Published: 8 March 2021
Today is International Women’s Day (IWD), an opportunity for us to come together and celebrate the achievements of women in our society.
It’s also a chance for people to call for equal status for women in everything from the workplace and education, to the home and social settings.
This year’s theme is #ChooseToChallenge, the aim being to stand up against sexism in whatever form we see it.
Bearing that in mind, we thought we’d highlight some ways you can get involved with #IWD2021.
1) Edit Wikipedia
Did you know less than 19% of biographies on Wikipedia are of women? Plus 90% of people who contribute to the site are men.
You can help correct that by adopting a famous woman to include. Spend some time searching for a woman you know about.
She could be in your field of study, someone you come across in a book, or really from any source at all.
If they’re not on Wikipedia, think about creating their entry for yourself.
It can help to ask your friends for suggestions too. Maybe even get them involved in the project.
Alternatively, you can edit pre-existing Wikipedia biographies to remove gender bias. WikiProject Women have great guides on how to get started.
2) Attend an event
Each year, IWD host a huge series of events, conferences, talks and parties around the world. Things are now, of course, being done slightly differently.
While that means you’re not going to be physically in the same room as other people, the good news is you’ll have the chance to attend far more of these events than you would be able to in normal times.
There are loads to choose from including COVID-19, Leadership and Inequality, Women Driving Social Change and A Woman’s Place in a Pandemic among many, many more.
You can find the full list of IWD 2021 events on their website.
3) Read
Did you know that in its 90-year history, the New York Times Best Seller List has never had more women than men?
That’s despite the ratio of female-to-male authors being at around 50%. What’s more, women have been writing books literally since the idea of books began.
The first known novel in existence, The Tale of Genji was written by Murasaki Shikibu almost 1,000 years ago.
Despite this, there has long been an assumption by publishers that books written by women don’t sell well.
You can help correct this by choosing to read some fantastic works of fiction and non-fiction by women.
If you’re not sure where to start, take a look at GoodRead’s lists of female authors. They group them into different categories to make it easy to find something you’re be interested in.
And, once you’re done, you can help promote female authors even further by leaving a review with them too.
We’d love to see how you’re celebrating International Women’s Day. Share your stories and pics with us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram using #WeAreSunLon. Don’t forget to also tag #IWD2021 and #ChooseToChallenge!