Celebrating the achievements of women was the theme of two public story times held at Parent Place and Ballarat Town Hall Library today to mark International Women’s Day.
Celebrated annually on 8 March, International Women’s Day is a global event designed to bring women’s rights issues, such as gender equality, to the forefront of public attention. The theme of International Women’s Day this year is #EmbraceEquity.
City of Ballarat Deputy Mayor, Cr Amy Johnson presented the public story time at Parent Place on Wednesday morning, while Cr Samantha McIntosh presented the story time at Ballarat Town Hall Library on Wednesday afternoon. Both events were well attended by families and children of all ages and genders.
City of Ballarat Mayor, Cr Des Hudson said it was important to mark events centering the voices and achievements of women, such as International Women’s Day, to help forge a gender equal world.
“International Women’s Day is about working collectively to create a world free of bias, stereotypes and discrimination not just for women, but people of all genders,” he said.
“International Women’s Day is about inclusion for all.”
While there is still much work to do, the City of Ballarat is committed to leading the way when it comes to gender equality. It is doing this by implementing the Gender Equality Action Plan.
Part of this plan has been to achieve equal numbers of hires in the female and male genders, while in 2021/2022 the female hires were slightly greater, sitting at 61 percent.
The City of Ballarat Annual Report 2021/2022 also reported the number of females and males at the highest band of employment at the City of Ballarat – Band 8 – was approximately equal throughout the year.
