It is that time of year again. The LinkedIn posts. The corporate breakfasts. The panels discussing the same issues we were talking about a decade ago. International Women’s Day continues to be performative at best and hollow at worst (see previous years blogs here and here).
I am not interested in another round of symbolic gestures that change nothing. We are not just standing still; we are moving backwards. Women the world over are losing rights, losing safety, losing opportunities. And yet, every year, we get the same recycled slogans while real change stalls or reverses.
So this year, yet again, I am opting out. No IWD events. No corporate feel-good sessions. No panels where we talk about problems that companies and governments already have the power to fix but refuse to.
Instead, I am choosing action.
And don’t get me wrong. I have been there myself. I have loved being in the rooms with amazing women and men who care about women, care about the issues, and really do want to see the system change. The issue for me is that it is not changing, and we need to call BS on it—yet again.
Where my time, energy, and money will go instead:
✔ Supporting women-led businesses – I am choosing to spend my money where it matters. Women-owned, women-led businesses. Where real impact happens, not just empty statements. Including my own business!
✔ Collaboration over celebration – Instead of attending another IWD event, I will be spending time with women who actually need support; mentoring, collaborating, amplifying. Because real empowerment happens in community, not on a stage.
✔ Demanding more, not accepting less – IWD has been hijacked into a corporate public relations exercise – a bit like DEI – and see how quickly that got dropped by many! If a company is celebrating IWD while underpaying women, lacking female leadership, or failing to address workplace bias, I am holding them accountable. And boycotting wherever possible. We need to use our voices AND our wallets. And for heavens sake, lets vote for the women and men who align on this issue and want to do something about equity. Not talk about sending the women back to 1950s Australia (which from all I hear wasn’t that great for Australian women!).
The feminism that fails women
And while we are talking about injustice, let us talk about whose voices get heard and whose don’t. When the women of Gaza are being murdered, when the women of Sudan are being butchered and the women of Afghanistan are being forced to go back to the stone age, when these women are calling out for help, most feminist organisations and mainstream women’s movements are silent. The hypocrisy is staggering.
Women’s rights are not just for Western, white, corporate women. Feminism that turns away from oppressed women; because it is inconvenient, political, or does not fit the mainstream narrative, is not feminism. It is selective activism. And frankly, they can keep it.
So, what needs to change? My take:
- Less talk, more redistribution – Stop funding endless panels and invest in women-led initiatives, women’s safety, women’s economic empowerment.
- Feminism for ALL women – If your feminism does not extend to women in conflict zones, displaced women, women of colour, or our own sisters who are being KILLED weekly, then it is not feminism. It is privilege in disguise.
- Accountability over optics – Companies, governments, and organisations need to be held to actual standards. Not just praised for showing up in purple once a year. Every day is women’s day.
- Men – We need more men standing shoulder to shoulder with us, actively working to dismantle inequities within their own companies and workplaces—not just supporting from the sidelines or hosting the IWD table!
- More female-led businesses – I am convinced that the future lies in more women running companies, making hiring decisions, and shaping workplace cultures. If the system we currently inhabit resists change, then let us stop waiting—let us accelerate the building of a parallel one. The old one will wither in time. What you feed, grows.
- Donate to women-focused organisations – There are many organisations, like the YWCA and WIC here in Canberra, that do incredible work supporting women (and girls) in our community. This IWD, I am showing my support by donating. If attending an event and buying a ticket is how you contribute, great. But if not, consider supporting these types of organisations in a way that truly helps—by giving them the financial space to continue their work.
I am done reading the stats for the last fortnight or so leading up to IWD. Done. But that doesn’t mean I will stop pushing or doing what I can in my world. It does mean though that we all need to consider stop wasting time in spaces that are NOT serious about real change—and start creating our own.
So this year, I am choosing impact over optics. What are you choosing?
And as always, if you invest in yourself and another woman, the rewards will be unfathomable.
Until next time.
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