How you can get involved in International Women’s Day 2025
International Women’s Day (IWD) 2025 is Saturday 8 March.
The year 2025 marks a crucial milestone in the global journey toward gender equality and women’s empowerment, as it celebrates the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. Adopted in 1995 at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing by 189 governments, this Declaration remains the most comprehensive and widely supported framework for advancing the rights of women and girls worldwide.
The theme for this year, ‘March Forward: For ALL Women and Girls’, calls for decisive actions that will open doors to equal rights, power, and opportunities for everyone, as well as a feminist future where no one is left behind. A key focus of this vision is empowering youth — especially young women and adolescent girls — as agents of lasting transformation.
However, systemic inequalities, deeply ingrained social norms, escalating violence against women, and economic disparities not only impede progress but also jeopardise the hard-won achievements we’ve made.
- Two out of three women experience gender bias and discrimination in the Australian health system.
- Australian women spend on average 16 hours on unpaid care work compared to 12 hours for men.
- One in three Australian women experience physical violence, and one in five experience sexual violence in their lifetime.
Sources: National Women’s Health Advisory Council (2024), Women in Media (2023), Finder (2024), ABS (2021–22), WGEA (2023), The Australian Government (2024).
Deakin’s latest Respect and Wellbeing Student Survey had more than 2600 female identifying students identify that:
- 79% are moderately, very or extremely stressed, and 75% are coping satisfactorily, a little or not at all with university-related stress.
- The top four stressors are Academic workload and expectations, life balance, financial strain and mental health.
- 90% felt they were treated with respect by fellow students and 91% felt they were treated with respect by staff.
How you can get involved at Deakin for IWD 2025
Join us for an online IWD2025 Gender Equity Workshop! Friday 14 March, 10am–12pm AEDT
Facilitated by Equity & Inclusion, we welcome any student to help celebrate International Women’s Day and highlight the importance of change. This workshop will provide you with foundational knowledge on gender equality. The session will share the state of gender inequality at Deakin and the wider community and build ways to take action towards gender equality. Build your knowledge and learn how to connect to further resources, supports and initiatives! Register here
Download International Women’s Day E-signature to show your support:
Join DUSA
- Deakin Geelong Women’s Collective (DGWC). Find out more
- Deakin Women in Stem Society (WSS). Find out more
Free events in our community
- Free community event in Surf Coast Shire. Wednesday 5 March, 10.30am–12.30pm. Surf Coast Shire Council, Torquay. Register here
- Free Financial Wellbeing for International Students | Thursday 6 March–3 April, 12–1pm. This FREE five-week course will provide you with support to plan and structure your finances, learn tips and tricks for making your money go further and provide you with knowledge of financial support options as an international student in Australia. The group is co-designed and facilitated by Good Shepherd and student clinicians of the ACAP Clinic. Register here
- International Women’s Day Breakfast 2025. Friday 7 March 2025, 7.30–9am, Hawthorn Arts Centre. Register here
- Paint Your Feminist Hero Workshop. Saturday 8 March 2025, 10.30am–12.30pm, Wyndham Library Service – Hoppers Crossing (Plaza) Library. Register here
Are you eligible for a scholarship?
We’re all about inclusion at Deakin. The University offers a range of scholarships for both new and continuing undergraduate and postgraduate students.
The first step is to search our Find a scholarship tool, which lists all the currently open or soon-to-open scholarships. Use the search filter to help find scholarships you may be eligible for. Every scholarship has different eligibility, benefits, open/close dates and required information, so click on a scholarship name to learn more.
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