THE achievements of women across Mitchell Shire will be celebrated at a special high tea on International Women’s Day.
The high tea will be held this Thursday, March 8, from 9.30am to 11.30am at Club Mandalay, Beveridge.
Guest speaker at the event is popular blogger and mother of two Abby Gilmore, founder of website According to Abby.
Ms Gilmore has over 100,000 followers on Instagram and 20,000 on Facebook.
With her driving force to ‘change the stigma around being a young mum’ and provide a strong role model for her daughters, Ms Gilmore’s honest social media videos touch on everything from co-parenting and motherhood to mental health and women’s rights.
Ms Gilmore said she was passionate about supporting International Women’s Day and hoped to inspire women.
“International Women’s Day means so much to me,” Ms Gilmore said.
“After my experience the last year and a half I’ve really found my voice, and making women my focus in discovering their strength is what I feel I was put here to do. I’m excited to see such a movement and I don’t hope to see it continue, I know it will continue.”
International Women’s Day is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women.
The slogan is #PressforProgress for this year’s event, calling on people to press forward and progress gender parity.
Mitchell Shire Mayor Rhonda Sanderson said International Women’s Day was a fantastic concept that supported work council was doing in the gender equity space.
“Council is very proud to have developed our first Social Justice Framework last year and one of the key priorities of that plan is to create gender equity within our community,” Cr Sanderson said.
“We’re committed to ensuring all our residents have the same rights, resources and opportunities, regardless of their gender.
“Unfortunately, this doesn’t always happen in society, so days like International Women’s Day, which shines a light on women and their achievements, are so important.
“There are so many women in our community who are achieving great things and this is our chance to publicly celebrate them.
“International Women’s Day is a chance to remember the challenges faced by women, celebrate our achievements and keep pushing for gender equity.”
For more information on International Women’s Day, please visit www.internationalwomensday.com.