This year’s International Women’s Day (March 8th) campaign calls on us to Accelerate Action for gender equality. At Anawim – Birmingham’s Centre for Women we agree that swift and decisive action is necessary. According to the World Economic Forum, if we continue at the current rate of progress, gender parity won’t be achieved until 2158 – that’s roughly five generations away! We urgently need to tackle the systemic barriers and biases that women face.

Action is needed now so we can have better outcomes for women.

• At work, the gender pay-gap means women effectively worked for free from the 20th of November until the end of last year. This must change.
• There is a worrying rise in online misogyny which affects all women, but particularly young women. These views should be countered.
• The media needs to reframe how it talks about the epidemic of violence against women and girls and stop casting men as passive bystanders. Stop saying “she was raped” and start saying “he raped her”.
• Prosecutions for violent and sexual crimes need to increase and happen more quickly. Currently only 2.6% of reported rapes make it to a charge or summons, and that can take months. This is unacceptable.
• Women make up 4% of the prison population, but are responsible for 27% of the self-harm incidents. 60% of women in prison have been subjected to domestic violence, and the majority are serving sentences of under six months, for non-violent crimes. We hope the sentencing review and the Women’s Justice Board will change that.

To achieve gender equality, we need to understand what works and to do more of it. International Women’s Day say: “Accelerate Action is a worldwide call to acknowledge strategies, resources, and activity that positively impact women's advancement, and to support and elevate their implementation.” We know women’s centres, like Anawim, work. We can stop women reoffending, we can provide them with routes back into employment, we can help them find accommodation or escape a violent situation. We need sustained, dependable, funding so we can continue this, and do more of it, with more women.

#AccelerateAction #IWD2025

Anawim staff will be at awareness and fundraising events all week, culminating in a special event at Queensbridge School on Saturday, and a IWD party at the Juke Pub in Kings Heath on Saturday night.

For more information please contact Alice Rosenthal: communications@anawim.co.uk/ 07908 403 325