International Women's Day, celebrated on 8 March each year, has been around for over a hundred years, just like many of the issues that still impact women across the world today.
From the gendered impact of climate change, increasing online violence against women, and the impact of increased armed conflicts, women continue to fight to have their voices heard. This year’s campaign theme, “For ALL women and girls: Rights. Equality. Empowerment” calls for urgent action to tackle these issues and create a future where all women can thrive.
Though news coverage can often make us feel disheartened about the progress of women’s rights, women continue to prosper despite the barriers they face. Join us in celebrating the resilience of women across the globe by delving into some female achievements you might not have heard about.
Female leaders paving the way for peace
On 3 December 2024, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah made history by being elected Namibia's first female president. Nandi-Ndaitwah joined the political party Swapo, then a liberation movement resisting South Africa's white-minority rule, when she was only 14.
Nandi-Ndaitwah is an advocate for the role women can play in peacebuilding and recognises the crucial role they play in the prevention and management of conflicts.
She was a key participant in developing Naimbia’s National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security, which aims to ensure that women have equal representation in decision-making, prevent violence against women, and promote a peaceful and inclusive society.
VSO volunteers like Rahma, are helping forge peace on the Kenya/Ethiopia border, an area which is mired by conflicts over governance, exclusion of ethnic groups and reduced access to water and land for cattle, caused by climate change.
Born to a family of two conflicting tribes, Rahma has known conflict all her life and she is well aware of the importance of peace. “Peace is like an egg that we need to take care of at any time. Peacebuilding is an everyday initiative,” she says.
As a volunteer and peace champion, Rahma is bringing people together through the peacebuilding training she received. From organising tree-planting, to holding community forums on issues such as child marriage and female genital mutilation, Rahma is helping people come together to solve issues that are faced on all sides.
A gold medal for women's representation
The 1900 Paris Olympics were the first to allow women to compete. Of the 997 athletes who competed back then, just 22 were female.1 The Paris 2024 Olympics set a milestone as the first Olympic Games to achieve full gender parity, with an equal number of female and male athletes competing for the first time since the modern Olympics began in 1896.2
Paris 2024 also flipped the script on what mothers can accomplish, with more competing than ever before, including Egyptian fencer Nada Hafez, who took part while seven months pregnant!
The contributions of women and mothers in society is often underestimated. Across the world, women are often in the lowest-paid work. Globally, they earn 24% less than men and at the current rate of progress, it will take 170 years to close the gender pay gap.3
There is also a lot of gender inequality in sectors like waste management, where women and mothers working on dangerous landfill sites are primarily in lower paid jobs compared to their male counterparts. This is the case for women like Elizabeth*, a waste picker and mother of two from Kenya.
VSO’s From Waste to Work project is helping young people like Elizabeth who are living in challenging situations by supporting them to get a fair wage for their work and save for the future of herself and her children.
From climate scientist to Mexico’s first female president
The new president of Mexico made headlines when she was elected in early June 2024. Not only is Claudia Sheinbaum the country’s first female president, but she was also the world’s first world leader to have an impressive background in climate science.
Claudia holds a Masters and a PhD in Energy Engineering and has published several academic papers on the topic of environmental engineering, looking at Mexico’s transport and housing sectors.
VSO youth volunteers such as Nigerian climate champion, Blessing Ewa, are proving that you don’t have to be a politician to be a leader in climate solutions. As the West Africa Coordinator for Net Zero As Soon As Possible, Blessing works with businesses across Africa to promote sustainability and environmental responsibility.
She also founded an organisation called Young Advocates for a Sustainable and Inclusive Future, aimed at strengthening the capacities of young people and communities affected by climate change. So far, she has reached over 5,000 young people and 2,000 grassroots women through her training and empowerment programmes.
“Growing up as a young girl in Calabar Cross River State Nigeria, I was made to believe that all I needed to learn about was home management, so that I could be of great value to my husband when I get married. That, however, did not stop me from having big dreams of being a leader. I always told myself that I could, and I will.” - Blessing Ewa
You can learn more about Blessing and her environmental work in this inspiring episode of the Green Perspective Podcast.
Changing the narrative for victims of sexual assault
72-year-old French woman Gisèle Pelicot became a global feminist icon, after waiving her right to anonymity as a sexual assault victim, to demand "shame change sides", from the victim to the abuser.
The trial attracted worldwide media attention, and Gisèle's courage and determination to speak out on behalf of all victims of sexual assault won her widespread international support and admiration.
For her bravery, Gisèle has been honoured by organisations and individuals alike, being named on the BBC's 100 women of the year list in 2024 and being the subject of a petition to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.
Sexual abuse affects women and men from all levels of society. Stigma, shame, and fear of repercussions can prevent survivors from speaking out against their abusers.
A VSO project in Nepal has helped to open up the conversation around gender-based violence by including men in the conversation. Nearly 7,000 couples have been supported to hold open conversations around previously taboo subjects such as reproductive health, gender-based violence, harmful social norms, and the need for equal gender responsibility for housework and finances.
Since participating in the project, women have shared that they’ve seen positive changes in their husbands, and they feel more confident to support other women in their community to seek help if they are facing abuse or violence.
Honouring women in peacebuilding
To mark the 25th anniversary of the United Nations General Assembly’s adoption of the Declaration and Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace, the UN has launched a calendar showcasing the achievements of people in the field of peacebuilding. This calendar opens with world-renowned peace negotiator from the Philippines, Professor Miriam Coronel Ferrer.
In 2014, Miriam became the first female chief negotiator in the world to sign a final peace accord with a non-state armed rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which were embroiled in six decades of conflict with the Philippine government.
VSO is helping former Moro Islamic Liberation Front communities, like 29-year-old Aliya’s, to maintain peace and not take up arms again, through livelihoods initiatives. Not only has Aliya experienced conflict, but she also grew up in a patriarchal society surrounded by ingrained traditional attitudes which meant she was often stuck at home doing domestic chores.
VSO is training women like Aliya in how to make bio-fertiliser and developing the community into an eco-tourism site, giving women in the community a sustainable source of income.
She says: “I want people to see that I and the other women here inside our community are empowered. We can do anything.”
We hope these women have inspired you to take action within your own lives this International Woman’s Day. As the poet Rupi Kaur says, "What’s the greatest lesson a woman should learn? That since day one, she’s already had everything she needs within herself. It’s the world that convinced her she did not.”
Join the conversation
Share your favourite female achievements with us on social media using the hashtag #WeVolunteerFor.
*Names have been changed to protect the identity of people mentioned in this story.
Footnotes
Read more
Five things women achieved this year that you might not know about
This International Women's Day, join us in celebrating the resilience of women across the globe with some female achievements you might not have heard about.
Breaking barriers: Lamia journey of volunteering, leadership, and gender equity
Lamia Tasnim's volunteering journey began in 2018, and over the course of the last six years, her passion for supporting her community has only grown.
Empowering change: The role of female leadership in advancing women's rights
Growing up in the heart of Madesh Province in Nepal, Aarati Patel witnessed first-hand the harsh realities that many women and girls in my community face daily. Hear how she's supporting girls in Nepal to find their voice and create a world where every girl has the freedom to choose her own path.