Celebrating International Women’s Day: Empowering Change, Honouring Progress

Every year on 8 March, International Women’s Day (IWD) gives us a powerful moment to pause, reflect, and celebrate the incredible achievements of women around the world. It’s a day that recognises not only how far we’ve come, but also how much more there is to do to achieve true gender equality.

This year’s theme, “Inspire Inclusion,” reminds us that progress happens when everyone—regardless of gender—actively champions equity. Inclusion isn’t just a value; it’s an action. It shows up in the decisions we make, the voices we amplify, and the spaces we build so that every woman feels seen, supported, and able to thrive.

From pioneering leaders to everyday heroes shaping their communities, women continue to drive transformation across every sector. Their resilience inspires innovation. Their leadership strengthens organisations. Their perspectives make the world more compassionate and more just.

But International Women’s Day is also a call to action. It asks each of us:
How can we contribute to a more equal world? How can we challenge bias, uplift one another, and create opportunities where they didn’t exist before?

Whether through mentorship, advocacy, or simply taking time to listen, we all have a role to play in building a future where equality is not aspirational—it’s expected.

St Martin’s:

A resident named June Gordon, has written a poem for International Women’s Day:

Woman – who are you?
I am your mother – I gave birth to you
Through pain and gritted teeth, through agony
And euphoria and birth-stained and blooded sheets.

Woman – who are you?
I am your dream partner, and sometimes called a wife. I am the patient lover who gives your children in life.

Woman – who are you?
I am your female offspring – the child you thought you didn’t want – but who you’d now die for in a splitting instant.

Woman – who are you?
I am the care-home nurse who feeds you and keeps you clean – and who ignores your rabid dementia deeds which I know you do not mean.

We are the women; God-sent, competent and very human, vulnerable – but relevant – in the life of every man.

-June Gordon