IWD2020

8th March 2020

An equal world is an enabled world

International Women’s Day is a time to reflect on progress made, to call for change and to celebrate acts of courage and determination by women across the world. The theme for IWD 2020 is #EachforEqual, recognising all of the actions we can take as individuals to challenge stereotypes, fight prejudice and celebrate women’s achievements.

We celebrate IWD with our peers across the marketing and tech sector by outlining what IWD means to us and how we are embracing women’s achievements.

We’ve had hundreds of years of ‘International Men’s Day’, this one day gives us a chance to focus on redressing the balance and the contribution that women have made and make, that is so often ignored.

An achievement that makes me proud –
Contributing to the acceptance of part-time working by middle and senior ranking civil servants in the 1980s, writing a book on divorce that advocated a more active parental role for men (now used by counsellors) and co-writing a best-selling book on agile working that gives the business case for breaking down the walls around working life.

Anne Cantelo

Founder & MD. ONYX media & communications

IWD is an opportunity for us to celebrate all the amazing women who have gone before us. It is a day to remind us to look beyond our borders, our bodies and race, and to think about how we can make future progress daily.

An achievement that makes me proud?
Having the tremendous opportunity to live and work overseas in my career has exposed me to more cultural and global perspectives than I ever dreamed possible. It has helped me grow professionally as well as personally. I’m a proud mother, business founder, sister, friend and mentor to budding marketers.

Natalie Bruins

Founder. Visibly Rocks

I think of IWD and I’m full of hope and yet I’m not a patient person so I’m full of frustration too.

My achievement as a woman – “Being successful by disregarding the idea that I’m a woman.”

Nicole Yershon

Founder & CEO. The NY Collective

IWD gives us all a chance to celebrate women’s achievements in a world where the narrative is still mainly written by men.

I head up and co-founded a female-founded, female-led, predominantly female-staffed agency, which is awesome when less than a third of all agencies globally are led by women, and only 0.1% were actually founded by a woman.

Claire Burdett

MD. The Media Marketing Co

The World Economic Forum estimates that we are still 108 years away from gender equality! That is crazy sad. It means that my two-year-old daughter won’t work in a world where we reach the tipping point for equality.

IWD conjures up mixed feelings for me. In a positive light, it reminds me how far we have come, but it also makes me reflect on how much further we still have to go to reach gender parity.

But I’m proud and hopeful. I followed my dreams and started my own PR agency. I achieved things I never thought possible and have loved every minute. My work/ life balance (although I prefer to imagine it as a pendulum swinging back and forth) is now more in favour of life and I am content. I’m a working mum running a business – hopefully an inspiration to my daughter. IWD is a good time to sit back and reflect on our successes and consider what the future holds. I hope I can encourage other women to make the leap and begin to love their jobs again. Making the leap was the best thing I have ever done.

Holly Pither

MD & Founder. Tribe PR

How does IWD mean to me? I have three daughters and I live with a woman as well. Currently society is eroding the rights of women to be women. IWD gives us pause to think about this and do something about it.

I married a woman, and I’m raising women, I work for a lot of women. I have also given opportunities to women, not because they were women but because they were the right person for the job.

Jake Shaw

Founder. 12ronnies.com

Check out the poster featuring Women in Science here

IWD means to publicly talk about the women who were forerunners in fighting for their / our rights. This is an ongoing battle and an opportunity to celebrate and highlight accomplishments by women around the world.

I founded MAINTENANT Sustaining Now, an educational enterprise to promote environmental sustainability. We encourage girls to embrace STEM careers (science, technology, engineering, mathematics). A sustainable world can only be achieved when women take their place in C-level positions in corporate, construction, digital, finance, industrial or political fields.

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