March4Women

Thank you for speaking out

If you joined us for our online #March4Women day of action on Sunday 7th March 2021, thank you for your support for the #StopTellingHalfTheStory campaign.

Online #March4Women event hosted by Stylist

The #March4Women online event hosted by Stylist took place on Sunday 7th March but you can still see the recording here: stylist.co.uk/march4women

The event is free to view and features the unique #March4Women mix of inspiration and entertainment, including:

- music from Ider and Urban Voices Collective

- original, brand new poetry written especially for #March4Women from Nikita Gill

- an awesome panel discussion hosted by Helen Pankhurst and featuring Adenike Oladosu, a young Nigerian climate activist; Dr Ihlas Altinci, a Syrian doctor working with women in humanitarian emergencies; and Dr Rachel Clarke, the inspirational campaigner and NHS doctor

- closing speech by Shola Mos-Shogbamimu

Click here to view: stylist.co.uk/march4women

Why do we need to #StopTellingHalfTheStory?

We’re facing an emergency. Inequality is growing all over the world.

Women play a leading role during crises – in our families, communities and workplaces. They are also the hardest hit by both COVID-19 and the climate crisis. Yet women are still largely absent from decision-making roles.

We’re only hearing half the story.

Now is the time to tell the story of women and girls speaking up about justice, about equality, about climate, about COVID. It’s time to raise your voice with women around the world and demand a say in the decisions that matter.

Join with us to demand more women in power.

What are we calling for?

This year, the UK hosts the G7 summit and the COP26 climate summit, while the world plans its recovery from COVID-19 and its response to the urgent climate crisis. We believe the UK in 2021 must be a global champion for diverse women’s voice and leadership at the G7, at COP26, and demonstrated through UK Aid. We want the UK government to:

- Increase support through UK Aid for women’s leadership and rights, including women’s rights organisations responding to crises

- Ensure diverse women’s leadership and priorities shape the G7 agenda on recovery from COVID-19

- Make gender justice and women’s leadership central to the COP26 agenda.

Read more in our policy briefing on the CARE Insights website.

What is #March4Women?

CARE International’s #March4Women is a global movement for gender equality.

It’s a celebration of the power and the potential of women and girls around the world, to mark International Women’s Day (8th March).

It’s a rallying cry for anyone and everyone who wants to see a more equal world.

Last year, we came together to celebrate the power and passion of women and girls on the frontlines of the climate crisis. In March 2021, we were unable to march in person so we took #March4Women online – because the march towards gender equality must go on!

#March4Women is for everyone!

#March4Women is for people of all genders, because gender inequality is not just a problem for women and girls. #March4Women is for anyone who wants to live in a fairer, more equal world.

We recognise too that people of all genders face additional prejudice and discrimination in many forms – including ethnicity, age, sexuality, disability, and religion – and that all of these must be overcome to achieve equality for all.

Thank you to our partners

A big thank you to the following organisations who supported #March4Women 2021: Centenary Action Group / The Fawcett Society / Free Periods / Friends of the Earth / Greenpeace / Lean In / Muslim Women’s Network / She Changes Climate / Stylist / Unison / Wen (Women’s Environmental Network) / White Ribbon Campaign / WomanKind / Women for Refugee Women / WI

#March4Women 2021 was supported by players of the People’s Postcode Lottery.

The women in the pictures

The women featured in the photos above are:

(photo at top of page) Rabeya Sultana Rabbi works as a mechanic in Dhaka, Bangladesh. She says: “Every woman should do something, be it any profession, with self confidence, and without paying attention to the naysayers.”

(‘So now we demand/We become the global champion’) Jade Begay is a climate activist in the USA. Her Indigenous Environmental Network offers solutions, such as restoring coastal areas or sponsoring solar projects, with the aim of restoring the ecological balance on our planet. She says: “If the earth dies, part of my identity dies with it.”

(‘For more women in leadership in all their diversity’) Neelam Kumari is a health worker in Bihar, India. She says: “I love the fact that the acronym of my job title means hope in the Hindi language. I feel like a symbol of hope.”

Other women leaders featured in our #StopTellingHalfTheStory campaign photos on social media include:

Jeanne Sekongo is an entrepreneur in the Ivory Coast. She says: “I enjoy being a role model because I can share my success with other women and support them. I tell women – if you want it, you can have it. You need to be strong. You mustn’t be afraid. You need to push ahead.”

Layla is a student in Somaliland. She says: “If I ruled the world, first of all I’d make sure there is justice and I’d encourage people to get an education. Going to school is like someone going from darkness to light.”

Maria Liliana is an entrepreneur in Peru who has received a loan from lendwithcare

Helen Pankhurst is great-granddaughter of suffragette leader Emmeline Pankhurst, and a senior advisor on gender equality for CARE.

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