International Women's Day

International Women’s Day marks and celebrates women and girls around the world. Keep reading to learn more about the day or if you want to know more about how World Vision supports girls.

What is International Women’s Day?

International Women's Day is a global day celebrating the achievements of women. 

Often abbreviated to IWD, the day has grown since its inception and now sees significant activity worldwide, sparking debates, rallies, campaigns, celebrations and more. As well as celebrating the achievements of women and girls around the world, the day is also an important reminder of the work that is still yet to be done in pursuit of achieving gender equality.

When is International Women’s Day celebrated?

International Women’s Day is on Friday 8 March 2024.

Officially adopted by the United Nations in 1975, the story of International Women’s Day goes back further in history. In fact, Women’s Day has been observed since the early 1900s – a time when women were starting to campaign for equal rights.

Right now, the world is benefitting from the women in history who championed gender equality and freedom. But the need to celebrate and inspire women around the world is still important, particularly because many young girls are missing out on education and experiencing gender-based violence.

Did you know? There are 129 million girls out of school because of challenges like poverty, child marriage and violence.

Support a girl's education

Cambodian girl smiling with her arms folded — Girls like Chandy, 13, from Cambodia are standing up for their rights

What is this year’s International Women’s Day theme?

The theme for International Women’s Day 2024 is “Invest in women: Accelerate progress”.

This theme aims to mark a call to action for global communities to invest more in gender equality measures, looking to accelerate progress. The United Nations has highlighted five key areas where action is needed:

A lack of investment in gender equality measures.
An increase in people living in poverty globally.
A rise in the cost of living causing a cut in public spending.
An economic system that disproportionately affects women.
A lack of support for feminist organisations and change-makers.

What is World Vision doing on International Women’s Day?

If you’re looking for an International Women’s Day event you can take part in, why not join our annual coffee morning?

To mark IWD, we encourage people to host a simple coffee morning to raise funds and celebrate women. Whether you host a cake sale at work, decide to invite a few friends over for a brew or look to organise a larger community event, this can be a wonderful and fulfilling way to mark the day.

Learn how to get involved

How does World Vision help women and girls?

World Vision intentionally focuses on women and girls in every aspect of our work because we know that when women and girls are empowered, everyone wins. Through education, economic empowerment, child protection, water provision and more, we’re helping women and girls like Leah to experience fullness of life.

Read Leah’s story

Leah is 14, from Kenya. Leah’s Maasai culture views female genital mutilation (FGM) and child marriage as hallmarks of adulthood.

Leah explains: "I used to think that FGM is something good because it is considered a major achievement for girls or women in our culture.”

But her views changed after taking part in a World Vision project.

Kenyan teenager sits amongst 6 Kenyan children — Leah (centre) is fighting against FGM and child marriage in her community

Protecting the rights of girls

Leah became inspired to protect the rights of children, especially girls in her village, after being in the mentorship programme known as the Alternative Rights of Passage (ARP), organised by World Vision in partnership with the regional government.

Now, she is raising awareness among young people in her community.

Through her advocacy work as a child protection champion, Leah is keen on ensuring that girls in her community are spared from the suffering and bleak future that FGM causes.

Support girls today

Leah is one of thousands of women and girls who have been empowered through our work. If you’d like to support us this International Women’s Day, you can join us in hosting a coffee morning to raise money for World Vision.

Alternatively, you can create a lasting difference by sponsoring a girl. From just £26 a month, your sponsorship will help a girl get an education and build a brighter future. And through our community-focused solutions, when you sponsor one child, four more benefit.