Join us to celebrate International Women’s Day

The annual global event celebrates the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women but also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity.

The theme for 2021 is #ChooseToChallenge. A challenged world is an alert world and everyone, whatever their gender, can choose to call out gender bias and inequality.

Hartlepool Borough Council is running a number of online events on the day:

• Hartlepool’s Community Hubs are encouraging people to download #ChooseToChallenge cards from www.hartlepool.gov.uk/choose-to-challenge – and post selfies with them, together with inspirational quotes or artwork if they wish, in the comments section of the International Women’s Day post on the Hubs’ Facebook page at www.facebook.com/hartlepoolcommunityhubs

• There is continued gender inequality in the music industry and throughout the day the Council’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/hartlepoolcouncil will be hosting specially-recorded performances by four local female artists – Charlotte Grayson, Tay Temple, Madeleine Smyth and VENUS Grrrls – who will be prefacing their performance with a few words on a topic they are choosing to challenge within their industry.

• Also being showcased is the success of women in business in Hartlepool – read about Kim McDermottroe and Harriet Armstrong’s respective businesses - Mags and Ags and Greener Lavelle – on the Invest in Hartlepool website at www.investinhartlepool.co.uk

• The Council’s Enterprise Team is running special online one-to-one information sessions for Hartlepool women interested in going self-employed or starting a business in the town. The sessions are on Tuesday 9th March and need to be booked in advance – for more details see the news story on the Council’s homepage at www.hartlepool.gov.uk

• From this weekend and over the coming weekends, on Hartlepool Art Gallery’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/hartlepoolartgallery , female artists who have previously exhibited at the gallery – Lucinda Grange, Diane Watson, Seiko Kinoshita and Julie Cockburn – will be talking about what inspires them, what they have been doing since their exhibitions in the gallery and what advice they would give to the next generation of female artists.

As part of its ongoing wider initiatives, Hartlepool Borough Council is committed to working with trade union colleagues to provide a policy, guidance and training for its workforce to promote the symptoms of the menopause and proactive ways to support people in the workforce.

Hartlepool Borough Council recognises the effects of the perimenopause and menopause on its female workforce and on trans men who are changing gender from a woman to a man.

The Council recognises that this is a sensitive and personal issue and is committed to ensuring that its managers cultivate an environment where workers can talk in confidence with a manager who understands the issues they are experiencing, and possible changes in the workplace that will prevent discrimination, support their wellbeing and enable them to continue to fulfil their job roles.

Denise McGuckin, the Council’s Managing Director, said: “The women of Hartlepool are fantastic, talented and dedicated and we hope people will join us in celebrating – and being inspired by - all that they have accomplished.

“But there are still challenges to overcome in the drive for gender equality and International Women’s Day is very much a rallying call for all people to challenge inequality, call out bias, question stereotypes and help forge an inclusive world.”