International Women's Day | 4 Inspiring Movies to Watch, a Music Playlist and Feminism for 2025...

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International Women’s Day (IWD) 2025 is coming up on Saturday March 8, so it’s time for our annual article with inspiring quotes, movies to watch, the 2025 themes, questions to consider and more!

International Women’s Day is our annual reminder that 1) we still have a way to go to achieve gender equality, and 2) that we all play a part. So I hope this article inspires you to celebrate, share or do something to honour IWD in 2025!

In particular you may like the quote graphics, music playlist and movie section of this article. The quotes are great to share on Social Media, music is always uplifting and inspiring, and movies are a fun way to learn, celebrate and come together with other women—especially if you’re keen to learn about diversity and other life experiences and cultures.

In this International Women’s Day article you’ll find:

A little International Women’s Day (IWD) History
The 2025 IWD Themes
IWD at Fierce Kindness in 2025
A “Strong Women” Spotify Music Playlist
5 Inspiring Quotes to Share on Social Media for IWD (plus hashtags)
7 Things to Watch this IWD
Go Deeper with these thought-provoking questions

What will you do for International Women’s Day this year?

A Little International Women’s Day (IWD) History

Theresa Malkiel (circa 1910)

According to Wikipedia, the first Women’s Day observance—a “National Women’s Day” was held in February 1909 in New York, USA. It was organized by the Socialist Party of America at the suggestion of Theresa Malkiel, a Ukrainian born factory worker who eventually became a leader within the Socialist party. Theresa was also a suffragist, workers activist and proponent of adult education for women.

The United Nations adopted International Women’s Day in 1975, and it’s an official holiday in many parts of the world. Occurring on March 8 every year, IWD can be an acknowledgement and celebration of historical—and more recent—achievements by women. And/or it can be an ongoing movement to ensure that women are seen and treated as equals.

According to InternationalWomensDay.com:

International Women’s Day is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity.

2025 IWD Themes

The theme for 2025 at InternationalWomensDay.com is #AccelerateAction. “Imagine a gender equal world. A world free of bias, stereotypes, and discrimination. A world that’s diverse, equitable, and inclusive. A world where difference is valued and celebrated. Together we can forge gender equality. Collectively for #IWD2025 we can all #AccelerateAction.”
The United Nations theme for IWD in 2025 is: For ALL women and girls: Rights. Equality. Empowerment. “Central to this vision is empowering the next generation—youth, particularly young women and adolescent girls—as catalysts for lasting change.”

IWD at Fierce Kindness in 2025

Before we look at International Women’s Day 2025, I have a little story to share (nothing too dramatic, thankfully!) about my awakening as a feminist.

How I became a proud feminist!

Back in 2006, my life coaching business was still new and shiny, and I was at a local Chamber of Commerce networking event talking with 3 men (yeah, not my target market!), one of whom was a local politician.

The politician (let’s call him Roger) asked what I did for a living. So I said I was a life coach who coached women in tech, finance and law. Roger paused and scrunched up his face, and I thought: he’s going to ask me, “What on earth is a life coach?”. But instead, out of nowhere he said with the utmost loathing, “What? Are you a feminist?”.

And then he stalked off, leaving the other two men and I to raise our eyebrows at each other and wonder what just happened! I felt a little ashamed, but I couldn’t say why. So that night I went home and looked up feminism in a dictionary (it can’t be that bad, surely!). And here’s the definition I found:

feminism: a doctrine or movement that advocates equal rights for women.

And just like that, I realised of course I am a feminst! Everyone in the world should be a feminist! And I will not feel shame for believing I deserve equality! And that was when I decided to fully embrace being a feminist.

So, back to the present day. Although the progress of women’s equality has been slower in my lifetime than I might have liked, the older I became, the more things seemed to improve.

Tweet about Women Voting as their husbands do

Just one example of USA women being told to vote as their husbands do.

But now, in my 50s, it seems that women’s rights are heading backwards. Just look at the terrifying situation in Afghanistan. Or how gender equality is stalling or going backwards for 1 billion women around the world.

And it’s not just in non-industrialised countries. It’s right here in North America too: consider Andrew Tate… And that in the United States many people were recently preaching that women should vote as their husbands tell them.

We need to reclaim feminism!

I get that many of us are scared to call ourselves a feminist, for fear of being associated with ‘those’ feminists who are shrill, demanding and ‘over-react’ to everything.
I get that many (especially) of the younger generations want to transcend gender by making it neutral or irrelevant. I LOVE this idea, and believe this is the ideal we should be aiming at.

But… We still live in a world where people born with female body-parts are silenced, and are still having their rights reduced—and removed.

If we want equal rights for women we need to reclaim feminism and we need to courageously stand up and say:

I believe in equal rights for women.
I am a feminist!

And the next time someone ‘accuses’ me of being a feminist, I will reply: Gosh, yes, absolutely. Aren’t you?

“Strong Women” Spotify Music Playlist

So for IWD 2025, I’ve created a “Strong Women” Public Music Playlist on Spotify.

All Women—All Wonderful!

An all-around celebration of women and music, with over 150 fabulous tunes (10+ hours!) that are proud, angry, sad, strong, vulnerable, fun—and just plain talented. Lots of hits, as well as songs you likely won’t have heard before. There is soul, pop, rock, R ‘n B, country, modern, old skool and classics.

Did I miss a top tune? Comment below, let me know what else you’d like to see in the playlist and I must just add it!

Here are the 5 Quotes for IWD 2025

We need feminism, now more than ever… So I was delighted to find a website called Young Feminist. And we got inspired by a beautiful photo project where young women (and some men too) answered the question: Why do you need Feminism?

So we created the quote graphics below with 5 of our favourite responses.

Click each quote graphic below to get/save a larger version of each quote to share!

Then use one (or all) of these hashtags: #IWD2025, #AccelerateAction, #WomensDay, #InternationalWomensDay and #SeeHer

Here are the quotes to read:

“I want to walk down the street with the same confidence a man does. I don’t want to be told I’m too bossy, too loud, for doing what a man does. I want my brother to be able to cry and my future husband not to face stigma for taking paternity leave… I want a better future.” Helena Trenkić | The National Council of Women Great Britain | United Kingdom
“My feminist vision. Intergenerational. Compassionate. Kick-arse. Saving the planet. Transforming power relationships. Ending Racism. Messing with gender binaries. Strong hearts. Righteous anger. Transformation now.” Caroline Lambert | International Women’s Development Agency | Australia
“My feminist vision is a world where every women does not have to justify why she calls herself a feminist because feminism is the norm. A world where we no longer have to hold special meetings for women rights.” Salma Abdalla | International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations and MiLead Initiative | Sudan
“Feminism gives me strength, hope for the future, and the constant reminder to love and support myself and the women around me.” Neha Sardana | International Women’s Health Coalition | USA
“I deserve to live a full, vibrant, and limitless life – and for the rest of the world to not stop me from doing so.” Khadija Khan | Advocates for Youth | USA / South Africa

Finally, I’ve found 7 things for you to watch for IWD 2025

Here are 7 Great Things to Watch for IWD

I love to share movies for IWD. It’s a great way to celebrate women, and also to feel uplifted and inspired to be—and do—more!

You can watch (and/or share) in honour of International Women’s Day with your teenagers, girlfriends, colleagues, children, partner and more!

This year as always, we cover a diverse range of protagonists and topics. I also like to ensure the movies represent a diverse range of womanhood—race, size, beauty, age etc. The links below take you to IMDb (Internet Movie Database) so you can watch trailers and read more about the movies.

A Comedy Short (1 min 47s)

1) The Baroness Von Sketch Show of the G4 World Summit—a short sketch of how the world would be if it were run by women… Great to share!

A Documentary

2) Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields (2023)

I enjoyed this 2 part documentary (roughly an hour each episode ) that explores how Brooke Shields was objectified and exploited.

It also shares how she defied expectations by going to college (brains and beauty), and then becoming a comedy actress (and funny too!). She also reveals how she was raped early in her career, talks about her post-partum depression, her alcoholic single mom and much more.

4 Diverse Movies

I struggle to get excited about Hollywood movies these days and have been exploring indie movies and movies from different cultures. Here are 4 movie ideas for you to watch this IWD:

3) The Forty-Year-Old Version 2h 3m (2020)

Need to know: Written , directed by and starring a woman: Radha Blank.
Top trivia: It is loosely based on Radha’s own life.

In this award-winning movie, Radha plays a NY playwright, who after winning a 30 under 30 award, is now teaching, not doing much of anything and is unappreciated by her students. Approaching 40, she courageously reinvents herself as rapper and tries to find her voice and herself between the world of theatre and rapping.

I haven’t watched this yet, but am excited.

4) Yolo 2h 9m (2024)

Need to know: It’s in Mandarin with subtitles, and is set in modern China.
Top trivia: Ling Jia (lead actor and director) gained 15 kg—and then lost 50kg in nearly one year—filming her character.

Yolo is about a young women who has given up on life. The movie follows her as she finds her strength—both mentally and physically—through boxing.

This is not a high production Hollywood movie. Instead it feels real. It’s a little slow and cheesy at times, and it takes a while to ramp up. But there are so many things I LOVED about this movie (that I can’t share because they’re plot-spoilers). At the end however, Le Ying finds self-respect on her own terms, and the future is hers to choose.

PS. My favourite bit might be the real footage (shown alongside the outgoing titles) of the actor Ling Jia training hard for the role—and in a boxing match with a professional boxer!

5) Angry Indian Goddesses 1h 55m (2015)

Need to know: This is in Hindi with subtitles, set in current India.
Top trivia: There is an international version—and an Indian version. The international version is not censored…

A photographer invites 6 of her closest friends from diverse backgrounds to a vacation at her family’s home to announce and celebrate her upcoming marriage. While there are some funny moments, this movie gets pretty dark, although the ending is arguably hopeful…

Classified as Crime, Drama and LGBTQ+, Angry Indian Goddesses is described as “riotous and refreshingly honest”.

It has also been called a feminist movie, so I’m excited to watch this one with friends for International Women’s Day.

6) Miss Juneteenth 1h 39m (2020)

Need to know: Written and directed by a woman (Channing Godfrey Peoples), this movie also won lots of awards.
Top trivia: Miss Juneteenth is a real contest in Texas.

The movie follows Turquoise Jones, a single mother in a Texas suburb and her 15 year old daughter Kai. Turquoise is a former winner of the local Miss Juneteenth pageant—which offers full scholarship to a historically black college. Turquoise enters her daughter in the same pageant, but her daughter is less than enthusiastic.

I haven’t seen this yet—and I’ll admit to having mixed thoughts about women and beauty/pageants. Yet this movie looks like a thoughtful exploration of many themes including the significance of Juneteenth, racism and the mother-daughter relationship.

A TV Show with strong women and diverse characters

7) Arcane (League of Legends) 2 Seasons

Need to know: This is an adult animation, and has won lots of awards.
Top trivia: Based on Riot Games League of Legends fictional universe.

This is definitely a good one to watch with teenagers! The characters develop and grow over the two seasons—unusual in an animation. Episodes are about 40 mins each.

Some words to describe Arcane: Dark. Steampunk. Strong women. Relationships. Friendship. LBGTQ+. Class systems. Technology. Mental health, Morals and Ethics.

From IMDB: “Amid the stark discord of twin cities Piltover and Zaun, two sisters fight on rival sides of a war between magic technologies and clashing convictions.”

PS. Did I mention it has a killer soundtrack?

For even more movie ideas:

Questions to “Go Deeper” this International Women’s Day

If you want to go a bit deeper yourself, or create discussion with your children, loved ones, colleagues or friends, here are a few powerful questions for this year’s International Women’s Day:

Celebrating Women

Which aspects of IWD most interest you? ie. celebrating women’s achievements, highlighting remaining issues, the 2025 themes around accelerating action and empowering the next generation—or something else?
What women’s achievements can you name from history?
How do you seek out and celebrate women’s achievements today?
If you are a woman, what do you (or could you) do to own your own achievements?
What do you think we should focus on to make the world a fairer place for women?