Women's Day 2024 — new initiatives

This year's #IWD2024 theme is:”Invest in Women: Accelerate Progress“. It highlights the importance of investing in the potential of women and girls to build a more just and sustainable world. On International Women's Day 2024 (8 March), UN Women, UN Women, whose ambassador is Anne Hathaway, calls for investment in women to accelerate progress in key areas of life, such as gender equality, peace and prosperity. Anne Hathaway, was appointed UN Women Goodwill Ambassador in June 2016. She is committed to initiating actions to raise public awareness of the issue of gender inequality, including the disproportionate burden of care work in the domestic sphere. In addition, it emphasizes the essence of shared parental leave.

In the face of mounting crises that affect communities around the world, achieving gender equality is becoming an issue of fundamental importance. Ensuring equal opportunities and rights for women in all walks of life is essential to building a prosperous economy for future generations. Despite the progress made in recent decades, there is still much to be done. One of the main challenges to achieving gender equality by 2030 is the need to take action to change the situation regarding adequate funding. The annual deficit in spending on gender equality activities is estimated to be 360 billion dollars.

This financial gap is holding back progress in many key areas, such as women's education, health care, political and economic participation. It is therefore one of the key challenges facing UN Women on the road to gender equality by 2030.

Anne Hathaway, in her speech of March 8, 2024, emphasizes:

Global military spending rose 9% to a record $2.2 trillion last year. How can we accept that this money has been easily made available when a fraction of that amount — $360 billion a year — is the cost of achieving gender equality under key global goals, including the goals of eradicating poverty and hunger? And yet, we constantly hear “there are simply not enough resources at the moment”, “this is not the right time”, “change is slow — be patient”.

The important contribution of women in free care work to the global economy must be recognised, recognised and taken into account. According to the data, women spend about three times more time than men on unpaid childcare work and if they were to assign monetary value to these activities, they would correspond for more than 40% of GDP. That's why Hathaway emphasizes that investing in women benefits everyone.

When women have access to education, health care, and economic opportunities, entire communities thrive.

Invest in women, accelerate progress: #IWD2024

When we invest in women and fight for gender equality, we launch the engine that drives a future where everyone can thrive. This is the path to a world full of limitless possibilities and the power of agency for all. Each of us can do something to invest in gender equality. We can support women's organizations, educate ourselves and others about gender inequality, and engage in action for change.

Watch Anne Hathaway's speech on #IWD2024:

Link to YT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spP95Lm3JN0