International Women’s Day, one of the world’s biggest employee engagement days, takes place on 8 March 2022. It is a global opportunity to celebrate and acknowledge the achievements of women across the world.
It also provides a chance to raise awareness of female inequality and discuss what can be done to create gender parity.
#BreakThe Bias
This year, the theme for the day is focused around #breakthebias. The International Women’s Day Website states that, “Whether deliberate or unconscious, bias makes it difficult for women to move ahead. Knowing that bias exists isn’t enough. Action is needed to level the playing field.” Find out more about International Women’s Day.
Still More to Be Done
Each year, more and more employers take part in the celebrations by marking the contributions of their female employees. However, the day also acts as a timely reminder to employers about gender equality and what still needs to be done to address the gender imbalance in the workplace.
Following on from the data published by the Office for National Statistics in October 2021, while the gender pay gap has been declining slowly, there is still significant disparity with regards to equal pay. In addition, women are still more likely to be subjected to sexual harassment and discrimination in the workplace and are also largely underrepresented within executive roles.
It is evident then that more needs to be done to address gender parity and employers should continue to analyse their working practices to ensure that that they are alive to any blind spots and are doing everything they can do create an equal workforce.
