As the world celebrated International Women’s Day (IWD) 2023 today, Google did not fail to mark the day with a home screen doodle animation to celebrate women.
Women’s Day is celebrated every year on March 8. This year, the theme for the IWD is ‘Embrace Equity’.
The central theme of the Google doodle is the many ways in which women support women, with scenes within each letter of the search engine’s name giving an example of when women have advocated for rights and progress.
From women in positions of influence who advocate for progress across issues central to the lives of women everywhere, women who come together to explore, learn, and rally for their rights, and women who are primary caregivers to people of all walks of life, to women who are critical support systems for each other in motherhood, the search engine honours women across the globe.
IWD every year aims to emphasise on the achievements of women across diverse spheres, while also throwing light on important issues like gender disparity.
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The International Women’s Day website says:
“Equity isn’t just a nice-to-have, it’s a must-have.
“A focus on gender equity needs to be part of every society’s DNA. And it’s critical to understand the difference between Equity and Equality.
“The aim of the IWD 2023 #EmbraceEquity campaign theme is to get the world talking about ‘Why equal opportunities aren’t enough’”.
While “Equality means each individual or group of people is given the same resources or opportunities,” the IWD website said, “Equity recognises that each person has different circumstances and allocates the exact resources and opportunities needed to reach an equal outcome.”
If the doodle is clicked on, purple confetti falls on the screen, and women raise purple flags while wearing wristbands in the same shade, this depicts the suffragettes’ colour scheme.
The Suffragettes were part of the ‘Votes for Women’ campaign that had long fought for the right of women to vote in the UK. They used art, debate, propaganda, and attack on property including window smashing and arson to fight for female suffrage.
Suffrage means the right to vote in parliamentary and general elections.
In 1908, Suffragettes came up with their own branding fashion colours as a way to protest votes for women. Some of their colours were Purple, White and Green.
Purple was for loyalty and dignity, white for purity, and green for hope.
Members were encouraged to wear the colours as a duty and a privilege.
