International Women’s Day on the 8th March? I’m not the biggest supporter. Whilst any celebrating women is always a positive step, I often find this day very overhyped. Many businesses hold one-off events claiming to celebrate women, only to return to business as usual for the other 364 days of the year. Why is that? It feels like a quick bandwagon moment–showing off their commitment to equality, only for it to be forgotten until the next International Women’s Day.
In contrast, we celebrate the British Pie for an entire week (March 3rd to 9th). Imagine if we had a whole week to highlight women’s achievements globally–we might be more advanced in our equity progress than we currently are.
In the UK, the percentage of women in leadership roles dropped from _37.8% in 2022 to 37.1% in 2024_*. In 2024, nearly _20% of UK companies were founded by women_*, which is a positive trend. However, this rise is often due to women seeking independence and flexibility around childcare–a responsibility that still predominantly falls on women in the workplace.
We need to address the lack of a pipeline for women in leadership roles to create a more balanced work culture. The progress we’ve made is fragile, especially for women of colour and in many sectors such as finance, engineering and law where the advancements are less extensive than they appear on the surface.
So, while there are both positive and negative statistics, we still live in a patriarchal world, where women need “a wife” at home instead of also being “the wife”.
Every day of 2025, we must continue pushing the narrative forward for parity at every level of society for women and young girls.
Perhaps progress might happen quicker if we eat a pie as we go… Steak and misogyny, anyone?
*Stats sources: LinkedIn, ONS
Photo Credit: Ray Farley