Today is International Women’s Day, a worldwide initiative by U.N. Women, the United Nations entity for gender equality and the empowerment of women. This year’s campaign is #BeBoldforChange. Individuals and organizations around the world are celebrating bold ideas and actions to advance gender parity. Please join us in being catalysts for change–helping women and girls achieve their ambitions, challenge bias, and take more leadership roles.
There are so many ways, large and small, public and personal, in which you can participate and make a difference. We hope these suggestions will spark your interest, and ignite your involvement:
- Take a junior woman to a client or sales meeting.
- Launch a purposeful female-focused initiative in your company or community.
- Start conversations to educate boys about stereotypes and violence against women.
- Nominate women for senior jobs.
- Encourage female colleagues to serve on corporate boards.
- Donate your time and talents to a female-focused nonprofit organization.
- Mentor a woman or girl.
- Form a support network or commit to advancing an existing one.
- Encourage outstanding women to run for elected local, state, and federal positions.
- Celebrate individual women’s journeys and the barriers overcome.
- Include more women on expert panels.
- Raise women’s visibility as spokespeople in the media.
- Drive fairer recognition and credit for women’s contributions.
- Showcase the success of women leaders in your company or community.
- Applaud social, economic, cultural, and political women role models.
- Launch or fund a women-focused scholarship.
- Encourage more girls into STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education and careers.
- Support women inventors of new products and services.
- Celebrate women researchers discovering new knowledge.
Each one of us can be a leader within our own spheres of influence. Through purposeful collaboration, we can help women advance and unleash their limitless potential the world over. #BeBoldforChange.