A lesson plan: What is International Women’s Day? & Why is it important? What does inequality for women look like within society? This year’s theme: Make it Happen What is Rosa and what we do? Raise awareness of issues relating to gender and gender equality International Women’s Day 8 th of March 2015 Theme: Make it Happen

International Women’s Day (IWD) is held every year on the 8th March. IWD is a fantastic opportunity to celebrate the progress that women have achieved, and become better informed about the difficulties that women face. It is a chance to unify, network and mobilise our aspirations and efforts for essential and meaningful change. It is a call to action! What is International Women’s Day? And why is it important?

Restricted Land Ownership Access to educationLimited mobility Freedom to Marry and Divorce Feminization of Poverty Inequalities present in the world today

Inequality in the United Kingdom

Sexism in advertising: differences for males and females Pop culture: Robin Thicke/Miley Cyrus Alternatives e.g. Janelle Monae/ Laura Mvula Sexism in the Media Rewind & Reframe: Working for change

The boys version: How To Survive Almost Anything (Boy’s Only Edition) had chapters entitled How to: Survive A Shark Attack Survive A Plane Crash Survive A T-Rex Survive A Zombie Invasion And another book offered, entitled How To Survive Almost Anything (Girls Only Edition) had chapters like: How To: Survive A Breakout Survive A Fashion Disaster Have The Best Sleepover Ever Survive A Camping Trip Teach Your Cat To Sit Dear Lego company, My name is Charlotte. I am 7 years old and I love Lego but I don’t like that there are more Lego boy people and barely any Lego girls. Today I went to a store and saw Lego in two sections the girls pink and the boys blue. All the girls did was sit at home, go to the beach, and shop, and they had no jobs but the boys went on adventures, worked, saved people, and had jobs, even swam with sharks. I want you to make more Lego girl people and let them go on adventures and have fun ok!?! Thank you! From Charlotte

Women’s organisations try to influence and change the unfairness of our societies – from grassroots organising to advocacy and campaigning – and are uniquely placed to mobilise and empower women to come together to know and claim their rights. Recent years have seen increasing attention to women and girls from development actors. Powerful institutions such as the World Bank have championed women as ‘agents of change’. Private foundations such as the Gates Foundation and Nike Foundation, donor agencies including Norway, Sweden, Spain, the Netherlands and the UK, and large international non-governmental organisations (INGOs), have all expanded their focus on women and girls. The Role of Women’s Organisations

Rosa is the first and only UK-wide women’s fund, started with the aim of finding new sources of money to fund women’s organisations. Rosa’s vision is of equality and justice for all women and girls in the UK. Rosa UK Find us at

Rosa has funded innovative and exciting projects. Rosa has highlighted what women’s organisations can do, what they are doing, and why they need support. Rosa has encouraged other, much bigger funders to support work finding alternatives to custodial sentences for women offenders, to tackle Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in the UK, and to support new and struggling organisations. Most recently Rosa has funded projects looking at the issue of media representation of girls and young women. Anybody’s Shape Your Culture project received the organisation’s first ever funding. Also last year Rosa has funded the End Violence Against Women coalition, along with Imkaan and Object, to work together on a project to tackle sexism and racism in music videos. What does Rosa do?

An invitation to celebrate a woman who has inspired change. This may be someone who has made a difference to you personally or a woman who has affected the lives of people around the world. This year’s global theme for International Women’s Day is: United in one theme Make it Happen.

On International Women’s Day using the hashtags #IWD2015 and #IWDRosa15 and tell us Who is your favourite woman and how she inspires change? Which campaign promoting advancement and/or recognition of women in society has inspired you? What are you doing to celebrate IWD? What does a better world for women mean to you? Send us a picture on using #IWD2015 and #IWDRosa15 A Call to Action!

Three women have inspired the name of our organisation. Do you know who they are and how they changed History? Hint: they all share the same first name. Rosa’s Inspiration

1. Participate in the discussion and voice your opinion! Use social media and share your thoughts about anything you find unjust for women and girls around you, in the UK or in the world. 2. Fundraise Rosa is inviting people across the UK to raise much-needed funds for groups working with women and girls in the UK. By taking part and hosting events, you can celebrate the women who have inspired you. International Women’s Day is a great opportunity to show support for women and girls across the UK, and to learn about the ways women and girls are working together creatively to tackle the issues women and girls face in 2015.The money raised from each Rosa event will be used to support initiatives and projects working to benefit women and girls across the UK. 3: Be the change! How you can drive change

Have a great International Women’s Day! Watch this video and learn about the many women’s inventions we never talk about! Celebrate a better world for women!