International Women's Day 2024

8th March 2024 marks International Women’s Day, celebrating under the theme Invest in Women: Accelerate Progress.

International Women's Day (IWD) is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity. The first National Women’s Day was observed in the United States on February 28th 1909, which was organised to commemorate the 1908 garment workers’ strike in New York, where women protested against working conditions. Over the years, it has grown to become a global day of recognition and celebration but it’s also a call to action for gender equality, encouraging reflection, advocacy, and action to continue breaking down barriers for women and girls around the globe.

This blog by UN Women, ‘Why investing in women is a human rights issue’ explains how the economy can disproportionately impact women and how pushing more resources towards solving this issue would lead to more prosperous economies. The gender disparity can fluctuate geographically but it's still an issue that exists worldwide.

“By investing in women, we can spark change and speed the transition towards a healthier, safer and more equal world for all.”

Several of our partners and their projects work with this concept at the core. PEAS (Promoting Equality in African Schools) not only advocate for girls to stay in school but work closely with communities and government, to educate families on the significance of this. Statistics have shown ‘a child whose mother can read is 50% more likely to live past the age of five. Each additional year of secondary education adds 13% to a person’s lifetime earnings – that’s enough to take a family out of poverty.’ Their understanding that educating the mother, educates a nation underpins their drive to create an equal gender split in their schools and deliver quality and accessible education for all.

Another of our long-term partners, Habitat for Humanity’s mission is to build a safe environment where families and communities can thrive. One of their recent projects that we invested in, supported 2,900 female members of Savings Groups from low-income households in Zambia. The project aimed to deliver socio-economic changes for these women by providing improved savings capacity, financial security, and safer housing using digital platforms. This Dream Save project aimed to assist with managing financial records, savings goals, build credit history and connect them to financial services. There was also support around security of tenure and title deeds to educate and protect women around property ownership.

"Investing in women and championing gender equality turbocharges a future where everyone in society can thrive, creating a world of boundless opportunity and empowerment for all."