Community & Business
14 March, 2024
Speakers inspire inclusion at IWD in Millmerran
International Women’s Day (IWD) was celebrated on Friday, 8 March, with guest speakers from D. A. Halls attending a barbecue breakfast at Domville Place in Millmerran.
Toowoomba Regional Council Community Development Officer, Virginia Wacker, organised the event last Friday, after the success of last year’s IWD luncheon.
There was a constant flow of people through the breakfast line, enjoying the brekky burgers cooked by the Millmerran Men’s Shed.
The campaign theme this year was Inspire Inclusion.
The message behind the campaign is an encouragement to inspire others to understand and value women’s inclusion.
This results in women themselves being inspired to be included, developing a sense of belonging, relevance, and empowerment.
Eliz Quinlan and Kim Marsden from D. A. Halls
spoke briefly about the challenges that their international female employees face.
Ten of the D. A. Halls employees are women from the Solomon Islands, earning an income in Australia away from their children and families.
Eliz Quinlan explained that they are very mindful of those employees and their support network.
“We should be very proud and very supportive of the women in our community,” she said.
Kim Marsden, a Canadian native, has been living in Australia for 25 years.
“It’s so important in our communities, that we are mindful of those people who don’t have close families near them, because we need to know what’s going on.
“If somebody needs a helping hand, or a bit of a reassuring smile, or a ‘hey, how’re you going?’, that goes a long way to making us feel like we have a little more support,” Mrs Marsden said.
“It can get daunting sometimes.
“If I can give one word of advice to anybody, if you do know anyone, even if they’ve been in the community 25 years, if they’ve come from anywhere else, chances are, one time or another, they’re going to need a little bit of a helping hand, or a shoulder to cry on.
“If we can be that for each other, it goes a long way.
“Thank you to everyone for the beautiful breakfast.
“Enjoy and celebrate all the women in your life, no matter who they are, or where they are,” Mrs Marsden said.
IWD is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women.
It also aims to raise awareness about discrimination, and take action to drive gender parity.
IWD has occurred for well over a century, with the first gathering in 1911 supported by over a million people.
Today, it belongs to all groups collectively everywhere, and is not country, group or organization specific.
