website to help support women across the world in whatever way you can. Pledge for Parity was the theme of last year’s International Women’s Day, which aimed to help people commit to accelerating equality in the world.

If you can’t do anything, if you’re stuck in work or school, educate

Read books written by women, watch films created by women, about women, and spend some time learning about the history of International Women’s Day. Just because we’re all not able to strike for the day doesn’t mean we can’t all be involved in the celebration.