Celebrating and Honoring Women on International Women's Day and Beyond

I wanted to take this day to share how we can support and celebrate women beyond International Women’s Day, because that would involve creating and working towards an equitable world for ALL women to thrive.
Here are a few ways to be a champion for women on International Women’s Day and beyond:

1. Challenging gender stereotypes/roles/bias: can look like distributing domestic chores because a women’s place is not just at home or taking care of the children; being aware, bringing awareness to & respecting all gender identities.

2. Speaking out against sexism & harassment

3. Demanding an equal progressive, SAFE and INCLUSIVE work culture- reporting sexual harassment and any other discriminatory behaviors, to closing the wage gap & ensuring everyone is represented. You deserve a seat at the table!

4. Staying involved politically to ensure we campaign and vote for qualified & diverse women.

5. Amplify feminist voices, books, movies & artists

6. Sharing and celebrating women’s achievements

7. Girls will grow up with internalized beliefs about their place, worth & role in society. Reinforce the ideals that girls are strong, capable, worthy and deserve the same respect as boys. Nurture any expression outside of typical gender roles, and make it known that it’s being “BOLD” not bossy. This goes hand in hand with challenging what it means to “be a man”. Raise boys outside the traditional beliefs of masculinity - encourage sensitivity, communication, being vulnerable and a caretaker.

8. Committing to and supporting orgs that women’s & girls rights everywhere

9. Shattering beauty standards which are usually unrealistic and perpetuate a toxic sense of self. All bodies are equally beautiful and should be celebrated - call out any form of shaming if you witness it.

10. Respecting others choices - if you have an uncomfortable reaction to someone’s choices, take a step back and ask yourself why. Unpack the biases you carry that drive those reactions, and change your behavior.

11. Shopping responsibly because women & girls are disproportionately affected by climate change resulting from production of fast fashion or non eco-friendly products. Climate-induced humanitarian disasters often worsen existing gender inequalities, leaving women and girls prone to higher rate of violence, malnutrition and more.

SOURCES: unwomen.org + internationalwomensday.com #choosetochallenge