When women succeed, we all succeed

International Women’s Day, annually held on the 8th March, is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women, but the day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity. At Bayer, we have the privilege to co-lead our global Business Resource Group GROW which stands for Growing Representation and Opportunities for Women. In these roles, we would like to use the platform of our CEO to celebrate IWD 2021.

"Our families, our communities, and our companies are better when diversity wins"

Shannon Hauf – PhD, Senior Vice President and Head of Seed Production Innovation, Bayer Crop Science

I am a mom, scientist, leader, farmer and fierce advocate for youth, women, agriculture, science, and the environment. Today we celebrate International Women’s Day where we recognize the many efforts of women around the world and show young girls what is possible. 

We celebrate women persevering around the world. Women have more influence in policy and government than ever before. Women hold more CEO chairs than ever before. Women are being recognized for their contributions and achievements to science more than ever before. Women represent more contributions to feeding a hungry world than ever before. And, women are celebrating more achievements in athletics than ever before. The journey continues, we celebrate, we are farther than we have ever been. 

It is Bayer’s commitment that our future leadership teams have fair and equal representation of gender, and that by 2030, half of our leaders at all levels of leadership will be women. I will never, ever give up on achieving this goal, and you shouldn’t either. When women succeed, we all succeed. Our families, our communities, and our companies are better when diversity wins. 

"Strong Women – May we know them. May we raise them. May we be them"

Sarajeni Hammond – Senior Director Human Resources Enabling, Bayer

I owe a lot of who I am to my mother. She was a scientist who spent a thirty-year career at Washington University in cancer research. With my mother as a role model, it’s no surprise that I ended up working in a Life Science company myself. 

Inside and outside of Bayer, I hear the stories of amazing women. By sharing the experiences these role models have gained on their personal journeys, thousands of women get to benefit from the kind of inspiration and guidance that I was blessed enough to grow up with daily.

We also know, seeing is believing. When you see someone that is like you achieve a goal, it becomes much easier to believe that the same successful path is possible for you.

I choose to challenge on this International Women’s Day in honor of my twelve-year-old twin daughters who are strong, confident, unapologetic and brave (all traits they both have in spades, much to my occasional exasperation)!

The need for visible female role models is critical

Every woman’s and girl’s path is different, but the need for visible female role models across all industries and career paths is critical to inspire the ambitions of young women on the road to gender equality. I am thrilled that Bayer chose to challenge, sharing last month that we aim for gender parity at each level of management by 2030. One of my mother's favorite quotes which still resonates strongly with me is “Strong Women – May we know them. May we raise them. May we be them”.

To celebrate women in a meaningful way on this International Women’s Day, like this post and then share your personal commitment to challenging inequality by taking part in today’s social media campaign. Take a photo of yourself raising your hand high and post it using #ChooseToChallenge and #IWD2021.