2023 Theme - Embracing Equity
International Women's Day is marked on the 8 March and the day signifies the importance of celebrating and supporting women's advancement.
The day brings attention to bringing attention to issues such as violence and abuse against women and girls, street safety and gender rights. The day also celebrates womanhood. Across Bury we will be seeing numerous events and celebrations during this week, and we'd love to see you at them.
Historically International Women's Day has been a time to move forward the rights of women politically and in society, the first IWD event was called 'National Women's Day and hosted in New York City in 1909 and the UN adopted the day in 1967.
The theme and aim of the IWD 2023 #EmbraceEquity campaign theme is to get the world talking about Why equal opportunities aren't enough. People start from different places, so true inclusion and belonging require equitable action.
Equity means creating a truly equal world and a lot of us are paving the way for an equal world, but we could do with some help from each other. We can all call out discrimination, we can support the discriminated, we can create safe spaces and we can draw attention to the bias we may see. The list isn't exhaustive.
Bury Council made history this month when Lynne Ridsdale started as the council's first female Chief Executive and Place Based Lead for Bury's Health and Care Partnership.
As part of her role, Lynne is highlighting the importance of this year's International Women's Day. In this interview from 2019 Lynne talks about her work: Podcast: Strong Manchester Women: Lynne Ridsdale.
How?
We can actively encourage our colleagues, friends and family to have conversations about equality, about discrimination and the role we play in creating a more equal world.
We can read books, go to events or simply listen to the experiences of other people.
We can work together to #EmbraceEquity
There's further information here: International Women's Day.
Your stories
A number of students at Bury Adult Learning Service have sharing their stories about how courses and training have made a difference to their lives.
See: What some of our adult learners told us to read more about their experiences.
Events
Every Monday
Join the empowering older women project and learn lots of exciting textile techniques every Monday 11am to 4pm at The Big Fandango, 34 Bolton Street BL9 0LL Bury. Cost is £10.
Every Wednesday
Wellbeing support group for women over 35 with long term health conditions. Support from your peers, come and have a chat and a brew, and get help with confidence, self-esteem, anxiety, friendship, meditation and mindfulness. Led by an experience holistic therapist and wellbeing practitioner with an abundance of lived experience, every Wednesday at 12.30pm to 2.30pm at Whitefield Methodist Church, 1 Elms Street, Whitefield, M45 8GQ.