Happy International Women’s Day!
On this day, we celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women and all those who identify as women. March 8 also marks a call to action for accelerating gender equality. International Women’s Day (IWD) was first celebrated over a century ago- mainly across several European countries, but today IWD belongs to all groups inclusively everywhere.
This past year has been a game changer for women all around the world. On January 21, 2017, the Women’s March on Washington, D.C, drew a historic public display of support for women’s rights in a global mass protest, estimated to be the largest mass demonstration in U.S. history, which inspired women all around the world to march as well. Last fall, millions of women took to social media to share their experiences with sexual harassment in the workplace. The #MeToo campaign inspired women to share personal accounts of sexual harassment in 85 countries and counting. A Hindu woman from a lower caste has been elected to the Senate for the first time in Pakistan, a Muslim-majority country where religious minorities have long suffered intimidation and violence. In Mexico, a project by the name of Voces de Mujeres continues to highlight women’s stories of struggle and social transformation through visual mediums.
This year, WITNESS teamed up with the multitalented Agunda Okeyo to produce a video on five things to never do when interviewing survivors of sexual violence. When conducting these interviews, it is important to get it right from the start. For more tips, click here.
Okeyo is a writer, producer, filmmaker and activist who was born in Nairobi and raised between New York and the Kenyan capital. Okeyo has been featured as a rising producer and activist in Time Out New York, The New Yorker, Essence, The Root, Black Enterprise, Forbes, Huffington Post and NBC. In 2016 she was named a Progressive Women’s Voices fellow with Women’s Media Center and joined the NYC board of Women, Action and the Media (WAM!NYC).
Read more about how WITNESS’ program teams from each region have been inspired by women and organizations across the world here.