By Harrish Thirukumaran
While it has now been a year since the COVID-19 has been recognized as a global pandemic, March 2021 will also be a time where we have something much more positive and equally urgent to recognize. That namely being International Women’s Day 2021(IWD2021) on March 8.
International Women’s Day is celebrated in many countries around the world. It is a day when women are recognized for their achievements without regard to divisions, whether national, ethnic, linguistic, cultural, economic or political.
Since those early years, International Women’s Day has assumed a new global dimension for women in developed and developing countries alike. The growing international women’s movement, which has been strengthened by four global United Nations women’s conferences, has helped make the commemoration a rallying point to build support for women’s rights and participation in the political and economic arenas.
The theme for the IWD 2021 campaign theme is #ChooseToChallenge
A challenged world is an alert world. Individually, we’re all responsible for our own thoughts and actions – all day, every day.
We can all choose to challenge and call out gender bias and inequality. We can all choose to seek out and celebrate women’s achievements. Collectively, we can all help create an inclusive world.
From challenge comes change, so let’s all choose to challenge. As with the pandemic, this is another matter that we as Ontarians and Canadians can come together to address.
To participate in the #ChoosetoChallenge work, you can show your support and solidarity by
raising your hand high to show you’re in and that you commit to choose to challenge and call out inequality.Next, send in your #ChooseToChallenge images.
Individuals and organizations are invited to send in their #ChooseToChallenge images as we share images from around the world in the lead up to International Women’s Day 2021.
Strike the #ChooseToChallenge pose with your hand high to show your commitment to choose to challenge inequality, call out bias, question stereotypes, and help forge an inclusive world.
Submissions are photographs of individual or group compositions striking the #ChooseToChallenge hand up pose to potentially be shared on the IWD website and social media feeds – and are ideally 16:9 aspect ratio (landscape composition; max 3000 pixels width).
The link to the website is located here: https://www.internationalwomensday.com/
All gender identities welcome.
Please submit #ChooseToChallenge images as early as possible.
As we work together to overcome this health pandemic, let us also continue efforts to advance equality for all women and girls in Canada and elsewhere on International Women’s Day 2021now and in a post-pandemic world.
