*Sigh*
We are here again. It’s March again. It’s International Women’s Day on March 8th. The excitement of IWD will soon fill the air. Everyone will be talking about how women are great, brave, strong and what have you. So many roundtable discussions, fireside chats, conferences, social media posts and so on. Asking the right questions, using all the buzz words. “Gender inclusion! Gender Diversity! Gender Equality! How can we get more women on Boards?! How can we get more women to participate in politics?! Scholarships for women in STEM! We support women! Uhhhhh! Ahhhh!” And so on, and so forth.
Since you can’t see me, I will tell you what I’m doing right now – rolling my eyes! Why? We have all these nice conversations and get soundbites every IWD, only to do nothing about it at the end of the day. Then we come back next year and say the same things, over and over again- like clockwork.
To be honest, I already planned to not even as much as acknowledge IWD this year since the celebrations have no real impact, other than making individuals and corporates alike feel good about themselves, whilst they go back to business as usual.
I think I feel this way every March. But I feel it stronger this year more than ever. Are we making any progress? Is gender inclusion on everyone’s agenda? Do we have strong allies? Are we even getting through? Do they hear us?
What am I even saying? The World Economic Forum’s 2021 Global Gender Gap Report estimates that it will take an average of 135.6 years for women and men to reach parity on a range of factors. Sadly, COVID-19 set us back by several decades as it had a huge impact on women particularly. For example, hospitality and retail businesses which perhaps felt the impact of the pandemic more than most of us are also coincidentally large employers of women. Anyway, here we are. It will take us 135.6 years (and counting), seeing as we are living in historic times. With the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, who knows what other black swan event is in our future? It may even be 200 years tomorrow? Or maybe 2,000 years?! Talk about a wild goose chase!
Anyway, back to my question. Are we getting through? I came across this quote recently which has sort of re-ignited my resolve to advocate for a more gender-inclusive world. Since gender equality is looking like a wild goose chase, at this point! Here’s the quote: “We cannot force someone to hear a message they are not ready to receive, but we must never underestimate the power of planting a seed”.
So here I am, planting some seeds because honestly, I am tired of explaining endlessly to people, why gender inclusion should be on everyone’s agenda. Here goes:
Women matter!
Women are capable!
Women belong everywhere decisions are made!
Women should be given all the same opportunities as men!
Everyone benefits in a gender-inclusive world!
Break the Bias!
