Every year International Women’s Day gives us cause to celebrate women’s achievements, from major milestones such as gaining the vote to recognising the incredible accomplishments of individual women.

This year’s theme, ‘Generation Equality’ marks the 25th anniversary of the UN Declaration and Platform for Action, a roadmap for the empowerment of girls and women across the globe. While there is much to celebrate in New Zealand, we are reminded of the work still to be done globally to address key issues such as pay parity and representation in leadership.

London-based Future Laboratory’s ‘Female Futures Report’ proposes five changes to bring about the most optimistic future for women. It is heartening to see the strong alignment of these with the values and initiatives of St Margaret’s.:

• Amplify Diversity - celebrating the wonderful variety of individual talents, valuing all students for the qualities they bring

• Adopting a new ‘growth agenda’ - measuring performance and success not just in terms of hard data, including values related to environmental responsibility, character strengths and wellbeing

• Open the echo chamber - encouraging girls to connect, mentor and share their experiences with other girls, a real strength of our vertical tutor groups and big sister, little sister community

• Invest in female talent - supporting our girls in their aspirations to form clubs, committees and community outreach initiatives, investing as the first NZ school to become a SheEO activator, empowering female entrepreneurs and innovators

• Transform female education - maintaining exceptional standards in STEM, promoting our diverse curriculum offerings, including innovations such as early opportunities to explore senior disciplines and cross-curricular subjects like EPIC and Project X

Everyone benefits from gender equality, and I am proud of the part St Margaret’s plays in educating young women to live and lead.