International Women’s Day is celebrated on 8 March every year. It promotes positive change by raising awareness about problems women face in their everyday lives, and is also a chance to celebrate the achievements of women.
The stories of ordinary women as makers of history, participating in society on an equal footing with men, are central to the celebrations.
This date is commemorated at the United Nations. In many countries it is a national holiday, when women on all continents, often divided by national boundaries and by ethnic, linguistic, cultural, economic and political differences, come together to celebrate.
2023 events
Celebration of women exhibition, March 2023
We are coordinating a Celebration of women exhibition and community activities to complement the Vote #100 programme – one upcoming event this month will be at the Corn Exchange, celebrating women of note in Cambridge. More information to follow.
Support during the year
We are currently reapplying for our Domestic Abuse Housing Alliance (DAHA) accreditation, which we first achieved in 2019, when we were the fifth local authority in the UK to be accredited.
DAHA accreditation is the UK benchmark for how housing providers should respond to domestic abuse. Women are much more likely to experience domestic abuse than men. For the year ending March 2022, the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) estimated that 1.7 million women and 699,000 men aged 16 years and over experienced domestic abuse in the last year. This is a prevalence rate of approximately 7 in 100 women and 3 in 100 men.
Domestic abuse can have much more serious consequences for women too - intimate partner homicide victims and suspected suicide victims are overwhelmingly female (85% and 90% respectively for latest Home Office stats for 2020/21).
We work throughout the year to help minimise sexual violence and support victims. Much of this work is undertaken with local partners through the Purple Flag Group, which brings together the Cambridge BID, city council, police, local business, Cambridge Businesses Against Crime, voluntary services and higher education organisations.
Read more bout how the council and partners work together to help keep Cambridge safe from sexual violence.
Projects
We support a number of projects that support gender equality through our grants funding, including:
- The Meadows Children and Family Wing - Funding contributes to the Life After Abuse package for women and their children
- Cambridge Women’s Resources Centre - Funding contributes to the employability and wellbeing programme of workshops, courses and groups, enabling skills and confidence building for women and enabling them to re-engage in the community
- Our Active Lifestyles Team provide a number of women’s only exercise sessions and short courses throughout the year
2022 events
Women’s heritage walking tours
Discover some of the great and lesser known women of Cambridge on a free 90-minute walking tour led by Green Badge Guides.
Join us to hear stories of college bedders, business women, sex workers, scientists, suffragists and scholars.
International Women’s Day Lunch
Women’s health groups hosted a free International Women’s Day lunch at Ross Street Community Centre on 30 March.
The event was dedicated to sharing stories, music, poetry and culture from your country of origin.
Celebration of Women Festival, summer 2022
In the summer there will be a two-day festival dedicated to the celebration of women. Check this page or follow the follow Cambridge Women’s Heritage on Facebook for up-to-date information.
2021 event
In 2021 we moved to an online platform, where we shared the contributions of women who have lived, worked and studied in Cambridge throughout the ages. Find out more on the Capturing Cambridge website.
