6 Ways to Celebrate Women’s History Month in Your Workplace
March is Women’s History Month, and March 8, 2023 is International Women’s Day, both times to celebrate women’s contributions to history and the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. Observing these occasions can be an important part of any employer’s diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.
Here are 6 ways to recognize and celebrate Women’s History Month in your workplace:
1. Educational Initiatives
Have a lunch and learn and/or bring in speakers to highlight amazing women (the women in your workplace and throughout the world) and to discuss current issues affecting women. In particular, you may want to address gender issues in the workplace and your organization’s efforts to make the workplace more inclusive. You can couple this with more formal anti-harassment training and unconscious bias training.
2. Hold a Networking Event
A networking event can be a great way to help women connect with each other and build relationships. Depending on your workplace culture, the event can include structured activities such as icebreakers and group discussions or informal socializing. Consider coupling networking with a mentorship program in which senior employees are paired with more with junior employees who can benefit from their experience and guidance.
3. Support Women-Owned Businesses
The Company can do this, for example, by ordering meals, drinks, or desserts from women-owned eateries and circulating a list of local women-owned businesses that your employees can patronize.
4. Contribute to Women’s Issues in the Community
This can be done by organizing volunteer outings and/or making charitable contributions to organizations that focus on the needs of women and girls. For example, look for charitable organizations that offer emotional and practical support to women affected by domestic violence and/or work on protecting the rights of, and providing education and basic necessities to, underprivileged girls.
5. Have Some Fun
Fun ways to celebrate Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day may include decorating the office, photographing the women in your office and making a celebratory post on social media and/or having an office party celebrating women.
6. Evaluate Internal Policies & Procedures
Perhaps most importantly, employers should take this opportunity to evaluate whether they can do a better job in increasing their workplace DEI, particularly focusing on the systems and processes around hiring, promotion, evaluation, training and compensation.