That time of year again. A Roundup.

Today, March 8th, is International Women's Day - a day to celebrate the achievements of women worldwide and to raise awareness of the gender inequalities and how we might address them. I'm not heading out to any big event this year, but hearing great things about several from home and wearing my Stop The Violence t-shirt whilst cleaning the house and tidying the garden for solidarity.

This week, and today especially, has seen an explosion of gender equality messages on social media. If you're on Twitter there's plenty of events to track through their hashtags including #IAmVisible, #WOWLDN (including an inspirational and much quoted speech from Malala Yousafzai this morning), and not to mention #IWD2014 itself. Then there's the infographics, quotes and all round Factivism going on to. Take a look at UN Women's #HeForShe campaign, and this great image from DFID.

Some of the WAGGGS delegation to CSW 55!

Monday also sees the start of the 58th UN Commission on The Status of Women in New York City - I an tell because my email inbox is swamped with different organisations promoting their side events and sharing inside knowledge on the negotiations that have already started. There's a fabulous delegation from the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts to follow - yes I know I'm biased, but these young women do some amazing work every year. The policy coordinator for the delegation is my fellow WAGGGS Post-2015 Ambassador from Australia, Erin Wicking, and you can follow her Tumblr blog here. Also worth following is Amy Graham, a member of the WAGGGS advocacy staff team, who also blogs here.It's also very exciting this year that there are remote delegates who will be contributing to the CSW discussions from their home countries and WAGGGS have produced an engagement document for the national guide and scout organisations to take the key messages forward.

Another Book - Persepolis

For the next book giveaway, due to the date and upcoming events, a fitting book is needed. That book is Persepolis. I first read this book shortly after I came back from my first UN Commission on the Status of Women event, and have since watched the film adaptation.

This graphic novel tells the story of a young woman's childhood in Iran, her travels to Europe to study and her subsequent return. The artwork is simple yet atmospheric and, I think, the graphic novel format helps you feel closer to the characters than in a traditional novel - but that might have something to do with dyslexia and reading images rather than words...

It's an easy to follow introduction to a little bit of the history of that area as the events are explained to the child character as they happen.

Like before, this is free to the first person to comment below, message me or send me an email (pippa@myriadit.net) and I'll update this post once it has been claimed. The only requirement is you pass it forward when you're down with it.

UPDATE - This book is heading to MaLau in Costa Rica!