March 8 is International Women’s Day. Each year International Women’s Day is an opportunity to celebrate the contributions of women and renew our efforts in achieving gender equality – in Canada and around the world. The first International Women’s Day was observed on March 19, 1911 in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland. The United Nations recognized 1975 as International Women’s Year and began celebrating IWD on March 8, later adopting a resolution designating March 8 as International Women’s Day.
This year’s theme for International Women’s Day, #InnovateForChange, is a call to action, asking everyone to harness the power of technology to create a more equal world. In Canada, only a third of graduates in STEM are women, a difference that’s magnified in fields such as engineering and computer science. Meanwhile, Canada and other countries face major job shortages in many STEM fields.
If you want to get involved more than the Government of Canada has provided an online toolkit that can be seen here.