International Women's Day 2022

International Women's Day is celebrated on the 8th of March each year. It is a day of celebrating women's achievements and also a day that, according to my perspective, offers a chance for introspection. An opportunity to analyze how the 3.47 billion females that occupy our planet are progressing and what is holding them back through various lenses such as sociatal, economical, educational, gender equality, political and more.

In his essay 'What is Englightenment?' the philosopher Immanual Kant famously said 'Sapere aude!' which loosely translated means 'Dare to Know!' I use this analogy here because humanity must dare to recognize what biases it has been subjecting women to. After all, the way forward to a better future for everyone is dependent on recognizing the mistakes we are making, amending them and ensuring they don't happen again.

The theme of this years Women's Day is 'Break the Bias.' Although women make up almost half of the world's population, it is no secret that they are often subjected to many biases from different aspects of society, some unconsciously and others quite blatantly. There is the obvious glass ceiling that women are subjected to, the gender pay gap, the pink tax and according to the Gender Social Norms Index (GSNI) by the United Nations Development Fund (UNDP) a staggering 90% of men and women hold some sort of bias against women which provides a hurdle towards the ultimate aim for equality without discrimination.

Not only are there many biases against women in general, women of color seem to face the brunt of the storm on their way to the top of the corporate ladder. It has been said that while white women speak of 'The Glass Ceiling', women of color have to deal with 'The Concrete Ceiling'. We need to consciously address and recognize these areas which need improvement for only then can we amend these unfair biases. There are even studies done which show that diversity and inclusion actually help businesses innovate and gain more, and hence should be encouraged.

There is also a 'Maternal Bias' or 'Motherhood Wage Gap' which has been said to be the strongest gender bias where mothers are penalized and receive much lower salaries than women without children. The New York Times went as far as to suggest that the whole gender gap issue arises primarily due to motherhood, as when men and women start working after university, their salaries are similar and unmarried women continue to earn nearer the range that men do. According to Lean In, if a woman adds 'PTA Coordinator' (PTA stands for Parent Teacher Association) to her resume, she is 79% less likely to be hired, half less likely to be promoted and her salary on average is $11000 below her male colleagues. The discrimination is even more towards stay at home mothers who want to resume their career after taking a break for their children's formative years. This bias causes hiring managers to oversee the hard-working, multi-tasking, self starter, self motivated, organizational and empathic leadership qualities and values that women gain from embracing motherhood.

There are numerous benefits for everyone when these biases against women are consciously recognized and removed. A study conducted in the United States showed that adding more women in the labor force would help the country improve its nominal GDP by 5-10% and add $5.87 trillion to the global stock market in ten years. The International Labour Organization research shows that having more gender inclusive and diverse policies helps enhance 20% of business outcomes, increases the probability of more profit and productivity by 63%, increases creativity and innovation by 59% and enhances the company's reputation by 59%. There are also numerous advantages of having women in leadership positions, a few of which can be seen below.

A study done by the UK government showed a positive correlation between hiring more women and firm performance. It also revealed that women led small and medium businesses in the UK contributed to 85 billion pounds to the UK economy. Research by McKinsey & Company showed that employees also prefer female managers as they made them feel more supported.

The purpose of me writing this article was to confront hidden and uncomfortable biases that society as a whole harbors against women. For it is only in recognizing the mistakes we are making that we can all collectively and consciously work towards breaking the biases and moving forward to a better future for all humanity.

The move forward is a collective endeavor for both men and women for the aim is gender equality.

I would like to end this article with this poem as a celebration this women's day, dedicated to all my sisters spread across the globe: