International Women’s Day was on Friday 8 March, and we hope all our Members considered something on this day or marked the occasion in some way, in connection with the many women around the world who are suffering from injustices, experiencing hardship and or violence. On 9 March there was a Million Women Rise March to end male violence in all forms against women and girls.
One of our members visited the DIVA exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Musuem recently and sent us this message she saw there: `603 MILLION WOMEN LIVE IN COUNTRIES WHERE DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IS NOT CONSIDERED A CRIME.` This is shocking and the NFWI’s Campaign of No More Violence Against Women is still clearly very pertinent and sadly much more needs to be done worldwide as well as to help the 1.6 million women in the U.K. that it is estimated experience domestic abuse. Our Speaker for April will be talking about this as she is from a local charity that is helping women who have suffered this abuse in providing them with a refuge. We hope you will all come along to show your support and hear what she has to say.
In March there was also `The Great British Clean` from Friday 15 -31 March to keep Britain tidy and remove the litter. I hope that all of us can do our bit whether it’s just picking up a piece of litter outside our abodes or joining in an organised litter pick to improve our local environment.
Our WI motto is INSPIRING WOMEN, so we invite you to keep smiling, be resilient, ingenious and committed to supporting and respecting each other. We wish you all a happy Easter.
Very best wishes,
Linda E and Carol M