JOANNA LUMLEY, KATHY BURKE, SOPHIE ELLIS-BEXTOR, BEVERLEY KNIGHT, ANNIE MAC AND MIRANDA RICHARDSON GET LIPPY FOR ACTIONAID

Celebrities mark the 100th anniversary of INTERNATIONAL WOMENS’ DAY on MARCH 8th 2011 by letting rip on women’s rights for the launch of ActionAid’s GET LIPPY campaign.

Celebrated photographer Rankin and anti-poverty charity ActionAid have joined forces to highlight the inequalities faced by millions of women across the world.

Together they asked six high-profile women to be photographed in support of women in developing countries who are speaking up to claim their rights and improve their lives – to GET LIPPY for women living in poverty.

March 8th is the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day.

For millions, it is the time to celebrate the economic, political and social achievements women have made since the first International Women’s Day when people marched across Europe for a woman’s right to vote, work and hold public office.

For ActionAid, International Women’s Day is also a time to shine a spotlight on the struggles women face now in the developing world and to build solidarity to tackle the urgent challenges ahead. ActionAid campaigns for a world where women and men, girls and boys, have equally good chances in life, free from want and free from fear.

Getting Lippy…. ActionAid asked the celebrities to send a message of support to the millions of women in the developing world who are struggling everyday to improve their lives.

Since ActionAid believes that more unites women than divides them, the charity also asked the celebrities to say what they thought was the best and worst thing about being a woman today.

JOANNA LUMLEY said: “I have travelled in all kinds of countries so I know some of the terrible disadvantages women have been struggling under and continue to struggle under all across the world. I want them to know that we are going to help, we are there for you.”

On what the best and worst thing about being a woman is “It’s obvious what women are best at. Multi-tasking, we are genetically able to multi-task – men can’t do that. What’s worst? The way we have been discriminated against in all religions and in all societies throughout all time. It’s incredible to think it’s not even 100 years since women got the vote in this country – bad.”

The British public can also GET LIPPY and send their messages to: www.actionaid.org.uk/iwd

Facts and statistics
1. One in three women will experience violence at some point in their lives.
2. An estimated 5,000 women worldwide are murdered each year in what are referred to as ‘honour killings’.
3. At least three quarters of civilians killed in war are women and children.
4. In Afghanistan, 80 per cent of women experience domestic violence.
5. More than 200,000 cases of rape have been documented in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
6. Nearly half of all sexual assaults worldwide are against girls under 15.
7. Over two out of three people living in extreme poverty are women.
8. Women make up 70% – 80% of the world’s poor, illiterate and refugee populations
9. Sexual and domestic violence persist, despite some major advances in legislation.
10. In many parts of the world women aren’t allowed to own property or keep money they earn.
11. More girls than boys are denied an education.
12. While we have some prominent women heads of state, men still have a monopoly on decision-making — from village councils to national government and disaster response committees — so policies tend to ignore women’s needs.