What's the point of International Women's Day if nothing changes?

It's been a rough week for women in Britain. Ironic, given the week started with the annual 'celebration' of over half the population, International Women's Day.

It has felt like a strange year to be celebrating March 8. The COVID19 pandemic has disrupted all our lives, but the impact on women has been especially devastating. We know that over the last year, home schooling and caring responsibilities have disproportionately landed with women. We know that women were more likely than men to lose work (a trend that certainly rings true in my life), and we also know that the government policies ignored gender issues, running the risk of 'turning the clock back', as stated by the Commons women and inequalities committee.

If there weren't enough to make you question the point of a celebratory tone, this year's IWD was overshadowed by the gendered and racialised press treatment of the former Royal, Meghan Markle, following the Oprah interview she did with her husband. Meghan spoke of her treatment at the hands of the 'firm' (the nickname for the institution behind the monarchy), her struggle with mental health during her years at the Palace (including suicidal ideation) and the racism that made it very clear that her offspring were considered second class citizens in a family obsessed with whiteness. The response that followed from media barons and the royals themselves was both expected, and bordered on the bizarre. 'We're not racist', said the Prince of a former empire famed for colonial cruelty and for creating the legal framework of race so that they could own Black people for free.

While much of the public conversation spoke to the racialised treatment of Meghan, her experience is also undeniably gendered. We see it in the tropes used, the framing of her actions, and the hypocrisy of the firm leaving her out to dry while her brother-in-law Prince Andrew remains mired in allegations due to his close ties to the late sex-trafficker, Jeffery Epstein.

But that wasn't all this week had in store for women. Last week, we had begun to hear about the disappearance of Sarah Everard, a women who went missing on her walk home in South London. Our stomachs in knots, we collectively prayed for her safe recovery, only to have our hopes devastatingly dashed when earlier this week, human remains were found in Kent. Soon, a Metropolitan Police officer was arrested on suspicion of Sarah's murder. I cannot imagine the experience for Sarah's family and friends, and my thoughts and prayers are with them all.

Social media has been awash with collective grief, and hundreds of thousands of women sharing their own stories of feeling unsafe on their own streets. The tragedy of Sarah's case cannot be understated. As also sadly noted by many, a woman's death at the hands of a man is not a rare occurrence. In England, a man kills a woman every three days. Twice as many men murdered women during the the UK's lock-down last year. Gendered violence and the support the victims are afforded is also exacerbated by race, class, disability, religion and other intersections of marginalisation. Only last year, Met police officers took selfies with the bodies of two Black women, Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman, who were stabbed to death in a North London park. The photos were shared in a private WhatsApp group.

Let us not also forget the U.N. Women U.K. report that came out this week, showing 97% of women aged 18-24 in the U.K. said they had been sexually harassed. 80% of women of all ages in the country said they had experienced sexual harassment in public space.

So, in light of all this news, you can excuse me from wanting to 'celebrate' too much.

The reality is that for me, International Women's Day is an opportunity to ask one important question: what have I done in the last year that has moved the needle for women?

I want to see action. I want to see each and every one of us doing our part. If you can't think of a single thing that you have done in the last year that has moved the needle for women, then you should question what you are doing with your privilege. Yes, perhaps my tone is harsh, but the world is killing us. And often, we don't get a vigil. We barely get a police inquiry.

My challenge to you, as my time as a 2020 LinkedIn Changemaker wraps up, is to ask you to commit to doing something that will move the needle for women. It can be:

• Campaigning for a domestic violence leave policy at your company, if it isn't already available. This should be separate to annual leave, sick leave and bereavement leave.
• Ensuring that there are adequate maternity and paternity policies at your organisation. Pregnancy discrimination is a real thing. Are you not hiring someone because you think they might get pregnant, or hiring them back at reduced hours/responsibility without asking what they actually want? Make sure you're not part of the problem.
• Setting up a monthly donation to a local women's organisation, like Southall Black Sisters. Often when women try to leave unsafe situations, there isn't a safe place for them to go. Your support can help move the needle on that.

These are just some policy examples, but there are so many different things you can do. Just pick one. Pick something you can commit to, and do it. Gender inequality is preventable. And this time next year, I will log onto LinkedIn and ask you - what did you do in the last year to move the needle for women?

I hope we all have good answers.

This article was written as part of the LinkedIn #Changemakers partnership – a 12-month campaign shining a spotlight on individuals who are using LinkedIn to drive genuine change in the world of work. To find out more about the partnership, read more here: https://blog.linkedin.com/2020/may/10/follow-the-changemakers-driving-change-in-the-world-of-work