International Women’s Day is not something that we see being widely observed in our community, and we want to change that. For our first year, we have 3 main aims:
- To increase the local awareness and observance of International Women’s Day
- To encourage local schools, businesses and organisations to celebrate and applaud the work and achievements of women on their social media
- To fundraise for a charity to directly benefit local women, by collecting money for the Yeovil Women’s Refuge
We are going to do this by:
- Reaching out to local schools, businesses and organisations to encourage them to participate
- Leading by example as we #PaintTheTownPurple and do our part #CelebratingWomenInYeovil and #SupportingWomenInYeovil across all forms of media
- Holding a Let’s Get Beverages Together event to celebrate International Women’s Day
We’re also giving away almost £100 worth of books to local schools. We’ve put together three book bundles grouped by approximate reading ages of 5-8, 8-12 and 12-16. We will award a book bundle each to the three schools we think have best entered into the spirit of International Women’s Day by joining in with our 2022 IWD campaign. We’ve sent an email to schools with ideas and suggestions for how to get involved. Check with your school if they are taking part!
From the IWD website:
Imagine a gender equal world.
A world free of bias, stereotypes, and discrimination.
A world that is diverse, equitable, and inclusive.
A world where difference is valued and celebrated.
Together we can forge women’s equality.
Collectively we can all #BreakTheBias
#PaintTheTownPurple
While we don’t condone unsolicited graffiti or “spontaneous urban redecorating”, we are asking people to join us in decorating our workspaces and ourselves with this bright and cheery colour. Here are a few ideas, although it will depend on what industry or sector you’re in as to what will work for you:
wear purple clothes – create a purple cocktail – bake purple cakes – make purple artwork
buy some purple flowers for your office – write in purple pen – create a purple song playlist
create a purple window display – wear purple nail varnish, eyeshadow or even facepaint!
#CelebratingWomenInYeovil
We’re inviting people to celebrate the awesome women in our community – a great opportunity to show some appreciation for your colleagues and peers. This can be lead by management, or you could ask your staff to secretly nominate who they think deserves some recognition on IWD and why, sharing the positive comments and observations with them on the day. Why not acknowledge their contributions by giving them a shout out on your business social media accounts? Make sure you tag us if you do!
#SupportingWomenInYeovil
Join our fundraising effort for our local women’s refuge, which is run by The YOU Trust. The YOU Trust does a lot of great work but we have arranged for the money the Yeovil Diversity Project raises on IWD to be earmarked and fed directly to the women’s refuge in our town, instead of just giving a general donation to support the overall charity. We’d love your help to make as much of a difference for vulnerable women and their families in our community as possible. Raise money however you can, and either bring it along to the social gathering in the evening and pop in in one of our collection tins, or get in touch for other ways to get the funds to us.
Let’s Get Beverages Together – an informal social event from 7pm at Westlands
We’ll be rounding off our day of celebrating IWD with an informal social event from 7pm at Westlands. We’ve not got a booking so that we’re shut away in a room somewhere, we’re just making the most of their lovely Lounge Bar area, ample parking and great accessibility! The cakes and brownies that are often still on sale in the evening also help. We will be there leading by example in our best purple ensembles and we’ll have some purple photo booth accessories on hand to capture some memories as we celebrate IWD with the local community.