International Women’s Day for Small Businesses

International Women’s Day is just around the corner (tomorrow, in fact), and it’s the perfect time for small businesses to take note of women within their industry. With women making up a significant portion of the workforce, it’s essential for small businesses to recognise and celebrate their contributions. In this post, we’ll explore practical ideas for small businesses to celebrate International Women’s Day and champion gender equality in the workplace.

First things first, what is International Women’s Day? Marked by millions of people on March 8th, it’s a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender equality. It’s a day to recognise the progress that has been made in advancing gender equality, as well as to acknowledge the work that still needs to be done.

International Women’s Day provides an important platform to engage with communities, reflect on progress, and commit to positive action. Participation ensures progress toward equality remains on the global agenda and positive action prevails. It has a long and powerful history of collective action, with many groups, countries, and bodies having actively contributed to its evolution. Today, it is a highly visible worldwide occurrence with significant mainstream awareness, marked by groups worldwide in a wide variety of ways.

In the UK, women make up nearly half of the workforce, yet they are still underrepresented in leadership positions. According to statistics, only 19.1% of active UK companies are female-led, and women-led companies received just 5.8% of all investments. Alongside this, up to £250 billion of new value could be added to the UK economy if women started and scaled new businesses at the same rate as UK men. This highlights the importance of supporting and empowering women in the workplace.

So, how can small businesses celebrate International Women’s Day and champion women in business? Here are some practical ideas:

1. Promote the great female members of staff at your business

Highlighting the achievements of women within your organisation is a superb way to recognise your female colleagues on International Women’s day. Create social media posts that re-trace their journeys or profile women leaders on your website or in internal communications.

2. Run a women-focused professional development workshop or conference

Another way to empower women is to encourage their personal development. A panel discussion or speaker series with inspiring women could motivate your female employees to achieve their goals and teach them about the challenges female leaders face.

While an in-person event might encourage networking and one-on-one chats, hosting your event as a virtual meeting – for example, via Zoom – will let external attendees share the knowledge.

3. Endorse women-owned businesses and organizations

Endorsing female-owned businesses and organizations publicly or internally is another way to uplift women. For example, offer pro bono services to a women’s advocacy group to show your commitment to gender equality and encourage others to follow your lead.

You could also partner with women-owned businesses for joint promotions and discounts.

4. Offer mentorship or coaching opportunities to women within your organisation

Mentorship opportunities are an easy and accessible way for female colleagues to expand their skill sets. For career support, you could offer a women-focused leadership development workshop or entrepreneurship seminar.

Hosting a self-defence or personal safety class could be a good option for more general support. Offering female coworkers self-defence classes will help them stay safe and raise awareness of the dangers women still encounter.

5. Share stories about female customers or clients

Sharing stories about successful customers can help boost your business reputation, so honouring female customers can be an excellent way to celebrate International Women’s Day. Your customer-facing teams can help pinpoint your most triumphant female clients. With your client’s consent, showcase their success on social media platforms like LinkedIn.

6. Run special promotions that relate to your products

Every holiday is an opportunity to promote your product in an engaging, creative way, and IWD is no exception. Create a themed marketing campaign for your social media channels, invite users to participate in a giveaway or boost brand awareness with a limited-time gift card – the choice is yours!

7. Create educational assets for your usual marketing channels

Educate others about gender inequality and emphasize your organization’s commitment to promoting diversity and inclusion with a social media campaign. Use popular hashtags like “#EmbraceEquity” and “#IWD2023“ to spread your message and bring awareness to women’s struggles.

8. Plan a networking event for women in your industry

Try hosting an International Women’s Day event that helps your female colleagues chat and connect with other women in your industry. A speed-networking session could kick-start business relationships, generate new sales and marketing ideas and promote a sense of belonging in male-dominated spaces.

9. Host a company-wide diversity and inclusion training session

Although sales leaders tend to be satisfied with the diversity of their sales teams, evidence suggests a gender bias in the sales industry. Many saleswomen feel their experience and abilities are undermined, and studies show that women in the US continue to earn, on average, 18% less than men.

A company-wide diversity training session can help highlight women’s issues in the workplace and the progress we still need to make toward gender parity.

10. Share resources and information

Celebrate IWD by sharing women empowerment resources highlighting the importance of gender diversity. You could send office-wide emails with articles, videos or infographics about strong female figures. Try hosting a trivia night focused on women’s history and achievements for a more relaxed evening.

We’ve written this blog article about 13 inspiring female marketing leaders in case you need some ideas.

11. Organize a fundraiser to benefit a women’s organization

Rally your team members to hold a charity event, such as a bake sale, then donate the proceeds to a non-profit women’s organization. Hosting a fundraiser is a creative way to build team spirit while helping to empower women. It’s a win-win situation! And if you have any leftover cakes, you can eat those, too.

12. Create a scholarship or grant program to support female entrepreneurs

Now more than ever, women are setting up successful businesses. A recent report showed that in the first half of 2022, female entrepreneurs founded or co-founded 10% of unicorn companies (privately held startups valued at $1B or above). But there’s still a long way to go.

Help prospective female business owners climb the ladder with a fully-funded scholarship or grant program. By supporting women in business, you can contribute to closing the gender gap.

13. Advocate for policy change

Change doesn’t happen overnight, but having a platform can make effecting change easier. Advocating for gender equality policies is a practical way to pay homage to IWD.

In 2022, the World Economic Forum ranked the US 27th out of 146 countries for gender equality. By publicly supporting policies that help close the gender gap, you can encourage your customers to do the same.

In conclusion, International Women’s Day is a time to celebrate the achievements of women in business and advocate for gender equality. Small businesses play a crucial role in supporting and empowering women in the workplace, and there are many practical ideas to help them do so. By taking action and championing women in business, small businesses can create a more inclusive and diverse work environment for all. We continue to strive for equality and empowerment for for women; besides, Air Courier was started by one woman over 30 years ago.

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