International Women’s Day 8 March 2024

Thursday, 7 March 2024

International Women’s Day (IWD) is celebrated every year on 8^th March and the campaign theme for IWD 2024 is Inspire Inclusion. When we inspire others to understand and value women's inclusion, we forge a better world (IWD: International Women's Day 2024). Since its establishment in the early 1900s, International Women’s Day is an opportunity to celebrate the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women.

According to the 2023 Global Gender Gap Index, no country has yet achieved full gender parity, although the top nine countries (Iceland, Norway, Finland, New Zealand, Sweden, Germany, Nicaragua, Namibia, and Lithuania) have closed at least 80% of their gap. Global data provided by LinkedIn shows persistent skewing in women’s representation in the workforce and leadership across industries. In LinkedIn’s sample, which covers 163 countries, women account for 41.9% of the workforce in 2023, yet the share of women in senior leadership positions (Director, Vice-President (VP) or C-Suite) is at 32.2% in 2023, nearly 10 percentage points lower. Sue Duke, Head, Global Public Policy, LinkedIn, states that “Inclusive hiring practices, visibility of women in top jobs, and upskilling and career growth opportunities for women, particularly in high-growth and high-earning sectors like STEM, will help to course correct this worrying trend, but we need to act now.” (Global Gender Gap Report 2023 | World Economic Forum).

Organisations should be looking at ways to provide women with equal opportunities when it comes to career progression. This can be achieved by mentoring female talent and providing them with the same access to career enhancing training, as well as having a clear and transparent process for deciding on internal promotions to ensure decisions are based on skill rather than gender (International Women's Day - 5 ways to improve… | CIPD HR-inform).

Improving gender parity in the workplace

5 areas organisations can look to improve gender equality include equal pay, recruitment, company culture, workplace policies and promotion. Actions aimed at improving gender parity can include:

Analysing pay data, identify any gender gaps and publish findings to focus attention on important gender equality issues, for example, a lack of flexible working, occupational segregation and pay discrimination. Use this CIPD Gender pay gap reporting guide.
Prioritising succession planning and talent management of women across the organisation to help them receive broad experience across the business, leading to more women being appointed to more executive roles such as Chair, CEO and CFO.
Addressing the challenges facing pregnant women and working mothers e.g., allowing more flexible working and support for childcare.
Providing more opportunities and support to enable women to return to work after a career break including training and mentoring programmes.
Reviewing induction programmes to ensure new starters feel welcome, informed, and aware of the support available.
Reviewing workforce policies to ensure that everyone feels they are treated fairly and supported in their development, including an equal opportunities policy for setting out your organisation’s pledge to provide equality to all.
Reviewing recruitment and selection processes including using gender neutral language, setting up a diverse balanced interview panel, creating a balanced shortlist for management roles and using anonymous CVs.

Celebrate IWD 2024

Volunteer/fundraise for a female-focused charity – take a look at IWD Charities of Choice.
Invite an IWD speaker from motivational keynote addresses to engaging niche topic experts, a great speaker can bring a new perspective.
Promote IWD through internal and external communications i.e. staff newsletter or social media platforms. Highlight women's accomplishments, educate about female-focused topics, or share inspiring quotes by women, for women.

“There is no limit to what we, as women, can accomplish.” Michelle Obama

Together we can forge a more inclusive world for women #InspireInclusion

How can Thewlis Graham Associates help?

We specialise in recruitment at board and senior executive level in the Not-for-Profit and professional bodies. We use our expertise and experience along with our up to date knowledge and access to the market via our Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC) membership (About REC). We dedicate time and energy to gain a proper understanding of the needs of organisations we work with and aim to deliver a high quality and personalised professional service. We ensure our processes are fair with transparent decision making and that there are no barriers during the selection process. We use flexible schedules to ensure wider participation in the recruitment process. Both through Search and advertising we ensure that we reach as wide a candidate pool as possible. We take time to explore the full potential of candidates, identifying transferrable skills and experience and promoting diverse talent, so that the very best appointments are made.

Please don't hesitate to get in touch with any questions or enquiries. You can reach us by telephone or email as follows:

Lizzy Turek

Client Research Associate