IWD: Accelerate action, together, we ride

March 8 of every year, the world pauses to acknowledge the contributions, struggles and achievements of women; it is a day rooted in history, a reminder of the fight for fair wages and equal opportunities. This year’s theme: “Accelerate Action” is a call for urgent, bold steps to fast-track gender equality. Despite years of advocacy, […]

March 8 of every year, the world pauses to acknowledge the contributions, struggles and achievements of women; it is a day rooted in history, a reminder of the fight for fair wages and equal opportunities.

This year’s theme: “Accelerate Action” is a call for urgent, bold steps to fast-track gender equality. Despite years of advocacy, progress remains too slow, and recent setbacks, like the COVID-19 pandemic, have widened existing gaps. This theme urges governments, businesses, and individuals to move beyond promises and take real, measurable action whether through policy reforms, economic opportunities, or dismantling systemic barriers that hold women back.  

It also emphasises inclusivity, recognising that different women face different challenges based on race, class, or disability. “Accelerate Action” demands accountability from institutions and encourages activism at all levels to ensure that gender equality is not just an aspiration but a reality. The time for gradual change is over now is the moment to act.

 Today remains the same, the urgency has never been greater.Today is not a day for pleasantries, it is not a day for the usual posts, the flowery tributes or the carefully curated photos of mothers, sisters and wives. No, today is not a day for sentimentality. Today is a call for action. International Women’s Day did not begin as a celebration,it was born in fire.

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It began in the factories.  

The year was 1908, and the air was thick with smoke. Machines roared, swallowing the voices of thousands of women bent over sewing machines, working long hours for little pay. But on one cold New York afternoon, 15,000 women took to the streets marching for better wages, shorter working hours, and the right to vote. They were tired; tired of being invisible, tired of waiting.  

Their fight echoed across the Atlantic. In 1911, at a conference in Copenhagen, a woman named Clara Zetkin stood before delegates from 17 countries and proposed a radical idea: a day where women across the world would rise as one. A day that would belong to no government, no corporation, no nation, only to the fight for women’s rights.  

It caught fire.

By 1975, the United Nations officially recognised March 8 as International Women’s Day. In 1995, Hillary Clinton stood before the world at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing and declared: “Human rights are women’s rights, and women’s rights are human rights.” The world applauded. The world agreed.  

And yet, the world waited.

It is 2025, and women are still waiting.  

In Nigeria, a nation brimming with potential, the statistics tell a sobering story. Out of 109 Senate seats, only four belong to women. In the House of Representatives, just 15 out of 360 seats are held by women. These aren’t just numbers. They are locked doors, silent refusals, polite dismissals. They are reminders that power is still rationed, still guarded.  

Across the world, the fight for equality is far from over.  

In Afghanistan, women have been erased from public life, banned from schools, universities, and workplaces. In Iran, young girls risk their lives for the right to show their hair. In the United States, reproductive rights continue to be stripped away. In boardrooms, women still fight for equal pay, for a seat at the table, for basic dignity in the workplace.  

We hear the same promises every year: Women belong in leadership. Women deserve equal pay. Women should live free of violence.  

But when does “should” become “will”? When does “one day” become now?  

This year, the call is louder than ever.

  Accelerate Action.

For ALL women and wirls: Rights. Equality. Empowerment. Together, we ride.  

The fight for women’s rights has never been about empty slogans or ceremonial speeches. It has been about access, and opportunity. It has been about dismantling the barriers that have kept half the world’s population from realizing their full potential.  

History will judge us not by the promises we made, but by the rights women still have to fight for. And we refuse to fight this same battle for another century.  

 

Stephanie Shaakaa wrote from 

University of Agriculture 

Makurdi,

Benue State.