What Is International Women’s Day and Why Should You Care?

“Why would you be nominated for a young professional award for WOMEN only? Why are there even awards anymore for women in business? Women achieved equality a long time ago. Isn’t this sexist against men?”

This was the response I received from someone close to me after proudly sharing that I had been nominated for the 2017 Athena Young Professional Award. The Young Professional Award supports the ATHENA mission of supporting, developing, and honoring women leaders in business and in their communities. At first, the question made me feel shock, even hurt, as it came from someone close to me who I thought had understood my hard-fought journey as a woman in business. The response then made me take pause and ask myself the same question: Should I be nominated for something that I’m only eligible for because I’m a woman? I struggled with that for a long time. And then, it inspired me to start taking greater action to get informed….

Growing up, like many women around the world, I was surrounded by messages and influences that perpetuated misinformed ideas about women’s expected and accepted roles in the world. I’ve spent my entire life working to reverse the deep-rooted biases that have been woven into the fabric of who I am. I’ve always believed in both a man's and a woman’s right to choose to do whatever he or she wants with their life, professionally and personally. I've always had confidence that I could pursue whatever I wanted to in life; but what wasn't ok was that, growing up, I often felt like an anomaly in my way of thinking. People around me told me that I, "thought differently."

Believing that a woman can achieve anything she desires should not be viewed as a rogue, outsider way of thinking.

So let's assume we are completely past that, and I'm no longer, "weird or different," for believing that a woman can achieve anything... let's say we all believe and understand that. The next problem lies in not being equipped with the skills to recognize, call out and confront the just-beneath-the-surface bias that prevails. It’s easy to see blatant sexism when it occurs: cat-calling, inappropriate comments about a woman’s appearance, proposing sexual favors in return for a raise; sadly, even the obvious violations still occur.

What's not easy to recognize is the bias that sits with people just beneath the surface, often unbeknownst to ourselves, often impossible to prove. I’m on a mission to be open and vulnerable as I continue learning, while inviting others with me to learn about systemic sexism, racism, and oppression, and what we can all do about it. These are the type of biases that I’m still working every day to uncover, to root out, and to replace with new, better, informed messages.

Through the years, I coped with bias by doing what I felt was within my control: kept my head down, worked hard, and tried to not let the biases and insults cut me too deeply, because I felt like there was nothing I could do anyway. Recently, I’ve realized that this is no longer acceptable, to “keep my head down and ignore it.” As a leader, I owe it to myself, my employees, and my community to do something to learn about what the problems are, and how I can play a part in fixing them.

Today, I choose to speak up about why International Women’s Day should and does matter, and what you can do, because this is the perfect opportunity to invite you to support organizations that are impacting change.

What Is International Women’s Day?

International Women’s Day (March 8th) is a globally recognized day that celebrates the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. This is also a day for call to action for the persistent gender inequalities that exist around the world. Today I’m highlighting three organizations working to change the ecosystem for women in business.

What Can YOU Do to Make an Impact?

The first step, is to choose to get involved in organizations where you can become informed, and supported in your journey of awareness. I invite you to join me in learning more about systemic sexism, and get involved with these organizations that are working to close the gender gap, both locally and globally.

Doyenne

Doyenne has been working earnestly to shift the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Madison since 2012 so that it will become more inclusive, more accepting of women, and more diverse in general. Research shows that businesses with women in leadership positions outperform businesses that don’t have women, and that the increase of women in leadership is helping businesses thrive in unprecedented ways. And yet, women still face hurdles to secure those leadership positions.

 One major barrier is the lack of funding women entrepreneurs and business leaders receive. In 2016, 80% of venture capital dollars went to all-male teams, teams that didn’t have a single woman involved; only 2% went to all-female teams. Despite the research that indicates investing in women-led ventures is a smart investment, teams with ANY female representation are radically underfunded. Investors will say they invest in the ‘best’ businesses, but that simply isn’t true.

 The longer we take to close employment gender gaps, and to close the gaps for women entrepreneurs, the longer that trillions of dollars are left at stake as well. If you want to support startups with the best potential and help build a healthier economy and business landscape, invest your money into organizations like Doyenne that are growing the pipeline of women entrepreneurs.

 As Amy Gannon, Doyenne co-founder and director of Entrepreneur Development states, “Entrepreneurs don’t fall out of the sky. They need an ecosystem to identify and develop them.”

I’m a proud member, sponsor, and partner of Doyenne because they are doing meaningful work in shifting the entrepreneurial ecosystem both in Madison, and inspiring change in other cities. join Doyenne as a member or as a community ambassador. While only women can become Doyenne members, persons of any gender can be a community ambassador for Doyenne.

Your company can donate to support programming, education, and the Evergreen Fund. Doyenne is also launching an exciting crowdfunding campaign coming soon on the iFundWomen platform, which is a great opportunity to support Doyenne either as an individual or as a company!

You can sign up for email updates on this page to be notified when the campaign launches. You’ll want to because, trust me, it’s going to be epic!

Monona East Side Business Alliance

A chamber of commerce is an unlikely place to see programming to support the development of young women professionals. The niche for mentoring of female entrepreneurs is met by Doyenne; however, the need for mentoring young, female employees who are transitioning into the workplace from college or adjusting to balancing a career and family exists. This need was not being met in the greater Madison area, so the Monona East Side Business Alliance (MESBA) is answering the call with their pilot program, Women’s Peer Mentors.

MESBA executive director, Kristie Schilling, explains, “I've employed numerous young women throughout my career and have watched them struggle with the transition of moving from the college to professional workplace ecosystem. The moment this idea came about, I was standing in front of my board of directors and noticed the impressive slate of female leaders sitting at the table. I thought about how we have access to women who've owned businesses from 5-25 years and about the support and insight they could provide to younger women in our professional community. So far we have six of those amazing women who have signed on to serve as peer mentors; to have access to all of them in one room for a period of five months is an awesome opportunity for the young woman who will participate in the program!”

Women’s Peer Mentors is geared toward young, professional females ages 22-40. The program will offer an opportunity for women to share their experiences regarding professional development and work life flow, while being guided by certified trainers who will lead the program. It’s designed for employers who want to invest in the future leaders in their organizations. Strategic Partners Marketing is proud to sponsor this program because we know that it’s important to provide resources to women in all types of industries and in all stages of their career.

To learn more, to register, or sponsor this program, visit the MESBA site here.

Vital Voices

Vital Voices is an international organization working to change the landscape for women leaders globally. They do this by identifying emerging women leaders from around the globe, and they partner with them to make their visions into a reality through long-term investment that expand their skills, connections, and visibility.

This year, I was honored to be selected to join the international cohort as one of 43 women business owners from around the world, the first ever to be included from the United States, as a part of the Vital Voices signature business accelerator program, VV GROW. VV GROW partners with women leaders across the globe who use business growth as a means to improve their community and world.

 The global network expands women’s access to markets and knowledge. VV GROW works with women leaders driven to build their influence beyond the business community, making societal change possible.

 Research from the World Bank, Ernst & Young and other institutions indicates that the real drivers of the global economy are women. As business leaders, employees, consumers, and entrepreneurs, women are accelerating economic growth and improving conditions in their communities. Despite the proven benefits of women’s economic engagement, women business owners face disproportionate barriers in growing their businesses: they have difficulty accessing business networks, technology, training, financing, markets, and in many parts of the world, equal protection under the law.

Vital Voices addresses these barriers through their signature SME accelerator fellowship, the VV GROW Fellowship, a highly-competitive leading global accelerator for women entrepreneurs and business leaders of small and medium businesses. The program includes customized business skills training, leadership development, technical assistance, and access to networks to grow businesses and increase participants’ leadership impact. Through in-person training, fellows focus on strategy and long-term business value paired with action-oriented plans. They amplify their role as leaders in their businesses and their communities to create jobs, stimulate long-term economic growth and produce wider social benefits.

Fellows spend a full year engaging in training that examines all sides of their business to help fellows grow in leadership, build strategic networks, examine the current state of their business, and assess growth opportunities.

The impact is massive, and I’m floored by the women I’m meeting on this journey. Learn about some of those stories, here.

What can you do to support the efforts to change the global landscape for women? You can donate as an individual, a company, and can even support Vital Voice’s’ work while shopping on Amazon. Learn more about how to donate here.

So, Why Should I (or any woman) be nominated for a Professional Women’s Award?

The ecosystem is changing, but we still have a long way to go. Sexism is being called out, but there are still many voices remaining to be heard and actions to change. Organizations like Doyenne are stepping up to ensure equitable access to funds, but there are still many dollars to be raised and fairly granted to women-led startups.

Unknown biases are being explored, but there are still many left uncovered.

I, like many women, have built companies, and have contributed to our communities, while society still has a long way to go, while actions remain to be changed, while dollars still need to be raised and made accessible to women led businesses; while biases still prevail.

That is why there are awards for women. That is why it’s not sexist against men.

By becoming informed, I’m empowered in how to respond to questions like, “Why are there even awards anymore for women in business?” I invite you to join me on this learning journey.

Let's start a conversation: Where do you think we’ve made great strides in changing the entrepreneurial ecosystem? Where do we have the most work yet to do?