Arcadia England
International Women's Day 2018
Date
March 8, 2018
This Thursday, 8th March, is International Women’s Day and the Arcadia London Center is ready to celebrate the day!
What is it?
Globally, International Women's Day (IWD) celebrates the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women, as well as pushing for change around the world. IWD has occurred for well over a century and prior to this, the Socialist Party of America, United Kingdom's Suffragists and Suffragettes, and other groups campaigned for women equality too. Today, IWD belongs to all groups collectively everywhere. IWD is not country, group or organisation specific.
This year is centred on the theme of pushing for change, creating gender parity and become gender inclusive, with the hashtag: #PressForProgress
Here at the Arcadia London Center, we’re hoping you can join in too!
How you can participate
In honour of this day, we have a display in our student lounge and we are sharing which women inspire us and why - and we invite students to do the same! We also have #PressforProgress selfie cards and we’ll be sharing this on social media to promote action for women's equality.
Amongst other events happening around the capital, there is also a screening of, "Growing Up Married," by Dr Eylem Atakav. A documentary from 2016, it focuses on the stories of child brides, from Turkey, recollecting their memories as adults 
and the screening is followed by a Q&A with Dr Atakav himself.
Closer to home, we are also holding screenings of the film "Made in Dagenham" in our housing. The 2010 film is based on the 1968 strike for equal pay by women who worked at Ford Motor Co. plant in Dagenham, England. Despite performing the specialized task of sewing upholstery for car seats, women are classified as unskilled labor and paid much less than men. The film dramatizes what happened when the women decided to strike.
So if you’re interested in other IWD events happening in London, around the country or even around the world, you can search by city on the IWD website here.
Or maybe you have a story to share? Why not get involved on Social Media with the hashtag: #PressForProgress and #IWD2018
Happy International Women’s Day!