The annual 24-hour feminist awakening of the corporate world

It's that time of year again. International Women's Day arrives and my social feeds are awash with suffragette-coloured graphics, inspirational quotes from long-dead women's rights pioneers, and corporate declarations of commitment to gender equality.

How curious that the same companies who struggle to place more than a token woman on their boards have suddenly discovered their feminist voices for 24 hours. My inbox has been besieged by the most baffling array of brands desperately hitching themselves to this bandwagon.

The pattern is tediously predictable:

1. Splash the suffragette colours across your branding
2. Share statistics about gender inequality
3. Hastily assemble your female employees for a group photo (often the same women as last year)
4. Shamelessly peddle products with a tenuous "women's empowerment" angle
5. Return to business as usual on 9th March

What's particularly galling is how these performative gestures mask the absence of meaningful change. A company that pays lip service to gender equality once a year while maintaining a 30% gender pay gap is not an ally—it's a hypocrite with a good PR team.

The tacky commercialisation is truly something to behold. This year alone, my inbox has been flooded with "celebrations" from a global luxury brand suddenly remembering they once made four pens dedicated to famous women, florists pushing bouquets, countless fashion brands with special "empowerment" collections, baby clothing websites (because all women are mothers, apparently), and even cupcake companies. Nothing says "we value women's equality" quite like a purple, green and white frosted cupcake, does it?

I wonder how many of today's celebratory posts come from organisations that offer robust parental leave, transparent pay structures, or concrete pathways to leadership for women? How many have confronted the subtle biases in their hiring and promotion processes? How many have moved beyond the token woman on their board to achieve anything resembling gender parity in their leadership? As they post their carefully curated graphics, perhaps we should ask what percentage of their C-suite is female.

Real progress isn't made through hashtags and purple logos. It's made through uncomfortable conversations, challenging entrenched systems, and sustained commitment to change—even when it's no longer trending.

To be fair, there are undoubtedly organisations genuinely committed to gender equality—companies walking the talk with balanced leadership, inclusive policies, and supportive cultures - and thankfully we work with a few of them. And governments too—I'm looking at you UAE, which has mandated 50% women in ministerial positions, leading the world! These entities exist, and they deserve recognition. But they're also likely not the ones plastering their social media with performative celebrations while changing nothing substantial about their operations.

So perhaps next year, instead of telling us how much you value women, show us. Because frankly, we'd rather have equal pay than your annual social media nod to our existence.

#InternationalWomensDay