IWD 2022

8 meaningful ways to activate your employees on the 8th of March

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Ebook

International Women’s Day

Table of Contents Why March 8th? The history of IWD

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Break the bias: How to join the movement in 2022

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8 IWD Campaign ideas for making an impact

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1. Volunteer for a female-focused nonprofit

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2. Donate to a nonprofit championing women

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3. Elevate female voices

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4. Support learning by organizing an event

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5. Take action with IWD-themed challenges

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6. Join a community that empowers women

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7. Organize a goods collection for women in need

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8. Make a change that improves the lives of women

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What's your game plan? Resources to prepare for March 8th

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International Women's Day On March 8th, the world celebrates International Women’s Day (IWD), a global day for recognizing the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women.

But it’s more than just a celebration, it’s also a reminder to take action by accelerating gender parity in the workplace, calling out sexism when we see it, and showing up for the women in our lives.

It’s important for companies to support these efforts on IWD - and we’d like to help you do this in a meaningful way that will get all of your employees engaged in the process.

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Why March 8th?

The earliest recorded observance of a Women’s Day was held in New York in 1909. But it wasn’t until March 19th, 1911 that International Women’s Day was first marked by over one million people in Austria, Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland. And in 1914, it was first celebrated on the 8th of March in Germany.

After losing steam for a number of decades, the 70s and 80s brought our collective attention back to March 8th, as women around the world fought for equal pay, equal economic opportunity, reproductive rights, and the prevention of violence against women. All of which we are still working towards in 2022.

For this reason, it’s important to take action on IWD to change a culture that has, for so long, marginalized women and their struggles globally.

By committing to an IWD initiative, you, as a company, show your female employees that you value them and their work, while educating everyone to do more to fight gender inequality on a daily basis.

If you’re thinking about engaging your employees this IWD - we’d like to help. That’s why we’ve created this guide with concrete campaign ideas that will help you show support for your female workforce by taking a stance this IWD.

Do we still need International Women’s Day? According to the World Economic Forum, sadly none of us will see gender parity in our lifetimes. In fact, it will not be attained for almost a century. For this reason, IWD is an important yearly reminder to keep working towards change to create a more equal world for future generations.

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Join the #BreaktheBias Movement Every year, IWD takes on a new form with a theme chosen to address the current struggles of women around the world. This year, IWD is aiming to “Break the Bias” in our communities, workplaces, schools, and universities.

We all hold a lot more power than we think to change the culture surrounding gender, and this IWD, we’re reminded that it’s on us to break down biases that affect women everyday.

Strike this year’s pose and share it on social media using #BreakTheBias #IWD2022 to encourage more people to commit to helping forge an inclusive world - including your employees!

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Take action on March 8th Our 8 campaign ideas for making a difference this IWD Show up for your female employees by taking action on International Women's Day with one of our IWD-themed campaign ideas. A little bit of planning can go a long way when it comes to making a positive impact in the face of gender ineuqality.

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1. Volunteer for a female-focused nonprofit All over the country, nonprofits are working day in and day out to lead and support the fight against gender inequality. Your workforce can make a real impact by getting out into the field to give time to a femalecentered cause like these ones: World Association of Girl Guides & Girl Scouts: Encourages female empowerment through leadership development, girl-led advocacy, capacity building and more.

RAINN: Works to end sexual violence through programs that prevent sexual violence, help survivors, and bring perpetrators to justice.

Black Girls Code: Introduces computer coding lessons to young girls from underrepresented communities through workshops and afterschool programs.

Or choose an organization that supports women directly in your community. Then, organize a volunteer day leading up to March 8th to get people involved. You can even further encourage employees to participate by offering paid time off to get out of the office and go volunteer with colleagues.

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2. Donate to a nonprofit championing women Take a stand by using IWD as a way to highlight organizations that empower women by encouraging employees to donate. To further show your support, consider matching employee donations to nonprofits linked to this cause. If you use a CSR platform, you can host it all directly there - so your employees can seamlessly donate to the female-led causes they care about!

Here are a few examples of organizations you can donate to: Malala Fund: Helps make our world a place where every girl can learn and lead by boosting education for girls internationally.

Equality Now: Challenges ingrained cultural assumptions by using the law to create enduring equality for women and girls.

UN Women: Serves the world’s women by delivering programs, policies, and standards that uphold women’s human rights.

Women for Women International: Invests in women survivors of war and conflict, providing them with social and economic skills to transform their own lives.

Black Women’s Health Imperative: Leads the effort to solve pressing health issues that affect Black women and girls.

Care.org’s Women Empowerment Fund: Funds a variety of international, women’s empowerment funds.

Days For Girls: Advances menstrual equality, heath, dignity, and opportunity for all by transforming periods into pathways.

Save a girl save a generation: Prevents and eradicates female genital mutilation and avoids premature marriage of girls.

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3. Elevate female voices There’s a lot about the female experience that is difficult to understand unless you’re living it, particularly for women of color who disproportionately face prejudice. Give your female talent the opportunity to be heard on matters that relate to the female experience that are often overlooked.

While female achievements happen every day, take IWD to seek out and recognize your female talent on your social media. Ask managers and team members to nominate women who inspire them and share a post on social media or your blog highlighting their triumphs.

To make your IWD intersectional, be sure to spotlight a diverse group of women including the voices of women from the LGBTQ+ community and with varied backgrounds.

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4. Support learning by organizing an online/physical event and inviting a speaker A great way to start (or continue) the conversation around gender biases is by inviting a speaker to share their expertise and experience with your teams. This is also another powerful way to amplify female voices and give them a platform to educate your workforce on the struggles of women.

This could be an expert or even a representative from a nonprofit organization. Use this IWD Resource that is built to help you find a suitable speaker for your company.

Think about making it fun with a game, like Bias Bingo - each time a bias is mentioned during the talk, participants cross it off their Bingo sheet and raise their hands on your virtual meeting platform to signal if they’ve won. The winner (or several winners) could then receive an amount of your choice to donate to a female-focused nonprofit.

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5. Take small, concrete actions with IWD-themed challenges To show your teams that small actions can have a large impact, challenge your employees to take everyday, easy-to-complete actions to raise awareness and combat gender biases, such as: Watching a movie or listening to a podcast related to gender biases, equality, and inclusion.

Attending an internal-bias seminar to learn more about how we all contribute to gender inequality in small ways.

Following 5 intersectional feminist activists on social media to get a better understanding of the struggles of women.

This is great for remote working teams who are looking for new ways to engage employees around the world. Plus, you can use a CSR platform to track personal and company-wide impact to encourage even more participation.

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6. Join a community that supports female empowerment Use IWD as a jumping off point to join a community that supports women’s issues that will keep you on track and can help educate your team members from the inside out. This is a great way to show female employees that you take their needs seriously and that you plan on supporting them all year - not just on the 8th of March.

Here are a few communities that serve the IWD purpose: Catalyst: Builds workplaces that work for women to accelerate and advance women into leadership positions.

Women against violence in Europe: Works towards prevention and protection of women and children from violence.

IWD Relationships: Collaborate with other pro-diversity partners to play a leading role in helping forge IWD worldwide.

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7. Organize a goods collection that benefits women in need Embolden your teams to do good while clearing out space in their lives with an IWD-inspired goods collection.

Dress for success is an organization that works to economically empower women across the globe by providing a network of support, professional attire, and the development tools to help women thrive in work and in life. To contribute to their cause, ask employees to donate their gently used professional attire to help underserved women achieve economic freedom.

You can also use this as an opportunity to make a difference in your community by finding a local women’s shelter and making a goods donation there.

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8. Make changes that actively improve the lives of women in your office There are a number of ways that you can positively impact the lives of your female talent so that they feel valued, celebrated, and supported year round. Launch one of these initiatives this IWD, then show your dedication to the cause by following through for the rest of the year.

End period poverty in your office with the help of Period.org. It may be a surprise but period poverty is a big issue that could be happening in your workspaces. Make sanitary products accessible to your workforce, then donate to help extend this cause further into the world.

Make your space a safe one for breastfeeding by encouraging recent mothers to feel safe doing so. If you don’t already have a room where mothers can go to pump, show them you care by coming up with a solution. Then have a talk with the rest of your team about the importance of making new mothers feel safe, supported, and like their experience is normal.

Break the bias in your workspaces by thinking of your own creative ways to approach this IWD’s theme. For example, the Inclusion Jar is a fun way to get people involved. Each time someone says “guys” for a multi-gendered group or any other gendered language, they put a dollar in the jar to break that internal bias. At the end of each week, choose a nonprofit supporting gender equality and inclusion to donate the amount collected!

Get started with these actions to make this International Women’s Day the most impactful and engaging yet. Not sure how? We’d like to help you set your game plan to take on gender bias in your workspace.

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Set your game plan Actionable resources to get you prepared for IWD 1. Define the campaign and create a game plan If you want to create a IWD campaign that actually empowers women and doesn’t fall flat, then you need to define a purpose that will drive your actions and build excitement leading up to the event.

It’s crucial to clearly state the intention behind your campaign, preferably with tangible results that you hope to see from it. Here’s an example:

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This International Women’s Day, we want to do better in breaking the biases in our own spaces, while showing our female employees that we value their achievements and hard work despite the challenges they continue to face today. Our mission is to take action through a number of initiatives that serve our

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purpose of ending gender inequality.

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To make sure that you carry through on your plans, build a timetable of events during the week leading up to March 8th. Send this around to a sample of women from your teams to make sure they can give their input on the IWD celebrations and include their suggestions.

Here’s an example of timetable you can create: MARCH 2

MARCH 3

MARCH 4

MARCH 7

MARCH 8

Collect Goods

Book Club

Movie Night

Volunteer Day

Expert Speaker

We’ll begin collecting goods to be donated to the local women’s shelter to help struggling mothers and underserved women in our communities.

We’ll be meeting to discuss the book “Bad Feminist” by Roxane Gay to educate ourselves on issues that affect women and to share our thoughts with others.

We’ll be watching “Feminists: What Were They Thinking?,” followed by a discussion of the themes from the documentary, our impressions, and what we can take away.

We’ll be participating in a field volunteer day for a femalefocused nonprofit to support women in our communities.

On IWD, we’ll have an expert speaker join us to present on the topic of gender parity followed by a party to celebrate the achievements of female employees.

We’ll also drop off our goods at the women’s shelter!

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Finally, when it comes to measuring success, write out a few metrics that you’d like to track throughout the program to properly understand your impact. For example: XX number of goods collected for the women’s shelter XX number of resources shared for educating our workforce on gender inclusivity XX number of participants on the volunteer day Engagement rates of all events Using a CSR platform makes it easy to measure your impact, meaning you can improve your numbers with every campaign!

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2. Get buy-in from stakeholders Here’s where you run your team through the ins and outs of the proposed IWD celebrations. It’s important here to convey the significance of taking part and of supporting female employees in the workplace.

Make sure you prepare a comprehensive proposal that outlines exactly what you plan to do and what you need to achieve it. You also want to outline how you plan to implement the program, what your desired outcomes are, and how you are going to measure impact.

For a successful program, get your C-level on board early so that they can help spread your Women’s Day message from the outside in.

3. Communicate the plans internally and externally Now it’s time to share what you’re doing with the rest of your team and the wider world. To help you communicate with these two different audiences, we’ve created some templates that can be adapted to your needs.

On the next page, you can find a template with useful messaging for communicating your program internally to employees to inspire them to participate.

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Subject Line: How we plan to break the bias this International Women’s Day According to the World Economic Forum, none of us will see gender parity in our lifetimes.

This sad fact makes it even more important that we continue to shed light on the challenges that disproportionality face women, while taking action in honor of International Women’s Day. That’s why we’ll be celebrating International Women’s Day with our own twist on this year’s theme “#BreaktheBias.”

We’ll be hosting a variety of different events that help to break the bias in our own spaces, including opportunities for individuals to engage with the topic of gender inequality. We’re also providing materials to help our team better understand the challenges women continue to face at home, at work, and in their daily lives.

When is this going down?

Take a look at our events calendar for the full breakdown of activities. We’ve got plenty scheduled so make sure you find the activities that interest you and work for your schedule.

Plus, throughout the week leading up to March 8th, we’ll also be matching all donations to the female-focused nonprofits we’ve partnered with, to ensure our impact provides as much support as possible.

We look forward to seeing everyone celebrate the achievements of women and strive to keep getting better this International Women’s Day! Sincerely, [Name]

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You can also let people in your organization know by word-of-mouth, by creating a Slack channel for sharing interesting materials and stories, and other virtual updates around the workplace. There needs to be ample time for people to plan their involvement, so remember to do this with time to spare.

Alongside keeping your organization informed, it’s great to let the outside world know what you’re up to. To do this, prepare communications for before, during, and after the celebrations.

Here’s an example of a social media template for sharing your impact:

This International Women’s Day, we wanted to take action against gender inequality. And we’re proud to say that through our initiatives we’ve…

Raised XX for our chosen nonprofits Heard from XX speakers about their experiences Handed out XX resources for our employees to continue their learning Inspired XX% of our workforce to participate in an IWD event Thanks to everyone who’s taken part so far—if you haven’t, what are you waiting for? #IWD #InternationalWomensDay #BreaktheBias #EmployeeEngagement #EmployeePurpose

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Remember, you’re not looking for praise. You just want your female employees to feel valued, supported, and like you care about bettering their lives.

Of course, communication is the key to a successful campaign so start early and remain consistent. Keep a calendar with reminders so that you never miss an opportunity to rally your employees.

With all the information properly communicated, you’re ready to kickoff your IWD festivities.

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4. Launch your campaign Kicking off your campaign is super important, and it’s a great way to get everyone excited from the word go. There are a number of ways you can kick off your campaign, so here are a few to consider: A launch party: Draw attention to your campaign by throwing a party to inaugurate the event - include a panel of women from your organization to discuss important issues affecting women.

A launch call: Get the entire organization involved no matter where they are on a call presenting a fireside chat with a female from your C-level.

A keynote speech: Invite a female empowerment speaker to share a presentation on why this issue isn’t just for women - it affects us all.

This will help your male employees feel more able to participate in all of the IWD events.

Whatever you choose to do, make a big deal of it and get people excited. Keep updating posters to ensure everyone knows what’s up next. If that means email reminders, calendar invites, and verbal prompts, then so be it!

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5. Track your impact The last step is to track the progress and impact you’ve made. Doing this manually is quite a hefty task, but here are some metrics to look out for: Number of employees participating Amount raised in donations Number of employees engaging for the first time Most engaged team eg HR, Marketing, etc You can also gather feedback on the campaign by sending out an internal pulse survey once everything’s come to a close. This will help you understand what your employees thought of the campaign, and how they’d improve it next time.

If you’re looking for a succinct way to track your impact and progress, consider using an employee engagement platform like Alaya by Benevity.

Alaya by Benevity helps not only with the reporting side of your campaign, but also with the planning and execution. You can look through their catalog of 1.5million+ organizations and set up simple donation matching to lessen the load on your finance team.

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From there, you can create activities for your employees to take part in during your campaign and allow them to access their events calendar from anywhere. You can also easily collect pictures and notes from your events to share afterwards.

All of this is done on one platform, so you can focus on what really matters—creating positive impact in your community and organization.

Lastly, don’t limit yourself to celebrating women’s achievements only on March 8th —it’s key to remain engaged with gender equality all year round.

How to celebrate more international awareness days at your company in 2022 Want to make sure you are prepared in advance for international days like IWD? The earlier you start the better to get as much buzz and participation within the company. That’s why we put together a calendar with some key international days throughout the year. Choose which ones link to your company’s purpose/interests and plan ahead!

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