I will profess that I hadn’t really understood the history of this day and so I took a bit of time to visit the website www.internationalwomensday.com.  This holiday harkens back to 1910 when a woman named a Clara Zetkin (Leader of the ‘Women’s Office’ for the Social Democratic Party in Germany) tabled the idea of an International Women’s Day. She proposed that every year in every country there should be a celebration on the same day – a Women’s Day – to press for their demands.  The following year more than one million women and men attended IWD rallies campaigning for women’s rights to work, vote, be trained, to hold public office and end discrimination.

 

There are still many issues of disparity with regard to gender, but my idealistic side wonders, will there be a moment in our history where there will no longer be a need for these “days?” Will society ever reach a point in which we can stop designing “days” to raise awareness of these issues?  I don’t have an answer to that question, but I can ask myself, what, as a leader, can I do to ensure that my team feels they have equal access, opportunity, and voice.

 

In recognition of the purpose of this day, how will you press yourself to meet the demand of equality?