IWW Coverage – International businesswomen’s day?

The 8^th of March is International Women’s Day (IWD), a day devoted to celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. Clearly a laudable endeavour. It is an official holiday in over 25 countries, and has been observed, in some form or other, since the early 1900’s.

Previous themes have included ‘World Free of Violence against Women’ and ‘Empower Rural Women, End Poverty and Hunger’. This year, the theme is the somewhat vaguely titled ‘Pledge for Parity’, but it really should be ‘Pledge for Parity in Business and Politics’, because that seems to be the only concern, at least on the IWD website.

Putting aside the fact that the pledge system that was launched this fortnight on the website is flawed (you can only pledge one thing out of five choices), seemingly pointless, and had, as of 2pm on the 8^th, under 42,000 pledges (which is about 0.001% of the world’s population with access to an internet connection), of course it is important to aim for gender parity in the workplace.

It really should be ‘Pledge for Parity in Business and Politics’, because that seems to be the only concern

Yes, women are underrepresented in business and in politics, yes, this is in an issue, yes, it needs to be addressed. But nothing about IWD this year (or indeed in years past) seems very…fun. I thought IWD was meant to be celebration of women’s achievements, a joyful retrospective on how much women have done, how far they’ve reached.

Instead, the IWD website is covered in EY adverts and phrases like ‘implicit social cognition’. When tackling an issue like violence against women or poverty in rural areas, of course the tone has to be serious, but women in business are such a small percentage of the global female population it is honestly surprising that they have been chosen as this year’s theme.

Women in business are such a small percentage of the global female population it is honestly surprising

If you’re claiming to be interested in helping women and girls achieve their ambitions, you also have to take into account the women and girls who don’t want to become chief executive of a FTSE 100 corporation.

In my opinion, a celebration of women’s achievements should not be focussed solely on corporations and businesses. At a time when feminism is getting enough of a bad rap through the tireless efforts of militant social justice warriors, IWD could be an effort to strike back and promote something joyful.

A celebration of women’s achievements should not be focussed solely on corporations and businesses

It may be a generalisation to say so, but young girls (and young boys too!) are not going to get excited about the prospect of working in a bank. Maybe later in life, yes, but for now, give them stories about kick-ass ladies like Ada Lovelace, Marie Curie, Joan of Arc!

Show them women who triumphed over adversity, and make them believe that they too can overcome every barrier in order to further gender parity, be it in the workplace, or out of it.

Ali Thomas