The International Women's Day 2023 theme is 'DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality'. This theme focuses on how technology and education in the digital age can help the empowerment of women and girls across the world.
Credit: VICTORIA PICKERING (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) VIA FLICKR
Film
This selection of winning films is curated by the film festival director. These films feature remarkable women who are having a powerful positive impact in their communities and in the world.
Malala: The Story of a Hero
Produced by:Lora Batchelor Middle School
This is a video about Malala Yousafzai and how she stood up for women's rights.
Yasmine Sherif Global Educator Award Winner
Kitty Richardson
Congratulations to Yasmine Sherif, the Director of Education Cannot Wait and the winner of the 2020 Global Educator Award.
Geralyn Dreyfous | Impact Partners
Produced by:MY HERO
Excerpt from our interview with Geralyn Dreyfous, recipient of the MY HERO International Film Festival 2019 Media Award.
Is the Taliban's return the end of music in Afghanistan?
Cormac Walter O'Brien
"As the Taliban take control, members of 'Zohra', Afghanistan's first all-female orchestra, wonder what's next for their music and rights as women.
Oumy
Produced by:Cheikh Seck (Mentor)
A film about Oumy, a junior high student from Dakar, Senegal. Oumy speaks about her pursuit of education and the hardships that women in her country face.
Eva Haller Salon - Dr. Sakena Yacoobi & Rev. Chloe Breyer
Eva Haller
Stories
These present-day heroes follow their passions in supporting and pursuing women's rights and equality, both globally and in their own communities.
Dr. Mandeep Rai – MY HERO's 2022 Global Educator
By: Abigail Richardson
Dr. Rai, author of The Values Compass wins MY HERO 2022 Global Educator Award.
Pashtana Durrani
By: Deborah Neff
Pashtana Durrani, who received the Malala Fund Education Champion award for her work on behalf of education for Afghan girls, is determined to continue providing educational opportunities for women and girls, even if she has to resist the Taliban and go underground.
Samar Minallah Khan
By: Abigail Richardson
Samar is a filmmaker, anthropologist and activist. In the media, she has been referred to as ‘The Savior of Souls,’ one of the ‘Women who rock the world,’ ‘The Crusader with the Camera’ and the ‘Women that changed Pakistan.’
Dr. Sakena Yacoobi, Hero and ‘Mother of Afghan Education’
By: Abigail Richardson
Shree Bose: Scientist, Inventor and Member of Forbes 2023 30 Under 30
By: Naomi Gledhill
Shree Bose is an American scientist, currently working towards an MD from the Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, North Carolina, and has been included in Forbes’ 2023 30 Under 30 list
Yasmine Sherif: Winner of the 2020 Global Educator Award
By: Shannon Luders-Manuel
Yasmine Sherif, who leads Education Cannot Wait, is the winner of MY HERO's 2020 Global Educator Award.
Malala Yousafzai: The One With a Voice
By: Alex Zakoor
Malala Yousafzai is a Pakistani activist for girls' education and the youngest winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.
Sahraa Karimi
By: Deborah Neff
Afghan filmmaker Sahraa Karimi speaks out about the future of Afghan cinema and the rights of girls and women as the Taliban takes over the country in August 2021.
2019 MY HERO Global Educator Award Winner Melinda Gates
By: Betty Bailey
Melinda Gates' women heroes in Africa and India teach her how to uplift the women in their communities through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Sangeetha Sekar
By: Mohit Arora, Aishwarya Ashok, Shikha Kumari
Sangeetha Sekar is an award-winning soccer player (footballer) who lives on the streets with her family in Chennai, India.
Shirin Ebadi
By: Chloe McGee
Shirin Ebadi, an Iranian lawyer and former judge, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003 for fighting for the rights of women, children and refugees.
Listen & Read Along
Viola Vaughn
By: Brande from Spokane
Viola Vaughn
founded an organization that supports girls working to achieve academic success in Africa.
Raden Adjeng Kartini
By: Ines from Jakarta
Raden Adjeng Kartini championed education and civil rights for women in Indonesia.
The Unladylike Series Celebrating Influential Women
UNLADYLIKE2020 is an innovative multimedia series featuring diverse and little-known, trend-setting American heroines from the early years of feminism, and the women who follow in their footsteps.
Eva Haller Salon (excerpt) - BlackHERstory ft UNLADYLIKE2020
Produced by:Eva Haller
Eva Haller hosts guests from the MY HERO Team to celebrate Women's History Month joined by Charlotte Mangin and Sandra Rattley from the UNLADYLIKE2020 Project
UNLADYLIKE2020: Bessie Coleman
Bessie Coleman wanted to become an aviator. Rejected from every U.S. aviation school for being a woman and black, she refused to take no for an answer.
UNLADYLIKE2020: Margaret Chung
Margaret Chung aka "Mike" aka "Mom Chung of the Fair Haired Bastards," was the only woman in her med school class. She advanced women's ability to serve in the armed forces.
UNLADYLIKE2020: Ynes Mexia
A late bloomer, botanist Ynes Mexia enrolled in college at the age of 51. She led expeditions, including in the Amazon rainforest, discovering 500 new species of plants.
Art
Untitled
By: Clementine Hunter
Artwork by artist Clementine Hunter, 1981.
Mu Nu/Yellow River
By: Hung Liu
Mu Nu/Yellow River is a delicate etching work made by the Chinese-American artist Hung Liu, capturing a close-up shot of women dragging a ship upstream on the Yellow River.
UN International Women's Day