8 March marks International Women's Day (IWD), a global day to celebrate women's social, economic, cultural and political achievements worldwide. The day is also a call to action for equality, which is in line with the United Nations' 17 Sustainable Development Goals.  

International Women's Day is about celebrating women's achievements, raising awareness for discrimination, taking action to drive gender parity, also seeing a number of missions to increase visibility and calling out inequality.

Like in previous years, a theme has been allocated for the 2023 International Women's Day. This year, the drive is to "#EmbraceEquity", as explained on the official IWD website.

"Equity isn't just a nice-to-have; it's a must-have.

"A focus on gender equity needs to be part of every society's DNA. And it's critical to understand the difference between equity and equality.

"The aim of the IWD 2023 #EmbraceEquity campaign theme is to get the world talking about Why equal opportunities aren't enough. People start from different places, so true inclusion and belonging require equitable action," is stated on the official website of the IWD.

2022 saw thousands of people across the world send in images showing their support and solidarity for the International Women's Day #BreakTheBias campaign theme that served to elevate a global focus on identifying and calling out conscious and unconscious bias in order to help drive positive change for women worldwide.

The IWD also sees a number of missions to help forge a gender-equal world. Celebrating women's achievements and increasing visibility while calling out inequality is key.

These missions vary from celebrating the women forging change, elevating the visibility of women creatives, building workplaces where women thrive, improving equality for women in tech, empowering women's choices in health and applauding when equity is achieved in pay and visibility for women in sports.