As an organisation that is committed to gender equality and female advancement, do you want to know how we feel about International Women’s Day?
Honestly: disillusioned and uninspired.
Why? Because for one day, everyone is dedicated to gender equality, empowering women and driving progress.
Do you know how long it takes to create change?
More than 1 day.
IWD paints a facade, a false sense of progress, over a bleak reality of what’s now confirmed to be a decline in progress for women’s participation in the workforce and leadership. This was affirmed by the alarming statistic that only one female CEO has been appointed in Australia this year amongst ASX200 companies.
The sentiment is there, the intention is right. The progress? Minimal.
So, you know what? In light of the impact of 2020 on women, this year, the tokenistic efforts of 1 day just isn’t enough. What about the other 364?
That’s why this year, The Dream Collective is challenging the limitation of focusing efforts on 1 day and instead embracing #IWDED – International Women’s Day Every Day.
We won’t be celebrating what organisations are doing on International Women’s Day, but instead the initiatives they are investing in year-round. And we’re shouting their stories from the rooftops so that other organisations can learn from them to enhance the effectiveness of their own initiatives.
When you hear IWD spoken about this year, we encourage you to be true to the theme of “choose to challenge” and challenge others as to what they’re doing to make a difference.
Choose to challenge. But then, let’s take it one step further. Amplify for Action. If you share content for IWD this year, add the hashtag #IWDED to show that you’re committed to harnessing the momentum from IWD to drive long-lasting change.
We will be sharing resources throughout the month that organisations can utilise to drive progress for gender equality within their organisations. Join our mailing list below to receive the resources as they are shared.
Written by Angelica Hunt, Growth Coordinator at The Dream Collective
