Women's Equality Day

On this day, we mark 100 years since the 19th Amendment of the US Constitution was adopted. 100 years ago, women and men in this country who fought long and hard finally achieved the right to vote. The work that they did to secure our right to vote took decades... not days or weeks. It was 52 years later, in 1972, that President Nixon declared August 26th Women's Equality Day.

As a woman in business, I know that my place in corporate America couldn't have been achieved were it not for the incredible women who worked tirelessly to fight for Women's rights. I also know that our work is far from finished.

Below are some questions and thoughts to consider regarding my experiences. I hope they convey to you the work that still needs to be done to get us closer to true equality.

• When was the first time you can remember being cat-called or spoken to sexually while walking? For me, I distinctly remember being about 8 when a man yelled something crude my way while I was walking in our neighborhood. I was walking with my brothers and none of us had any idea how to respond. This is a daily occurrence for many women in this country.
• In a business meeting, have you ever been asked what your spouse does for work? I get asked this question nearly every time I'm speaking with a franchise prospect as if my spouse is the one with a "real job".
• Have you ever altered your timing on having a child because you knew it would negatively impact your career? Women in this country still don't have mandated parental leave. When I had my daughter, I had to use FMLA to take time off and when that ended, I took unpaid short-term disability in order to stay home with my daughter for a full 12 weeks. We actually had to save up money in the months leading up to her birth so that I could stay home with her and still cover our expenses. My wife had to go back to work a week after our daughter was born.
• Have you ever experienced sexual harassment at work and had to decide whether to say something? Many women, myself included, have experienced this and then have to decide if it's worth actually bringing forward. Will it impact my career if I do? Will anything actually be done? Is this person known for this behavior and is it widely accepted? Will I become a pariah? Am I overreacting?
• Have you ever discovered that a co-worked of the opposite sex made more money than you for the exact same position? Women still only earn $0.81 for every $1.00 that men earn. When you calculate that over an entire career, it means women have to work longer and retire later in order to catch-up to their men co-workers.
• Has your country ever passed laws regarding choices you can make about your body? Everything from contraception to abortion to basic medical rights, this country continues to fight our right to choose what we do with our body. Even things like school dress codes and behavior codes are directed at women more than men.
• Have you ever been told to smile more? This one irks me like no other. There was a time in my career that my boss told me I only got a "meets expectations" in one section of my review because I really need to work on smiling more. He told me my co-workers found me intimidating and worried I didn't like them because in meetings I rarely smiled. I remember walking out of that meeting and actually thinking about how I could do better! Then, I shared that story years later with one of my male colleagues and he was shocked. It was only then that I realized how incredibly ludicrous that feedback was!
• Have you ever walked into a meeting, conference, workplace to find you are the only person of your gender? Being a woman in franchising I have to say that for years, I was the only, or one of very few, woman in the room. I have frequently been the only woman in a director's meeting and the only woman on a leadership team. Women make up 51% of the population and yet, offices, leadership teams, boards, and our congress have yet to represent that.

I'm not sure why women's equality is so controversial. The McKinsey Global Institute estimates that $28 Trillion would be added to the global GDP if we achieved full gender equality by 2025. I'm not sure about you, but that sounds pretty great to me.

On this day, I will wear purple in solidarity. On this day, I will remember those who came before me and continue the work that still needs to be done. On this day, I will do my best to pave an even clearer and easier path for my daughter and yours. On this day, I celebrate women everywhere. I hope you will too.