International Women’s Day 2025 Events
Learning from the UN : What do we want to know?
Women’s Platform will support a small delegation from Northern Ireland at the UN Commission on the Status of Women in March, to bring back learning and good practice from international networks. CSW is the UN intergovernmental body that monitors progress on gender equality, and works through an annual conference held each March at UN HQ in New York. This year, CSW69 will mark the Beijing Platform for Action at 30 and review the full range of women’s rights and gender equality issues. This webinar seeks the views of women and women’s groups in Northern Ireland on what topics and issues are priorities for them, and what learning and good practice the delegation should focus on bringing back. We are keen to hear from all women and women’s organisations, so that we can act as the widest possible support for the sector. The webinar will also give a broad overview of learning from CSW68, and how it has supported work in the sector over the year.
Register at https://womensplatform.org/news-and-events/
Why we need to decriminalise sex work
Join Red Umbrella Éireann and Sex Workers Alliance Ireland for a discussion on why sex worker led groups advocate for decriminalisation, and find out how the current law in NI is harmful.
Email danielle@reclaimtheagenda.org to register.
Location information on registration, Belfast City Centre accessible venue.
Grow your Space: How to rebuild our streets and alleyways into productive, green areas
"Grow your Space: How to rebuild our streets and alleyways into productive, green areas"
Find out how to start growing your own and reclaiming space!
Lunch is provided so please register by emailing info@wrda.net
One Year On: Is the Assembly Working for Women?
One Year On: Is the Assembly Working for Women?
It has been one year since the return of the Northern Ireland Assembly and the restoration of devolved government. Join the Women’s Policy Group as we evaluate the government’s record on women’s issues over the last year. We will assess the progress of each department and highlight matters of particular importance. As part of the programme of International Women’s Day events, we will ask if the Assembly is working for women.
A light lunch will be served before the event from 12pm.
Date: Wednesday March 5th 2025
Time: 1 – 3pm
Venue: Shankill Shared Women’s Centre
Register: https://forms.gle/jtK4QBdD1gGzvkmt6
Belfast’s Remarkable Women
To mark International Women’s Day, and the first anniversary of the unveiling of Mary Ann McCracken and Winnifred Carney statues in the grounds of Belfast City Hall, join Dr Robyn Atcheson and Dr Lauren Smyth as they tell you stories of these, and other, remarkable Belfast women.
Hear stories about Mary Ann McCracken who fought for the rights of the poor and took a stand against the slave trade, as well as some of the women who ended up in the Poor House. This talk will look at how women engaged with politics at a time when their voices were being deliberately silenced and how they overcame class barriers in order to achieve small victories. It will also explore the legacy of these women in the 20th and 21st centuries and how Belfast can better remember them and their activism.
Dr Robyn Atcheson is a social historian who teaches and writes on social history, history of medicine and women’s history. Her specialist research interests lie in the history of poor relief and public health in nineteenth-century Belfast.
Dr Lauren Smyth is the Historian of Clifton House who researches and tells the stories of those who worked and lived in the Belfast Poor House, the work of the Belfast Charitable Society and Mary Ann McCracken. Her specialist subject is child poverty in early 19th Century Belfast and how charitable institutions, such as the Belfast Charitable Society, tried to improve child welfare during this period.
Location: Belfast City Hall
Time: 13:00-14:30
Date: Wednesday 5 March
Price: Free
https://visitbelfast.ticketsolve.com/ticketbooth/shows/873669685
Placards Pizza and Prep
Come help us get ready for the IWD rally on the 8th March by helping us make placards and goodie bags. Pizza provided!
Email Danielle to Rsvp danielle@reclaimtheagenda.org
Wednesday 5th March 5:30pm - 8pm (drop in) Community Arts Partnership
Rise & Radiate
Join Women of Colour Belfast and Queen’s ACS for Rise & Radiate – a powerful International Women’s Day networking event.
Wednesday, 5th March
Bullit Hotel, 6 PM
Get ready for an evening of inspiring panel discussions, networking, and empowerment as we dive into personal branding, career development, mentorship, and thriving beyond university.
Limited tickets available – don’t wait! Grab yours now via the link in our bio!
Women in Media Belfast
What?: WIMB CIC ACCELERATE ACTION - Jawbox Gin reception and hot lunch on arrival, a range of speakers, and a Women’s Aid workshop.
When?: Thursday, March 6, 2025, 1pm-4.30pm.
Where?: Belfast City Hall reception room.
Who?: All welcome. If you’re concerned about amplifying women’s voices this event is for you.
How do I get tickets?: WIMB Eventbrite
If you have an specific dietary requirements or any questions?: Email contact@wimbelfast.com
Register for free tickets here https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/women-in-media-belfast-cic-accelerate-action-iwd-event-2025-tickets-1235103932109
Housewife of the Year Film
Documentary Film: Housewife of the Year tells the story of Ireland’s treatment of women through the prism of a unique, surreal, live televised competition, which really has to be seen to be believed, where a generation of Irish women competed in front of a live audience for the title of Ireland’s ‘Housewife of the Year.'
Venue - Playhouse Portrush
Tickets available on the door or in advance here https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/pftcommunitycinema/t-zzrjvdr
Rebellion Storytelling
Menstruation Matters are joining forces with Seanchoice for a special event in March as part of International Women's Day
Date: Friday March 7th
Venue: Banana Block
Theme: Rebellion
🗣 If you have a story to tell on rebellion, you can apply via @seanchoice website. Speakers go for free, and can bring a plus one for free!
https://dice.fm/partner/dice/event/l8vndr-seanchoche-belfast-x-menstruation-matters-7th-mar-banana-block-belfast-tickets
International Women's Day March and Rally 2025
International Women’s Day rally Belfast 8th March 2025
International Women’s Day Takeover
The International Women’s Day Takeover, hosted by The F Collective, is a celebration of women in music, art, and activism. Taking place at Tom’s Bar, Laverys, Belfast on Saturday, 8th March (4-11PM), the event features live performances, a women’s market, a trad session, and powerful guest speakers from organisations working to end sexual and gender-based violence.
The F Collective is a women-led initiative curating diverse, inclusive, and queer-friendly events in Belfast. Dedicated to creating safe spaces in traditionally male-dominated arenas, it amplifies local artists, businesses, and organisations while standing firmly against misogyny, discrimination, and gender-based violence.
All profits from the event will be donated to Nexus NI, supporting survivors of sexual violence.
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/international-womens-day-takeover-tickets-1248099000709
Afghan Women Solidarity Concert
Special guests locally and internationally flying in to perform with musicians form the Ulster Orchestra.
A fringe programme with events 10 - 11 March will include businesses, community groups and schools.
Sonite Alizadeh, Elaha Soroor, Zarifa Asghar, Eve Kearney, Cayenna Ponchione-Bailey supported by Pianist Al MacSween, Guitarist Nolan Donnelly, Tabla player Shahbaz Hussain and Rubab player Saphwat Simab. Compered by Amanda Ferguson and Niamh Campbell (Women in Media NI)
Performances at 4pm and 7pm
Venue - Townsend Street
www.beyondskin.net/iwd25
Africa Migration Report Poetry Anthology Launch
The Africa Migration Report Poetry Anthology Series is a multi-year, multi-volume poetry initiative that invites poems exploring personal, familial, community, national and international histories, and experiences of African and African diasporic migration.
The series is inspired by the African Union and International Organisation for Migration's Africa Migration Report: 2nd Edition (2004) and is organised by Forced Migration and The Arts in association with Civic Leicester and the migrants' rights collective, Regularise. Japa Fire: An Anthology of Poems on African and African Diasporic Migration is now out and can be ordered online or through No Alibis bookstore.
Forced Migration and The Arts is an international network that brings together people with lived experience of forced migration, refugee and non-refugee artists, academics and art spaces for conversation looking at work taking place at the intersection where forced migration and the arts meet.
Nandi Jola - Ireland organiser and contributor, will be launching and hosting the Belfast launch in collaboration with Ulster Museum as an Inclusive Histories Global partner.
Venue
Belfast Room
Ulster Museum
Sunday 9th March
12 - 1pm
Register
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/1249460452849
Big Belfast Choir
Come and learn a woman's song in 3 part harmony, perform it with guest singer son write Eimear Crehan.
£15
CAILLEACH: 'The divine hag' - All Women's Group Exhibition
CAILLEACH: 'The divine hag' - All Women's Group Exhibition
Date: Opens 6-9pm Thursday 6th March
Open Daily 12-5pm Friday 7th March Until Monday 10th March
Location: Vault Gallery, Belfast
Join curators Zippy, Wee Nuls and Kerrie Hanna as they celebrate International Women’s Day 2025, presenting a group show ‘CAILLEACH’ featuring work from 15 women artists based across the Island of Ireland.
The exhibition will launch alongside Late Night Art in the Vault Gallery Belfast on 6th March from 6-9pm. It will remain open until Monday 10th March.
LINE UP
Alana McDowell | Bebhinn Eilish | Claire Prouvost | Fiona McDonnell | Grace Fairley | Holly Pereira | Jacky Sheridan | Kathi Burke | Laura Callaghan | Laura Nelson | Nichola Irvine | Nuala Convery | Wilhelmina Peace | Zipporah Reynolds
The word Cailleach translates as old woman, the divine hag. Within the Celtic wheel of the year The Cailleach is attributed as the Veiled One, mysterious, powerful, and often a shapeshifter who was celebrated as winter gave way to Spring. This is a moment to honour the deep ancestral knowledge which works its way down generations of women and to celebrate the power of the hag.
The work in this exhibition not only celebrates women’s power and the power of the collective to enact change, but also acts as a stark reminder of the ongoing fight for women's rights and the progress still needed to achieve true gender parity.
There will be interactive events throughout the week to include Placard Making for International Women’s Day March on Friday 7th and an Artist Breakfast on Sunday 9th. You are also warmly invited to join us for the IWD March itself leaving from Vault Marlborough House on 8th March to join the parade and make your voice heard for Women’s Rights both at home and across the World.
Please check out our other events on our promoter page and follow our exhibition instagram @cailleach_exhibition
Migrant Women and Peacebuilding: Uniting for Equality and Human Rights
Reflecting this year's IWD theme of 'Solidarity Beyond Borders- Women for World Peace', this event will explore the role which migrant and ethnic minority women play in peacebuilding with a workshop and film screening.
The workshop, facilitated by Women's Platform, will explore human rights frameworks, the United Nations, and the Women, Peace and Security agenda. This will be followed by group discussion and a screening of Women, Peace and Power (Peace is Loud, 2019). This short film explores the role women play as peacebuilders through three case studies: Northern Ireland, Liberia and Afghanistan.
Lunch will be served at 1pm, with the event beginning at 1.30pm. Interpreters can be organised on request, and participant travel expenses within NI can be reimbursed.
Please note, this event is only for women with lived experience from migrant and/or ethnic minority communities in NI. Registration is essential to attend.
For any questions, please contact julia@migrantcentreni.org
Registration link: https://forms.gle/JJ3dM9KhfnXkvy1H8