Facebook will host a 24-hour Facebook Live event for International Women’s Day.

Facebook will celebrate International Women’s Day, 8 March, with a 24-hour live #SheMeansBusiness event.

It will feature key influencers and small business owners worldwide, talking on the topic of women in business and encouraging people to watch or take part by creating their own live content.

Mia Freedman, co-founder and creative director of the Mamamia Women’s Network, will host a live video at 10am in Sydney. The celebration is to conclude with a live session with Facebook’s COO Sheryl Sandberg from San Francisco (video below).

Facebook supported the announcement with some research statistics on Australian women in business, which includes key findings:

• 34% of women in Australia would like to set up their own business,
• if they did, Facebook estimates this would deliver an AU$47.8 billion annual boost to the economy, build 330,000 new businesses and create 57,000 additional jobs, all by the end of 2020,
• ‘not feeling ready’ (37%), lack of capital (32%), lack of business skills (42%) and lack of confidence (21%) are listed as key reasons holding women back from starting their own businesses,
• between 2015 and 2016, the number of women owning SME pages on Facebook in Australia increased by 136%, and
• globally, 40% of pages on Facebook are owned by women, a 60% increase since last year.

“When women do better, communities and economies do better,” says Maxine Williams, global director of diversity, in a Facebook newsroom article.

“Facebook stands for bringing us closer together and aims to build, strengthen and empower a global community.”

Facebook launched #SheMeansBusiness last year to support and celebrate female entrepreneurs.

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Further reading

• A recent Hays report shows the gender gap in Australian workplaces still affects women in terms of career opportunities, pay and work-life balance »
• Jac Phillips says women make better marketers than men » 
• In February, Mark Zuckerberg released a manifesto taking on fake news and outlining Facebook’s lofty goals for a connected future »

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