International Women’s Day is celebrated in Lower Hutt New Zealand each year on March 8 or the nearest weekday to it. (Lower Hutt is a city across the harbour from Wellington).
The celebration takes the form of a breakfast at a local restaurant with a speaker on a relevant topic. We invite members of local women’s groups, senior girl pupils from local schools and city councillors, as well as members of public. Attendance is usually about 100. We fundraise for UNIFEM projects in the South Pacific. There is always a write up and photograph in the local paper.
The breakfasts are organised nationally by UNIFEM New Zealand which provides posters, UN material and other support as well as specifying the theme. The Lower Hutt organisers are from the local branches of National Council of Women and New Zealand Federation of Graduate Women.