March forward for all women and girls was the theme of International Women's Day 2025, and locals were inspired to do just that at Saturday's breakfast by Lake Forbes.

Guest speaker Kelly Foran spoke about the serious health battles she and her family have faced - and how that gave her the vision for a charity foundation that would smooth the way for rural people having to navigate hospitals and health services.

Today, Friendly Faces Helping Hands is helping some 10,000 people a month with a website and free call phone number connecting families to services they need when they're far from home for medical treatment.

"From our traumatic time we understand it doesn't have to be so hard," Kelly said.

The foundation's website lists services near major hospitals as well as a lot of the supports that are available.

Kelly also hopes sharing her story and experience will inspire others to be the best they can to help and support others.

Guest speaker Dr Belinda Mawhinney, business consultant based in Grenfell, gave women insights into the leadership skills they have and the ways they can do just that.

Sharing about authentic leadership and boundaries for sustainability, Belinda encouraged women to focus on what has changed in three decades of International Women's Day and what needs action from us.

"Each of us has an opportunity to align our efforts with a cause that holds significance for each of us," she said, whether that's access to healthcare, access to quality education, small business sustainability in regional areas, violence prevention, cultural preservation or aged care.

She encouraged everyone to choose a cause most important to them and take action to bring it into their circle of influence.

"I actually want you to leave feeling activated," she said.

Mayor Phyllis Miller OAM acknowledged a lot had changed in the 30 years since the world committed to a vision for gender equality through the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.

But there's still a long way to go.

The Federal Government's Status of Women Report Card, released in 2024, showed women still earned on average $238 a week less than men and those approaching retirement had on average 25.1 per cent less superannuation.

Women also do more than nine hours a week more unpaid work and care than men.

International Women's Day, she said, was an important day to speak openly about these issues.

"We must keep speaking up and sharing these stories," Mayor Miller said.

"Let's continue to march forward for all women and girls because it is time to turn promises into progress."