International Women's Day, 8 March 2008

Women's rights runs through everything we do
ActionAid celebrated International Women's Day on 8 March with events, campaigns and even a little rock.

International Women's Day (IWD) connects women around the world and aims to inspire them to achieve their full potential.

With women counting for 70% of those living in poverty around the world, it is only by empowering women that we can see an end to world poverty.

Through film, debate and comedy, ActionAid highlighted the abuse of women’s rights across the world, while celebrating the central role that women play in creating a fairer and more just world.

The celebrations kicked off with a panel event at Westminster in which key issues of gender and the global economy were discussed. Gordon Brown opened the event with a video message, while Development Minister Douglas Alexander and feminist academic Gita Sen sat on the panel.

ActionAid partnered with Birds Eye View for a second year to bring an innovative series of films made by women from the developing world to audiences in the UK. Watch the trailers here.

On the day itself, ActionAid attended Capital Woman; an event that brought 2000 London women of all ages and backgrounds together to discuss the issues affecting them. We were there to highlight our Invisible Women campaign which draws attention to the impact of HIV and AIDS on women around the world.

And in the evening, female comedians had our sides splittling at Funny Women Stand Up. Jo Brand, Jo Caulfield from BBC Radio 4, Rhona Cameron and many more took to the stage in celebration of women everywhere.

International Women's Day was a chance to raise the profile of women's rights and highlight its importance in tackling poverty. And so, we asked our Target Poverty campaigners to send a message to Gordon Brown urging him to promote women's rights. See what happened here.

And finally, we launched our Women Rock! viral; a specially designed virtual stick of rock that can be passed on to friends and family and displayed on blogs, websites and facebook.

Join us today and say Women Rock!