At our corporate morning tea on 8 March, we celebrated women. We congratulated the women in our business who recently earned promotions. We reflected on some sobering statistics relating to domestic violence, various forms of abuse and opportunities for women in the workforce.
And we noted that this year’s theme for International Women’s Day is #embraceequity. This message marks the distinction between equality and equity.
Later in the day I was sent an article – and saw it posted a few times on LinkedIn and Instagram – titled “Why you SHOULDN’T Embrace Equity”. The article shamed people for celebrating with the EE hashtag, instead of adhering to the UN-sanctioned IWD theme for this year: “Cracking the Code”.
Apparently, a UK-based PR firm owns the internationalwomensday.com domain. The firm promotes a new IWD theme each year and sells merchandise for organisations to celebrate it. They do this independently of the UN, who sets their own theme.
Is this worth getting upset about?
#Embracingequity is great. It provides a conversation starter for issues such as the gender pay gap and women’s participation in the workforce (and men’s participation at home).
#Crackingthecode is also great. Encouraging girls to pursue STEM careers will result in better representation of women in these industries. Young girls will grow up dreaming of more opportunities – certainly more than I was aware of (teaching, nursing or motherhood were my only obvious options in Geelong in the 90s).
Let’s be more selective in our outrage
Our media and politicians increasingly try to polarise us to further their own agenda. Surely the antidote to this is to focus on what unites us rather than divides us. By being selective in our outrage and giving up the obsession to be right, we have better conversations and subsequently, better outcomes.
Christmas Day’s date was originally a pagan festival, which Christians hijacked to impose their own meaning. This day has now become a day to celebrate the birth of Christ for some, spending time with family for others, or acts of kindness for others yet. All good things. Cards and decorations are sold, and no one bats an eyelid.
Traditions evolve. Imagine if the UN tried to dictate how everyone celebrates Christmas? “There’ll be no turkey this year – porchetta is the only way to go.” (Actually I’d probably support this movement: turkey sucks.)
Each of us has a connection to a woman to some degree. IWD provides us with a chance to reflect on and celebrate the women in our lives, the women who came before us and the obstacles and issues that women still face. The day is likely to look different for each of us. And different is okay!
Happy International Women’s Day to all the wonderful women reading this (and to the men who love them). And thank you to my own community of wonder women, for inspiring me, encouraging me, motivating me and laughing at me when I deserve it. You give me confidence and keep me humble.
International Women’s Day: it’ll be bigger than Christmas.
