International Women’s Day is a global celebration marked annually on March 8. Dating back to 1911, the occasion boasts over a century’s worth of history and change, with each year serving as a reminder of the progress made towards gender equality while highlighting the work that remains to be done. Not bound by country, group or organisation, it belongs to a collective worldwide activist movement committed to advancing women’s rights.
The theme for 2024 is ‘Inspire Inclusion’, emphasising the importance of diversity and empowerment in all aspects of society.
“When we inspire others to understand and value women’s inclusion, we forge a better world,” the official campaign states.
“And when women themselves are inspired to be included, there’s a sense of belonging, relevance, and empowerment. Collectively, let’s forge a more inclusive world for women.”
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Events will take place all around the world in honour of the occasion, with crowds set to take to the streets of Dublin on Saturday, March 9, to participate in the International Women’s Day march. According to ROSA Socialist Feminist Movement, the demonstration will particularly focus on condemning misogyny, violence, racism and transphobia in Ireland and globally.
“This International Women’s Day is taking place in the context of a five month long genocide in Gaza, the death toll has surpassed 30,000. This week the Israel Defence Forces shot and murdered over 100 starving Palestinians who were gathering at aid trucks, now being referred to as The Flour Massacre,” ROSA stated.
“We march for solidarity, struggle and anti-imperialism.”
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In addition to raising awareness of the devastating events in Gaza, ROSA is also drawing attention towards the “record high” violence against women and trans people worldwide.
According to a new cross-European study, the pandemic of gender-based violence continues unabated. Thousands of women continue to be murdered every year in the 28 EU states, with over 14,000 female victims of intentional homicide recorded between 2012 and 2022.
Of those cases, almost 100 occurred in Ireland, according to gardaí figures released to Noteworthy. Despite this, the nation continues to stand out amongst its EU neighbours as having poor and incomparable data on intimate partner and family member violence. These shortcomings have been criticised by an independent human rights monitoring body, which said that it renders “the identification of gaps in the criminal justice response to violence against women impossible.”
Furthermore, the number of female rape victims in Ireland is almost triple that of the EU average, according to the same investigation from Noteworthy and the European Data Journalism Network.
Mary McDermott, CEO of Safe Ireland, said “we have a large-scale problem” regarding violence against women in the country, but “how to deal with it is the issue”.
Similarly, Clíona Saidléar, Executive Director of the Rape Crisis Network Ireland said the lack of data is “without a doubt” hindering efforts, explaining: “The collection of data is something that we are passionate about, because it’s how we make the issue visible, and it’s how we can hold accountable to different actors.”
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Thus, activists will take to the streets of the Irish capital to demand effective action on March 9. Participants will gather at the Spire on O’Connell Street at 1pm, with the demonstration featuring visual actions, performances and speakers, including Fatin Al Tamimi, Vice Chairperson of Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Ruth Coppinger, a former TD and founding member of ROSA, and Ollie Bell, founder of Trans & Intersex Pride Dublin. The march is being endorsed by groups such as Action for Choice, AkiDWA, IPSC, Le Chéile, National Women’s Council, ROSA, Trans & Intersex Pride Dublin and more.
No matter how you decide to celebrate International Women’s Day this year, we hope it’s an empowering occasion. Here at GCN, we stand in awe of all mná, and would like to express our deepest gratitude and appreciation for all of the incredible women in our lives, and those throughout history who have paved the way before and made the world a better place. We also wish to express particular solidarity with our trans sisters, as well as women and girls facing violence at the hands of oppressive forces in areas like Palestine and Sudan.
© 2024 GCN (Gay Community News). All rights reserved.
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