Join Me on the Bridge – Celebrate International Women’s Day’s 100th anniversary

Actress Cherie Lunghi on London's Millennium bridge

Tuesday March the 8th is a BIG DAY! It is the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day. To celebrate this historic event, thousands of women, men and children will congregate on bridges all over the world to build bridges of peace and support women of Afghanistan.

On Tuesday, whether you are two or 2000 or more, you can join the campaign by standing on a bridge near you and holding banners calling for peace. People are planning bridges of peace on five continents, in 48 countries and in 9 different time zones with more than 270 events. View a map of all the events. 

In the UK alone, 33 events are planned, from the Eden Project in Cornwall to Edinburgh, backed by celebrities, including actresses Cherie Lunghi and Michelle Ryan and activist and singer Annie Lennox.

Annie Lennox

Here are a few examples of bridge events planned across the globe:

·      In Rwanda/DRC, women from both countries will meet at the Gisenyi-Goma border.  

·      In Bosnia, women will gather on the Ars Aevi Bridge in Sarajevo to let off balloons and hear speeches.

·      In New York, people will walk across the Brooklyn Bridge to City Hall Park in Manhattan where there will be a festival.

·      Berlin will host a ‘virtual bridge’ on the web comprised of ‘authors for peace’ from around the world.

·      In Sudan, a group of 50 women  will hold out their open palms – the ubiquitous sign of separation from the north – a feat which has now been achieved as a result of the recent referendum and in the aftermath of the bloody civil war that divided the country for more than 20 years.

·      In London, UK, Annie Lennox, Cherie Lunghi, Michelle Ryan and Sally Hawkins will lead a march from Borough Market over the Millennium Bridge along to Embankment and back across the river to the Royal Festival Hall.

The global campaign is organised by Women for Women International and is supported by the National Union of Students, Amnesty International, the Fawcett Society, Oxfam, Women’s Aid, Save the Children and other organizations.

 Women (and men and children)  will gather on bridges to show their support for women in war-torn areas – especially in Afghanistan – and call for women to have a greater say at the peace negotiating tables and for countries to honour the UN goals they have signed up to.

 

“One hundred years ago brave women stood up and changed the world for so many of us.  Today, there are equally brave women standing up for equality in Afghanistan,” says Kate Nustedt, Executive Director of Women for Women International.

"We are proud to stand alongside them on the 100^th anniversary of International Women’s Day and call for them to have a seat at the peace negotiation table so that they can play a part in the rebuilding of their country. Without women there is no peace.” 

For more information, click here.