Journal

International Women's Day

International Women's Day

International Women’s Day 2022
#IWD22 #breakthebias

The International Women’s Day 2022 theme, Changing Climates: Equality today for a sustainable tomorrow, recognises and celebrates the contribution of women and girls around the world, who are working to change the climate of gender equality and build a sustainable future.

Harnessing the skills and knowledge of women to conserve our natural resources and create a healthier, more sustainable planet, is central to achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. Women and girls face greater vulnerability and exposure to disasters, and conflicts, and yet they remain largely ignored in developing solutions and their capabilities are often under-utilised. As the most impacted, women are also a critical part of the solution.

DID YOU KNOW? 

GENDER EQUALITY

  • Nearly 60% of women around the world work in the informal economy, earning less, saving less, and are at greater risk of falling into poverty 
  • Women earn 23% less than   men globally 
  • Women occupy only 24% of parliamentary seats worldwide 
  • 1 in 3 women have experienced physical or sexual violence and 200 million women and girls have suffered female genital mutilation 

CLIMATE  

  • Around 21.5 million people worldwide are displaced every year by climate change-related events, of these, 80% are women   
  • At least 1.2 billion people could be displaced by climate-related events by 2050 
  • Women and children are 14 times more likely than men to die or be injured from a natural disaster.  More than 70% of people who died in the 2004 Asian tsunami were women 
  • Climate disasters have been shown to increase gender-based violence (GBV), including sexual harassment and violence, domestic violence, child marriage, sexual exploitation of children, and human trafficking

The beautiful faces behind your Cloth & Co. garments:

    10 WOMEN WE ADMIRE 

    There are so many women around the world who inspire us. Women from all facets of life are paving the way to make the world a better place and protect it for future generations. The strong voices of these women have created changes in history for which we are grateful and feel inspired to do what we can to help.

    #breakthebias 

    AMELIA TELFORD - Climate justice and sustainability activist focused on renewable energy

    “The impacts of climate change for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aren’t just the severe weather events, it’s the actual destruction of our land from the industries that are fuelling the crisis”

    Amelia Telford is a young Aboriginal and South Sea Islander woman from Bundjalung country in Northern NSW. She’s the National Co-Director of the Seed Indigenous Youth Climate Network – a national grassroots movement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people, fighting for climate justice and a sustainable future powered by renewable energy.

    ALICE EADY - Social justice filmmaker

    Alice Eady is a 27-year-old documentary photographer, filmmaker and campaigner, whose work focuses on social justice issues including forced migration, climate justice and women’s stories. She is also the co-founder of @earthrise.studio an independent media company dedicated to telling stories for a new world.

    ISATOR CESSAY - Waste and Recycling Activist 

    Gambian activist and social entrepreneur, popularly referred to as the Queen of Recycling. She initiated a recycling movement called One Plastic Bag in The Gambia. Through this movement, she educated women in The Gambia to recycle plastic waste into sellable products that earned them income.

    DAME ELLEN MACARTHUR - Circular economy activist 

    “The world’s current take-make-dispose linear economy is outdated. It is also the root cause of some of today’s most challenging problems. Planet Earth faces a waste plastic crisis that no amount of well-intentioned clean-ups can solve. The answer lies in the creation of a circular economy. We need to move beyond a philosophy of single-use. The circular economy offers a blueprint for a way of life that is restorative and regenerative.” - National Geographic, June 2018

    Owner of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation – develop and promote the idea of a circular economy. She is passionate about advocating and creating an economy designed to keep materials in use, eliminate waste and regenerate natural systems.

    TXAI SURUI - Climate Justice Activist 

    “Indigenous peoples are on the front line of the climate emergency, we must be at the centre of the decisions happening here.”

    Born in the Suruí’s people in Rondônia, Txai was the only Brazilian and Indigenous person to speak at the official opening of the UN Climate Summit Conference. She is Almir Suruí’s daughter, 47, one of the Indigenous Leaders most distinguished for fighting against deforestation in the Amazon. Besides being the founder of the Indigenous Youth Movement of Rondônia, she was also at COP26 as a member of the youth delegation from Engajamundo – non-governmental organisation of youth leadership (Flores, 2021) 

    GRACE FORREST - Human Rights Activist, Founder of Walk Free

    “I see myself as a vessel to be able to share these people’s stories,”

    “I wanted to be a bridge between those two worlds, because people find it hard to believe that slavery exists today. This is a dark, scary area and it is much more connected to us than we all realise.”

    Grace Forrest is the founding director of Walk Free, an international human rights organisation working to eradicate modern slavery, which affects over 40 million people globally.

    GRETA THUNBERG - Swedish Environmental Activist 

    “To all of you who choose to look the other way every day because you seem more frightened of the changes that can prevent catastrophic climate change than the catastrophic climate change itself. Your silence is almost the worst of all.” 

    Great Thunberg is a well-known 19-year-old Swedish environmental activist who is known for challenging world leaders to take immediate action for climate change mitigation.

    DR JANE GOODALL DBE - Founder of the Jane Goodal Institute

    For the past 30 years, Dr Goodall has been speaking about the threats facing chimpanzees, other environmental crises, and her reasons for hope that humankind will solve the problems it has imposed on the earth. For more information about Dr Goodall and the global work of the Jane Goodall Institute, please visit www.janegoodall.org.au

    STELLA MCCARTNEY - Fashion designer

    “If everyone in the design world created a more sustainable product with more mindfulness, then it wouldn't even be a conversation. But they’re not… We need to impose new laws on designers because sadly people aren't taking responsibility, and there is no incentive to encourage them. In order to encourage people to have better practice in their business, to have better product for the planet and the animals who inhabit it with us, then there absolutely should be some laws in place to make it harder for people to screw the planet us” - Dezeen, 2018

    VIVIENNE WESTWOOD - Fashion Designer, Activist

    “What I want people to be able to do is to buy well, by first choosing well and then making it last. And I also believe that if everyone wore just a few beautiful things, there would not be such a climate change problem… The status quo will kill us. People don’t realise how quickly we are marching towards possible mass extinction. Once the global temperature goes up beyond two degrees, you can’t stop it.”

    Sources