Friday 8^th March marks the annual celebration of International Women’s Day. The theme for 2019 is ‘Balance for Better’. The theme encourages all to help build a gender balanced world. There is still a lot more to be achieved. From grassroots activism to worldwide action, we are entering an exciting period of history where the world expects balance. We can all notice its absence and celebrate its presence.

International Women’s Day is a day to reflect on the progress made in the fight for women’s rights, to call for change and to celebrate acts of courage and determination by ordinary women who have played an extraordinary role in the fights for women’s rights in their countries and communities.

The hard work is shown by the fact that more women are working than ever before. Today, over 70% of women aged 16–64 are employed, which is up from 53% in 1971. This a great increase but is still below the 79.8% of men we see today.

Under representation of women in is still evident in parliament with women holding 208 out of 650 seats in the House of Commons and 207 out of 805 seats in the House of Lords.

Despite these increases, there is still a gap that needs to be bridged and International Women’s Day raises awareness of this. We need to continue the fight and achieve balance for better.

Use the hashtags #BalanceforBetter and #IWD2019 to follow the events!