International Women’s Day 2025
19 Feb 2025
Accelerating Action for Rights, Equality, and Empowerment
This March, we celebrate International Women’s Day (IWD) 2025 with a range of inspiring talks and events to celebrate women's achievements, resilience, and contributions whilst acknowledging the distance still to be travelled to achieve gender equality.
Women@Manchester co-chairs, Emma Shiels and Dr Lin Ma, said: ‘We invite you to join us in celebrating International Women's Day 2025 programme of events this March. Don’t miss out on our Women@Manchester celebration event on Tuesday, 4 March – a great opportunity to connect, learn, and be inspired by the incredible achievements and stories of women in our community.’
Professor Rachel Cowen, Academic Lead for EDI (Gender and Sexual Orientation), said: ‘International Women's Day 2025 is a potent reminder of our journey towards Rights, Equality, and Empowerment for all women and that hard-won equality gains may be lost without concerted action and commitment from all. I hope our events this month will inspire and recognise the achievements of women worldwide while identifying the work still needed and how we can all play our part. Let's come together to honour our contributions' strength, resilience and excellence and support each other towards a more inclusive and equitable future.’
Events
Tuesday, 4 March
Women@manchester present our International Women’s Panel 2025
At Blended Theatre 1 (GA.056), Nancy Rothwell Building, 1pm to 4pm (in-person and live streamed)
Join our IWD celebration event with a panel discussion focusing on this year’s theme ‘Accelerate Action,’ and the UN’s theme ‘For ALL women and girls: Rights. Equality. Empowerment.’
Chaired by Women@Manchester Network Co-Chairs, Dr Lin Ma and Emma Shiels, speakers include Professor Duncan Ivison (President and Vice-Chancellor), Sarah Fox (University EDI director), Professor Rachel Cowen (University Academic Lead for Equality Diversity and Inclusion: Gender and Sexual Orientation), Professor Jackie Carter (University EDI Academic Lead for Disability), Professor Dawn Edge (University Academic Lead for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion), Dr Reem Swidah (winner of the L'Oréal UNESCO Award for Women in Science), Aisha Akram (Student Union officer), and Molly Lacey (W@M representative)
BSL interpreters will be available.
Tea and coffee will be served from 1 pm and Refreshments will be provided during a networking period.
Wednesday, 5 March
International Women's Day 2025: Heritage and Social Justice, 12.15pm at The Whitworth
Colleagues are invited to join Creative Manchester and MACFEST Muslim Arts and Culture Festival in celebrating International Women's Day 2025 with a panel discussion at The Whitworth.
Dr Jenna Ashton (Creative Manchester research theme lead and Senior Lecturer in Heritage Studies), Mahboobeh Rajabi (Creative Entrepreneur, Artist, Cultural Leader and Creative Producer), Nusrat Ahmed (Lead Curator for the South Asia Gallery, Manchester Museum) and Dr Saskia Warren (Senior Lecturer in Human Geography) will discuss the theme 'accelerating action' with a particular focus on the role of heritage, arts and culture for accelerating women's equality and social justice. This will be discussed in the context of the UN's latest update report on the lack of progress around SDG5 on gender equality and women's empowerment, and the increasing threats to women's bodily autonomy and implementation of discriminatory legislation.
Saturday, 8 March
Walk for Women: Manchester City Council Annual Event, 12 noon
Mount Street outside of the Central Library.
Celebrate IWD with colleagues and people from across Manchester; create a purple wave to celebrate IWD 2025 and share in our city’s passion for equality and creating opportunities for Manchester women.
Tuesday, 11 March
International Women's Day: Sharing Experiences of Neurodiversity, 12-1pm, University Place, Room 2.220 (and online)
The month of March sees us commemorate three important events: International Women’s Day (8 March), Neurodiversity Celebration Week (w.c. 17 March) and World Autism Acceptance Week (w.c. 31 March).
To acknowledge and celebrate these events, the EDI Directorate and Staff Wellbeing Team will be hosting a panel focused on female and non-binary colleague experiences of neurodiversity.
Thursday, 13 March
FMBH present Going Slow To Accelerate: Making Space For Everyone in Science, 12-1pm, Lecture Theatre A, Simon Building
For this year's International Women's Day, FMBH will host leading physicist and inclusion advocate Dr Claire Malone. The talk will explore how marginalised groups face systemic challenges in academia due to the emphasis on time constraints and productivity metrics.
Friday, 21 March
Webinar: Women in Leadership:Global reflections on senior women in leadership.
Time 10-11am (GMT)
Achieving Gender Equality in Higher Education is an essential catalyst for positive change for women’s rights and social justice. One persist challenge that needs accelerated action is the under-representation of diverse women at senior leadership level. This webinar is an opportunity to hear from executive level women leaders sharing global experiences and reflections on pathways to senior leadership and to ask questions to support your own leadership journey and career advancement.
Keynote speakers include Professor Olive Mugenda (Former Chair of Board, Kenyatta University Teaching, Research & Referral Hospital / Director, Centre for Innovative Leadership and Governance, Nairobi, Kenya and Professor Colette Fagan Vice-President for Research and Internationalisation, University of Manchester, UK.
Women@Manchester
Women@Manchester is a network for all women colleagues across the University, in all roles. We are committed to non-binary and trans inclusion and strive to create a safe, inclusive space. Our goal is to support each other’s careers, foster collaboration, and drive gender equity across the University.
Next event: Women’s Speaking Club session: Chairing and owning your voice in meetings, facilitated by Prof. Rachel Cowen on Monday, 24 February and facilitated by on Thursday, 10 April.
About International Women’s Day
International Women’s Day is an annual event celebrated each year on the 8th March. The earliest version was a "Woman's Day", organised by the Socialist Party of America in New York City on 28 February 1909. It was followed by the first demonstrations and commemorations of International Women's Day across Europe in 1911, becoming a mainstream global celebration following its promotion by the United Nations in 1977.