International Women's Day
What is IWD?
International Women’s Day (IWD) is celebrated on March 8th across the world. It is a day that celebrates the social, political and economic achievements of women while recognising there are still women who are struggling all over the world.
What did we do?
Macarthur Girls celebrated this significant day over the period of a week, with various enjoyable activities from March 3rd to March 7th. See below for more details.
The 'Ideas for Change' Initiative
At the beginning of the week, the SRC created a video booth in order to record the voices of students. Students were able to openly say what they always wondered about the world, what they realised was really happening and what they were planning to do to lead change in their society.
This was inspired by the National Youth leader's Day conference that the year 12 prefects attended last year in 2013.
The video of the compiled ideas was put together for all the students and staff to view on Tuesday 11th of March in the week of IWD. However, it has been recently edited and can be viewed on the left, or heading to our school website.
Student Work Exhibition
In line with the purpose of International Women's Day and in order to celebrate the achievements of women in our school, the SRC held an exhibition during lunch time on Thursday 6th March to showcase the talented work of our students.
Students whose work was chosen to be displayed were selected by their peers and teachers before the exhibition. These students were then contacted and informed of the exhibition and the SRC recommended that these students be present during the exhibition with their work, so that they could be appreciated by students.
When we opened the exhibition, students and staff were able to see the incredible works of art, praise the students and encourage them to pursue their interests. We also sold purple ribbons and collected donations for our chosen organisation for International Women's day, Un Women (see below for more information). Some of the feedback from these students were:
"I can't believe how many students think my work is good."
"It's so nice to be appreciated! I feel very overwhelmed."
"There were so many people thanking me. I felt really special."
We hope that this exhibition has given our female students the confidence and courage to pursue their talents in the future.
If you would like to keep up to date with the work of our students, you can download our school newsletter from the school website.
Inspirational Women Exhibition
Another exhibition we held at the same time as our Student Work Exhibition, was our Inspirational Women Exhibition. This was held in the playground for all to see. This was held purely to celebrate the achievements of women in the past and to educate students. The SRC and Sports Council (SPC) dressed up in costume as women that have inspired change in our lives.
We also collected donations for UN women here as well. Students donated to the costume they thought was best and the student who raised the most money had to perform a brief role play on that woman in the whole school assembly the following week. Congratulations to our Marie Curie costume who won that challenge.
Below are some photos of the costumes. Hover over each picture to find out who that woman was and click on the photo to be linked to a page with more information.
What did we achieve?
Through running all of these fun activities, as a school we raised over $300 to support UN women. UN women is a not profit organisation dedicated to achieving gender equality through the empowerment of women, socially, politically and economically. The organisation works in more than 100 countries around the world empowering women and adolescent girls to ensure that they have educational and economic opportunities, and that women’s voices are heard in every facet of society. As a school we hope to inspire change and make a substantial difference in the lives of fellow females. Remember “if you empower a woman, you empower a nation.”
For further information on UN women please view the link below: