Celebrating women today and each day
During Black History Month, I shared an article Ways to Honor Black History Month at Work – Career Mom Community. In that article, I share three categories of event types that companies can leverage to honor cultural heritage months. These event categories include educational, collaborative community building, and action-oriented. In today’s post, I will share 12 ways to celebrate Women’s History Month in the workplace.
About Women’s History Month
The month of March is set aside to celebrate Women’s History Month. Additionally, March 8th is also International Women’s Day. I will talk more about International Women’s Day in an upcoming post, so make sure you sign up below.
This celebration of women started out as Women’s History Week in March of 1982. It was a weekly celebration for the following five years. The National Women’s History Project petitioned to have the entire month designated as Women’s History Month. March of 1987 was the first official Women’s History Month.
Personally, I believe that every day is a reason to celebrate greatness. To me, Black History is made daily; Women are always powerful and should be celebrated, and each day is an opportunity to acknowledge historically marginalized people groups.
Here’s to strong women! May we know them, may we be them, may we raise them!
– Unknown
Why it’s important to celebrate and acknowledge Women’s History Month in the workplace
Women’s history month allows us to have courageous conversations, champion allyship, and move the needle further to gender equity. The truth is, inequality still exists in the workplace for women. Acknowledging its existence and truly taking action are two different things. Further, I feel there is a level of accountability when we come to the table to discuss a very focused topic such as women in the workplace. Why, because you have a point of reference to assess if the needle has moved the following year.
Additionally, Women’s History Month is a time to celebrate, inspire, and uplift. I had the opportunity to speak on a panel for an International Women’s Day Event. I shared why conferences and events in honor of Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day were important. The key takeaway from my talk is that it “amplifies the voices of those who often go unheard”.
I’d love to hear why you believe celebrating Women’s History Month in the workplace is important to you in the comments below.
12 Ways you can celebrate at your workplace
Here are 12 meaningful ways to celebrate and acknowledge Women’s History Month in your respective workplace.
- Host a Lunch and Learn centered on a relevant topic to women in your industry.
- Host a series of Career Conversations to inspire and equip women to go after their goals.
- Support a philanthropic effort serving women in need.
- Support an organization dedicated to empowering young girls.
- Host a recognition event.
- Host a discussion on breaking gender bias.
- Request actions statements and equity metrics to drive accountability.
- Highlight historical moments in history.
- Host a book club.
- Have an inclusive event that deep dives into intersectionality.
- Highlight and support local women-owned businesses.
- Spotlight event hosted by women-led diversity groups.
To Wrap It Up
Women in the workplace should remain a priority beyond the month of March. Moreover, there is still work to be done to ensure women have a stake in key conversations, to ensure pay equity and more. I was scrolling Facebook one day and read a post, “Women don’t need a seat at the table, we need to build new tables” – Unknown. I believe both are necessary. It takes time to change an establishment, therefore we need seats now while we also work to build new ones.
Leveraging one of the ideas above provides the perfect opportunity to take a seat and an opportunity to start building those new tables. March is not over yet, I encourage you to continue to celebrate this month and beyond.
Hope you have an amazing Women’s History Month!
by: Debranetta Howard, Founder, Career Mom Community, LLC.
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I really appreciated the history of Women’s History Month you gave here. I was a child in the 1980s, so I don’t really remember it becoming a thing. Also, I like how you highlighted WHM in the workplace. I’ve never had anybody even mention it at work, so clearly there are many missed opportunities. I now freelance from home, but I’m going to think about how I can honor WHM in my career, even if I’m on my own.
It is becoming increasingly more popular to have discussions during various cultural months and historical moments. I have noticed these days it more common than when I was earlier in my career.