International Women's Day: Drumchapel charities march to celebrate

Family support charity 3D Drumchapel and their 'Women of Wonder' group have joined forces with Thriving Places, the Asian Forum and others to celebrate women in Drumchapel.

This year's theme is to 'Inspire Inclusion', which encourages people to inspire others to understand and value women's inclusion in society.

Every March events take place across the world to highlight the achievements of women - whether they be social, economic, cultural or political - and mark the advances of women in progressing equity and equality.

On Friday, March 8, women marched from St Andrew's Church in Drumchapel to the community centre to show their support and celebrate the occasion.

One of the organisers of the march, Michelle Clark, a family support worker with charity 3D Drumchapel, hopes the campaign will continue to grow.

Speaking to The Post, she said: "The march has been going for two years and it comes off the back of 3D Drumchapel and Thriving Places being in partnership, as part of a group called Women of Wonder (WOW).

"We start off by doing a gender-based course on women’s issues and once they finish, we prepare to mark International Women’s Day.

"A large portion of the women here are part of WOW, and they are at the core of everything that is going on in Drumchapel for International Women’s Day.

"Last year’s march was really busy. We had about 300 people all in and there were more than that today at the actual event."

As well as the march, an event took place in Drumchapel Community Centre.

"There is a group of 28 women who come together every single Thursday [WOW] and they all have their own stories," Michelle added.

"They are all amazing and they all build each other up. Everything that is going on comes from them.

"In terms of the community centre, we have 15 partners who work in and around Drumchapel and they are in attendance with their information stalls.

"Everything is free. We applied for Award for All funding through the National Lottery. We hope it continues to grow every year."

Andy Lynch, chairperson of Drumchapel Community Council, insists the whole area is behind the march, and he hopes events like it will lead to a more equal society for all.

"International Women’s Day has been going for 49 years," he added.

"It is important to mark it because women all over the world are oppressed. In all different places women do not have the same quality of life as men. 

"There is more unity in the community after last year’s march, which was a big success, and more people have turned up this time around.

"This year has been busier, and we hope it continues each year. If the whole community comes together then we can get the message across that there is no room for bigotry of any kind, whether that be racism, sexism or anything else."