Photo courtesy of Unsplash.
Hello and welcome to the Two Piers Podcast, season one, episode three. I’m your host, Erica D’Eramo. Today we will be discussing International Women’s Day. We’ll touch on the history and purpose behind this celebration, as well as this year’s theme and the underpinning six missions. We’ll also explain how you can personally get involved.
International Women’s Day occurs on March 8th each year. This year it’s on a weekend, which means you’ll probably be hearing about it in various forms throughout this preceding business week whether on LinkedIn or Social Media, or through events at your company or community.
You may be wondering about the story behind International Women’s Day, and perhaps you think it’s a recent phenomenon. In reality, IWD has a long history that dates back more than a century. Only in recent years have we started to see more recognition in the US, due in large part to our more globally connected society and the impact of corporate events and social media.
My first experience with International Women’s Day was while I was living in Azerbaijan and working in the Republic of Georgia, both of which were formerly part of the Soviet Union. IWD was an important Soviet holiday and it remained important in the post-soviet era. My experience in the early 2000’s in Baku and Tbilisi was that IWD was predominantly focused on displays of respect and gratitude toward women. I did find this a bit ironic, as the women were often responsible for any cooking or cleaning required for an IWD celebration, at least at the sites where I was working, but it was a fun day with lots of flowers and chocolates and odes to women’s greatness. I also experienced International Women’s Day while I was working in Angola. It was similarly celebrated with flowers and chocolate, and displays of respect toward women. The similarities made sense to me, as Angola has had a historical relationship with the Soviet Union and now modern day Russia. I found IWD to be similar in some ways to Valentine’s Day, but without the romantic element. Instead, it was a display of affection, support, and sisterhood for the women in those societies.
As mentioned previously, International Women’s Day has a long history, dating back more than a century. The early 1900s saw organizing and activism by women fighting for better working conditions and voting rights which laid the groundwork for IWD. In 1908, there was a protest of 15,000 women in NYC. The following year, the Socialist Party of America declared February 28th National Women’s Day. Then, in 1910, at the second International Conference of Working Women in Copenhagen, a woman named Clara Zetkin proposed what we now recognize as International Women’s Day. This proposal was unanimously approved and IWD was born. 1911 saw International Women’s Day honored in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland with more than a million people attending rallies. By 1913, it was being celebrated in Russia. The following year, in 1914, the official date was changed to March 8th, (on the Gregorian calendar) and it has remained as that date even since. 1914 International Women’s Day celebrations saw rallies across Europe, including in the UK, where Sylvia Pankhurst was arrested in London while on her way to speak to a crowd at Tragalgar Square about women’s suffrage. Sylvia was the daughter of Emmeline Pankhurst, who features in a great Drunk History episode, by the way.
Another interesting fact is that the Russian revolution was kicked off in 1917 with protests associated with International Women’s Day. Women began protesting on March 8th for bread and peace, and less than a week later, the Czar had abdicated. IWD would maintain a high prominence throughout the Soviet era.
By 1975, the UN had begun recognizing International Women’s Day. The website was created in 2001, and the online presence and corporate sponsorship and involvement has grown over the years with the expansion of social media and ESG focus.
So what is the purpose of this day? Honestly, the purpose varies depending on the country and context. In some areas, the day is seen as an opportunity to celebrate women and demonstrate respect. In other areas, it’s seen as a day for protest and galvanizing action. The global campaign is directed primarily at raising awareness regarding the issues facing women, and increasing access to resources.
Sometimes I get asked whether International Women’s Day is inherently sexist. Well, we at Two Piers certainly don’t think so. Firstly, we believe the entire world benefits from gender parity and that enabling women to access their potential will reap benefits for all humans. Secondly, we also recognize International Men’s Day on November 19th, which raises awareness about the issues facing men and works to dismantle biases and myths that impact men. Forcing people into boxes is harmful and inefficient for society, regardless of gender.
Each year, a primary theme is set and this year’s overarching theme is “Each for Equal.” According to the website: “The IWD 2020 campaign theme is drawn from a notion of 'Collective Individualism.' We are all parts of a whole. Our individual actions, conversations, behaviors and mindsets can have an impact on our larger society. Collectively, we can make change happen. Collectively, we can each help to create a gender equal world.”
Along with the theme, there are also six missions that are identified, in which “celebrating women's achievements and increasing visibility, while calling out inequality, is key.” We’ll touch on each of the six missions here.
The first mission is Women in Tech: To celebrate digital advancement and champion the women forging innovation through technology. The site discusses the need for more women in tech, and has some great videos and articles outlining exciting technologies that are shaping the world for the better. This includes food waste reduction, interface design for better inclusivity, and “Smart Dust” a quantum computing technology to tackle drug diversion and abuse. There’s also a section that explores the implications of gender bias in AI. Frida Polli, CEO of Pymetrics has a thought provoking challenge “Can you imagine if all the toddlers in the world were raised by 20-year-old men? That’s what our A.I. looks like today. It’s being built by a very homogenous group." If we think about the implications across all the sectors utilizing AI, it’s pretty astounding.
The second mission is Women and Sport: To celebrate women athletes and applaud when equality is achieved in pay, sponsorship and visibility. We at Two Piers are big supporters of the US Women’s National Team in soccer (or football as the rest of the world calls it). We recommend Googling the USWNT’s lawsuit for pay equality. There have been some great articles over the past few weeks, including one from SB Nation explaining the current arguments behind the suit, and another from ESPN detailing the support from the US Men’s National Team union.
The third mission is Women at Work: To champion women of all backgrounds who dare to innovate, lead, and uplift others towards a more equal and inclusive workplace. The Global Gender Gap Report for 2020 is available from the World Economic Forum. There are lots of great infographics and a whole bunch of detailed analysis. There’s also a very disappointing extrapolation: at current rates, we are still an astounding 99.5 years away from gender parity. We need to do more.
The fourth mission is Women Entrepreneurs: To support women to earn and learn on their own terms and in their own way. This one hits close to home, as Two Piers is the product of female entrepreneurialism. One article discusses the shift from freelancer mindset to founder mindset: Seth Godin of “The Inner Entrepreneur” defines the difference between being a freelancer and an entrepreneur. He explains that "Freelancers get paid for their work. If you're a freelance copywriter, you get paid when you work. Entrepreneurs use other people's money to build a business bigger than themselves so that they can get paid when they sleep.” Some of the benefits for women as entrepreneurs are economic and creative independence in which women can take control of their own work. Other benefits include finding balance, whether work-life balance or balance between interests, and it allows you to channel your motivations and passion.
The fifth mission is Women’s Health: To assist women to be in a position of power for making informed decisions about their health. We know from extensive studies that gender bias exists in medicine, whether in the exam room and doctor’s perception of women’s pain, or in research studies that exclude women. One area of medicine that gets explored on the IWD site is heart disease. The British Heart Foundation's briefing, 'Bias and Biology', revealed these four findings:
women are less likely to recognize symptoms of a heart attack than men
a woman is 50% more likely than a man to receive the wrong diagnosis
women are less likely than men to receive life saving treatments
women are less likely to be given medicine to stop a second heart attack
You can be aware of the following five signs of a heart attack in women:
chest pain or discomfort that happens suddenly and persists, like pressure, tightness or squeezing
pain can then spread to the left or right arm or to the neck, jaw, back or stomach
sickness, sweating, light-headedness or shortness of breath
sudden anxiety similar to that of a panic attack
excessive coughing or wheezing
We encourage you to be on the lookout for these signs.
The sixth and final mission is Women Creatives: To increase the visibility of women creatives and promote their work for commercial projects. The International Women’s Day site includes highlights of female artists and the IWD 2020 Typography Contest. If you’re a female creative, we highly recommend you check it out.
So you might be wondering how you, personally, can engage or get involved. Firstly, check out the website at www.internationalwomensday.com You can learn more about what’s going on this year, and can even find and attend an existing event. If you’re thinking of hosting your own event, the website has all sorts of resources to get you set up and on your way. You can also use the hashtags on social media to both follow and amplify. This year’s are #IWD2020 and #eachforequal.
So that wraps up our coverage for International Women’s Day this year. We’re looking forward to celebrating, and you can watch our social media channels for more information and resources on IWD 2020. In our next podcast, we’ll be sharing some exciting news about Two Piers and our plans for the next year. I’m so excited and want to shout it from the rooftops, but I’m going to save it for later this month. As always, be sure to follow us on social media. We’re on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn, where we share lots of great content and resources. If you’re interested in our coaching, workshop or consulting offerings, you can find out more on our website at www.twopiersconsulting.com, and inquire directly.
Thanks for joining us for this third episode of our podcast, and we’ll meet you back here soon with our new announcement.
