International Women’s Day was celebrated across the world on 08 March 2024. Achieving gender equality and women’s wellbeing in all aspects of life is more crucial than ever if we want to create prosperous economies and a healthy planet. However, we are facing a key challenge: the alarming $360 billion annual deficit in gender-equality measures by 2030. The theme for International Women’s Day in 2024 is ‘Invest in women: Accelerate progress.’ There are five key areas needing joint action:
- Investing in women, a human rights issue: Time is running out. Gender equality is the greatest human rights challenge, benefiting everyone.
- Ending poverty: Due to the COVID pandemic and conflicts, 75 million more people have fallen into severe poverty since 2020. Immediate action is crucial to prevent over 342 million women and girls living in poverty by 2030.
- Implementing gender-responsive financing: Conflicts and rising prices may lead 75% of countries to cut public spending by 2025, negatively impacting women and their essential services.
- Shifting to a green economy and care society: The current economic system disproportionately affects women. Advocates propose a shift to a green economy and care society to amplify women’s voices.
- Supporting feminist change-makers: Despite leading efforts, feminist organisations receive only 0.13% of official development assistance.
On Monday 11 March 2024, Commonwealth Day was celebrated by people across Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and Americas, the Pacific and Europe.
In his Commonwealth Day Message HM The King, Head of the Commonwealth, said: “The seventy-fifth anniversary of The Commonwealth is a moment to reflect on the remarkable journey that our unique family of free and independent nations has made since 1949…..the Commonwealth’s growth, with new members continuing to join our family of nations, demonstrates clearly that whilst we may not all have a shared history, we have common ambitions for a better future – working together to build resilience and respond to global challenges…”
We recognise today that our diversity is our greatest strength. The Commonwealth represents a third of humanity, from all regions of the world, with all the different experiences, knowledge, and aspirations that this brings.
“The Commonwealth is like the wiring of a house, and its people, our energy and our ideas are the current that runs through those wires. Together and individually, we are strengthened by sharing perspectives and experiences, and by offering and borrowing the myriad ways we have each tackled the challenges of our time. This is true both at the level of nations and, indeed, at the local level. We recognise today that our diversity is our greatest strength. The Commonwealth represents a third of humanity, from all regions of the world, with all the different experiences, knowledge, and aspirations that this brings…”
“Over the years countless people across the Commonwealth have been inspired to form their own Commonwealth Associations, from lawyers and accountants, to business and trade networks, and many more besides. The work they do is absolutely vital, sharing professional knowledge, experience, and expertise across the Continents for the betterment of each one of us. The Commonwealth, above all, retains a particular focus on our young people, who make up two-thirds of the entire Commonwealth population. Whether in Kenya or Malaysia, Vanuatu or Dominica, Malta, or Canada, I never cease to be impressed by their creativity, innovative skills, and hard work, often in the most challenging circumstances. Their energy is transforming approaches to development, technology and preserving and restoring Nature and will, I hope, help to shape, and safeguard our common future.”
To mark International Women’s Day on 08 March and Commonwealth Day on 11 March, Arif is joined by Abby Ghafoor, Gold Winner for “Business Woman of the Year 2024 “ at the London Chambers SME Awards, Marc Ortmans from Global Entrepreneurship UK and Gamuchirai Mutezo from South Africa, founder and CEO of Madam Waste.