Happy International Women’s Day, my beautiful friends! I love this day of the year and I feel very Leslie Knope when I talk about it. If you’ve hung out here for a while – you’ll know that I am ALL about empowering women and helping ladies achieve their dreams, no matter how hard they may be. It’s one of my favorite things in the world – and as someone who’s degree in college was almost entirely male-centric, I can completely relate to the harsh gender lines and discrimination women face every single day. BUT. Today is about us, women. Here are 10 ways you can celebrate today and remind yourself what an absolute BADASS (pardon my French) you are. Let’s dive into this.
9 Ways To Celebrate International Women’s Day
ONE: Start by watching this fabulous Nike “Dream Crazier” commercial to get the ball rolling.
This is an amazing ad that brought tears to my eyes the first time I watched it. I love that it inspires women everywhere to challenge typical gender roles and to chase their dreams no matter how far fetched they may seem. It’s a great morality booster and it really inspires me to support all the women I know struggling to make a difference in their passions.
TWO: Figure out why you resonate with this year’s theme: #BALANCEFORBETTER
This year, the IWD theme is Balance For Better. This is what their website has to say about it:
The future is exciting. Let’s build a gender-balanced world.
Everyone has a part to play – all the time, everywhere.
From grassroots activism to worldwide action, we are entering an exciting period of history where the world expects balance. We notice its absence and celebrate its presence.
Balance drives a better working world. Let’s all help create a #BalanceforBetter.
I love this. It’s exactly what women everywhere should be striving for. BALANCE. Equality everywhere. We want to fight for THIS. What needs more balance in your life? It doesn’t need to be in the work force – any little bit counts, no matter what area of your life it affects.
THREE: Join an event or promote one in your local area!
IWD has a list of their sponsored events HERE – and of course it would be AMAZING if we could all attend together, but don’t be afraid if you can’t physically attend one of them for whatever reason. Support them by sharing the events on social media, posting about why they’re important or encouraging your friends in the area to take part in the action.
FOUR: Hold your OWN IWD celebration with the lady friends in your life!
Get your girls together and celebrate over brunch, dinner or just a fun evening together. Talk about what is going on in the world that most drastically affects women and what your thoughts and opinions are about it. Do they affect you specifically? Are there steps you can take you work on changing some things in your local area? Chat with your girls about it. There is always something we can be doing to help – whether it’s sponsoring a local girls group, volunteering at a women’s shelter, etc.
FIVE: Read these amazing books by women!
Kick start your year with these incredibly compelling books written by women:
TEXT ME WHEN YOU GET HOME – KAYLEEN SCHAEFER
THE ANIMATORS – KAYLA RAE WHITAKER
HOW WOMEN RISE – SALLY GOLDSMITH + COLLABORATORS
MEN EXPLAIN THINGS TO ME – REBECCA SOLNIT
THE CONFIDENCE CODE – KATTY KAY
SIX: Watch these fabulous female-led movies!
If books aren’t your thing (or you just want more to do with all that free time we have kicking around – LOL -), watch these fab movies from 2018 with female leads:
OCEAN’S EIGHT
I FEEL PRETTY
THE SPY WHO DUMPED ME
COLETTE
SEVEN: Donate to your local women’s shelter – time OR money.
I work with a local women’s shelter often by donating clothes and unused makeup for them to give to the women in the shelter. It breaks my heart that there aren’t more people who want to volunteer and donate to causes like this. Most of these women are escaping from dangerous domestic violence situations and they need your love and support. Find out where your local shelter is and what they need. Maybe you already have some things around your own home you can donate and make a difference.
EIGHT: Listen to these empowering Podcasts and TED talks by women.
I have been REALLY into podcasts lately – and I’m all about the ones led by women for women! I haven’t been AS into TED talks but they can be SO inspiring so check these ones out:
TED TALKS – talk a look at this list of 10!
PODCASTS – this list of 10 are unique and diverse.
NINE: Do something kind for the women you love in your life today.
Even a hug will do. 😉 Go out of your way to let the women in your life KNOW that you love and appreciate them. They don’t have to be leading some huge march or drastically changing the world around them – every woman can do good work starting in their own homes to improve the lives of women everywhere. Let’s start with our friends, our children, our neighbors.
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I want everyone to feel like they have equal opportunities in life – both men and women. And unfortunately, there are still undercurrents of inequality when it comes to genders. Some of it is blatant, and some is more subtle. But it’s there and there isn’t any room for that in 2019. Women have been fighting for too long to be held with the same regard as men in the world. We can make steps to change that.
How will you be celebrating International Women’s Day this year?! Let me know in the comments below!
Much love to all of my gals! These are great uplifting things to do this International Women’s Day
I think that IWD should be on the same day as Galentine’s so we can just all throw one MASSIVE girl party and celebrate like crazy. And all women should have the day off work haha! But for real – these ideas are awesome. I have new books on my list of things to read now, so thank you 😉
Oh I love Leslie Knope! These are all great ways to celebrate. I loved Ocean’s Eight too!
Having a strong and supportive woman tribe is so important. It’s something I can’t imagine not having. Also, Love your podcast recs! Ill be trying some this week.
This is such a cool idea to celebrate National Women’s Day! I definitely need to connect with more women in my area and this is always a great reminder. Hope you had an amazing day celebrating!
xoxo Bryanna