Last Thursday, 8th of March, the world celebrated the International Women’s Day, a day devoted to not only celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievement of women but also to press for their rights. The London School of Economics celebrated the day as well, first by hosting various activities to mark the occasion.
The day kicked off here at LSE with a brunch, offered and organized by the LSE SU Women’s Officer: all self-identifying women on campus were invited to grab some food and chat. At the event time, they also showed a video made by LSE students honoring women at LSE: in the days preceding the event, participants were invited to send over a short 30 seconds video, a picture or a script of an LSE woman who was for them a source of inspiration.
London Women’s Speak Out also held a photo shoot in the LSE SU, inviting women to share messages of solidarity and to ‘build each-other up’ by providing a platform to express these messages.
Later in the evening, the LSE SU Cocktail Society celebrated the Day with a menu of three unique cocktails and one mocktail, all created for the event and all named after and inspired by inspirational women.
The celebration for the International Women’s Day was anticipated on the 4th of March by CARE’s March4Women, an event attended by the LSE Consent Team, who were joined by LSE students and societies. The march was organized in “solidarity and celebration of 100 years of the first female suffrage in the UK and in support of the need to continue raising awareness of the sexism, abuse, harassment or violence women still experience”.
Moreover, on the 8th of March International Women’s Day revealed the official campaign theme for the year ahead, “#PressforProgress”. The organization explained the choice by reporting the data of last year’s World Economic Forum 2017 Global Gender Gap Report. According to the Report, despite many improvements, the gender pay gap is widening, and at the current rate of progress, gender parity will take 217 years to reach.
“There has never been a more important time to keep motivated and #PressforProgress. And with global activism for women’s equality fuelled by movements like #MeToo, #TimesUp and more – there is a strong global momentum striving for gender parity”, wrote the organization on its website, calling for individual and collective action from women all around the world.
