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How Google’s Doodles celebrate International Women’s Day

With women making up half of the total internet users, how do the iconic Google’s Doodles celebrate International Women’s Day?

The month of March celebrates both International Woman’s Day and Women’s History Month, a commemoration of the achievements of women all across history and throughout the globe. With women making up half of the total internet users and 53% of those using social media, it is important to see notable women represented in high traffic sites such as Google. On International Women’s Day, and for years prior, Google Doodle’s wants women to feel empowered to follow in the footsteps of the strong women who have paved the way.

International Women’s Day 2017

International Women's Day 2017
International Women’s Day 2017

This year’s International Women’s Day 2017 doodle is a slideshow that features a young girl and her grandmother reading a story, and when clicked on opens a flip-book of illustrations that span centuries and continents. We see the little girl immerse herself in the stories and achievements of real-life heroines, featuring familiar faces such as Ida Wells, Frida Kahlo, and Sally Ride, as well as the lesser known names of Cecilia Greirson and Lotifa El Nadi, who excelled in their respective fields of medicine and aviation. Feeling inspired, the little girl dreams of what the future holds for her.

Google’s 2015 and 2011 doodles also featured these world-changing women, celebrating the accomplishments and success they gained against all odds. 2012 marked the centennial celebration of International Woman’s Day, and the doodle featured a young woman in a graduation cap and another with a stethoscope. This serves as a way of commenting on the remarkable progress women have made in the past century.

International Women's Day 2015
International Women’s Day 2015

International Women's Day 2011
International Women’s Day 2011

2013 and 2014’s doodles, on the other hand, celebrate complete diversity. Featuring over 100 inspiring women of today, the video that plays inside the 2014’s doodle is host to women across the globe, encompassing the ideas of unity and inclusion.

International Women's Day 2013
International Women’s Day 2013

In 2016, however, Google went one step further and created the hashtag #OneDayIWill. They asked both women and girls all around the world to complete the sentence and made a video to celebrate this next generation of ‘doodle-worthy’ women. Even well-achieved women appeared to promote women everywhere to keep on dreaming. Jane Goodall expressed her wishes to discuss the environment with the pope, and Malala Yousafzai dreamed of a future where she would see every girl in school. Hopefully, it will only be a matter of time before we see these amazing women featured on their own doodles.

About Google Doodles

Google Doodles are fun, surprising and sometimes spontaneous changes that are made to the Google logo on the Google homepage to celebrate holidays, anniversaries and the lives of famous artists, pioneers and scientists. In 1998, he concept of the doodle was born when Google founders Larry and Sergey played with the corporate logo to indicate their attendance at the Burning Man festival in the Nevada desert. While the first doodle was simple, the idea of modifying the company logo to celebrate notable events was born. To date, The team has created over 2,000 doodles for the Google homepages around the world.

To add your own voice to the conversation about Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day, follow the hashtags #IWD2017, #GettingToEqual and #BeBoldForChange across all social media channels.

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