International Women’s Day is way more than a tradition

International Women’s Day Is Way More Than a Tradition – IWD’s 2021 rallying cry exemplifies the ‘gender multiplier effect,’ through which helping one woman helps many.

By: Andrea Stevenson Conner

International Women’s Day has been celebrated 109 times since it first took place in Europe in 1911. That first year, more than a million women and men attended rallies campaigning for women’s rights to work, vote, be trained, and hold public office.

While IWD has an amazing history, this year’s event on March 8 will be particularly important because its theme, “Choose to Challenge,” invites people around the world to call out gender bias and inequality. When people accept this challenge and help a woman succeed, the “gender multiplier effect” will kick in.

The GME is the idea that when you invest in women, the effect ripples out, benefitting not only the women you helped initially but, also the people close to them—their families, friends, and communities or their teams, departments, and business units. In the biggest picture, the gender multiplier effect can have a positive impact on the global economy.

So, when people around the world take up this year’s IWD rallying cry and “choose to challenge” obstacles placed in the way of women, those actions will first help one woman and then ripple out to help many people.

I love this year’s theme because it makes it clear that we need to:

• Challenge stereotypes about who women are and what they can do. “One-size-fits-all” never fits anyone.
• Challenge cultural norms that “women belong in the home.”
• Challenge the idea that women don’t belong in places where decisions get made, like the boardroom or C-suite (or, most recently, meetings of the Olympic Committee).
• Challenge the bias that women are not good for business. Years of research disprove this. Here’s but one example.

Notably, no one government, agency, charity, corporation, academic institution, women’s network, or media hub is solely responsible for IWD. It belongs to all of us, everywhere. Come March 8, how will you choose to challenge the bias and inequality that women face?

What I’m planning to do on March 8 to challenge bias against women?

I’m rolling out my initiative to advocate for the Gender Multiplier Effect, participating in organizations like the Women’s Business Collaborative to drive equal pay, position, and power for all businesswomen and I am supporting my sisters of all races by committing to understanding the lens in which they view the world so that I can be an ally.

I encourage you to make IWD a day to do what you can to truly make a positive difference for women—then watch the positive impact multiply.

Andrea Stevenson Conner is President of Stevenson Conner Global Strategies and a fierce advocate for the gender multiplier effect. Reach her at Andrea@StevensonConner.com. #gendermultipiereffect