WE’RE GOING TO NEED A BIGGER HAMMERWoe betide the guy who asks why we need International Women's Day this year, huh? This week, PWC unveiled its Women in Work Index which measures economic empowerment for women in 33 OECD countries. PWC’s verdict? Covid is causing a global ‘shecession’ - although let’s agree never to use that word again. In order to undo the damage to women’s careers, progress towards gender equality needs to move twice as fast as it has done to date. Even then it will take until 2030 to fix things. I feel exhausted already. So yeah, damn right we need IWD. But to be honest, unless Monday 8th March is declared an official holiday for women, I’m struggling for enthusiasm this year. It's hard not to feel weary at the thought of all those memes encouraging us to 'smash the ceiling!' when actually glass walls have gone up around us too. But there’s hope! IWD's theme for 2021 is ‘Choose to Challenge’ - to call out inequality. I’d say women have been doing a pretty good job of that for, ooh, a couple of centuries now. And in the last year - well, it’s practically been our second (or is that third?) job. So, in the way that we don't expect only breast cancer survivors to run sponsored laps round the park in October, how about we see more men being ‘challenged’ to take part in IWD too? And I don’t just mean the good guys turning up to their female CEO’s keynote. Imagine if instead of women doing all the work (imposter syndrome seminar - step this way! Female leadership lecture - sorry, no budget!), there were equal numbers of workshops for stubborn male CEOs on why shattering the glass ceiling is golden for the bottom line (this handy guide brilliantly outlines the potential). There could be a once-and-for-all, please-don’t-ever-ask-again masterclass on How Not to be a Perv in the Workplace (breakout session: 5 Ways to Tell that You Don’t Live in a 'Different Era') for the handsy few still stubbornly insisting that they never got the memo. Plus talks on how to request flexible hours for men whose caring responsibilities or lifestyle ambitions require more than 48hours input. Hell, add in a bit of male-focused corporate bandwagonery and we’ll be progressing at double the speed in no time! Meanwhile, women could use the day to refill our tanks and quell the nebulous sense of being “constantly vigilant but utterly paralysed” that Jennifer Crichton’s article viscerally gives shape to. And finally we could all - regardless of child status or gender - just sit and marvel together at the incredible piece of living history that is the New York Times Primal Scream project and agree this must never happen again. Its 'Three Mothers on the Brink' article has been shared a lot, but the other pieces are equally excellent. As is the actual audio from actual mothers calling the project’s hotline to rant - which sounds awful, but is both endearing, heartbreaking and even at times humorous. As with IWD’s challenge, let’s hope it’s not just women listening.
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