This year’s theme #PressforProgress encourages continued momentum behind progress made to achieve global gender equality, particularly after recent movements like #MeToo and #TimesUp made positive gains.

The Macleay Valley Women's Business network and Macleay Valley Community Art Gallery are hosting an exhibition celebrating the work of female artists in the Mid North Coast.

International Women’s Day Macleay Valley Art Exhibition

Artists from north of Bellingen through to Port Macquarie feature up to three pieces each in the art exhibition which is now open for visitors to enjoy from 10.30am-4pm at the Macleay Valley art gallery. 

The official launch party for the exhibition kicks off at 6pm at the art gallery on March 8 and is open to the public to attend. The event will be catered and will feature a range of highlights including a performance from the Yarrahapinni Choir.

International Women’s Day Girls Academy celebration

Also celebrating is the Macleay Girls Academy with two separate events planned at Kempsey High School and Melville High School. A morning tea at Melville High on March 8 at 11am sees each girl invite a teacher or staff member to attend while local community and business leaders as well as Elders are invited.

Kempsey High Girls Academy will also hold an afternoon tea from 1.30pm – 2.30pm with speeches from Dunghutti Elders and program manager Juli Morris.

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Guest speakers, staff and academy girls will give speeches throughout the two events.

“It is a positive event for our young girls at the academy to be involved in as it helps create an awareness of the wonderful achievements women are reaching in our local community, it gives us an opportunity to say thank you to our local women, who are proactive in making change for girls and women in our area,” said program manager Juli Morris.

Women of the Macleay

Already this year, the community has been reminded of the outstanding women who call the Macleay home.

Each of our 2018 Australia Day Young Citizens of the Year were talented and determined young women with Abigael Baker winning the top title.

Former Kempsey Shire Council mayor and long-time Macleay woman Betty Green was crowned the 2018 Citizen of the Year for her outstanding volunteer work and commitment to the community.

In February, we heard the story of Merinda Kyle, the daughter of a cattle farmer in Millbank west of Kempsey, who rallied her community to raise more than $10,000 for the medical team at Port Macquarie responsible for saving her father from cancer.

Founder of Baylin’s Gift, Hayley Hoskins, just returned from leading a team of locals in the Sydney Mardi Gras parade and is renowned locally for advocating diversity, acceptance, love and unity in the Macleay.

Meanwhile, the Macleay’s own angels – the Lilli Pilli Ladies – are just one of the countless local charitable groups dedicated solely to helping others. A recent community fundraiser lead by the Lilli Pilli Ladies raised more than $16,000 for cancer patients.

The community has been home to a range of inspirational women who are no longer with us. We recently celebrated the life of Wilga Thurgood, a pioneer in home-cooking and a woman dedicated to the Macleay.

Other women making the Macleay proud are our outstanding sportswomen. Just recently The Argus announced that Kempsey-born duo Kimbaley Kershaw and Nakia Davis-Welsh will make rugby league history when they step onto the field to represent the South Sydney Rabbitohs in the NRL Club’s inaugural women’s side.

Mentioning these ladies scratches the surface of the plethora of outstanding women making a difference in the community behind news headlines. 

“There are many women who do great things quietly and seem to fly under the radar so this day is a chance to recognise them and to say thankyou,” Narelle Moulton of the Kempsey Domestic Violence Monitoring Committee said. 

“They’re women who are not necessarily a star at their job but those who are doing extraordinary things for their community. They could be a dedicated volunteer or a role model for someone.”

The Women of the Macleay awards will not go ahead this year as organisers instead focus on a project to install a bench seat at the Kempsey Riverside Park which will honour the women of the Macleay. The bench will be unveiled at IWD in 2019.

Check out the past Women of the Macleay award recipients:

For the eight years the awards have been running over 20 women from a range of backgrounds and fields in the Macleay have been recognised.

Why it’s important to celebrate International Women’s Day

Figures show that globally, women’s education, health and violence towards women is still worse than that of men. A man working in a full time job earns nearly $27,000 a year more than a woman working full-time with significant pay gaps between women and men in same or similar roles, according to the Australian Government Workplace Gender Equality Agency.

The gender pay gap is influenced by a number of factors, including: discrimination and bias in hiring and pay decisions; women and men working in different industries and different jobs, with female-dominated industries and jobs attracting lower wages; women’s disproportionate share of unpaid caring and domestic work; lack of workplace flexibility to accommodate caring and other responsibilities, especially in senior roles; women’s greater time out of the workforce impacting career progression and opportunities. 

 It is estimated that gender equality across the world will take over two centuries, 217 years to be exact, according to data from the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report.

On International Women’s Day, women across the world come together to force the world to recognise these inequalities – while also celebrating the achievements of women who have overcome these barriers.