International Women’s Day (IWD) has occurred for over a century, the first IWD gathering was in 1911. The global day is spent celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. There isn’t an organisation, government, academic institution or women’s network that is responsible for IWD. It is collective day of global celebration and a call for gender equality.
The history of IWD stems from 1908 when women’s oppression and inequality was spurring women to become more active and vocal about their rights and campaigning for change. In 1909, the first National Women’s Day was observed across the United States on February 28th and continued to be celebrated annually until 1913. In 1910 a second international conference was held in Copenhagen. The leader of the women’s office for the social democratic party in Germany, Clara Zetkin, announced the idea of an International Women’s Day. Her announcement proposed the idea that ever year in every country there should be a celebration of women on the same day. The conference that was made up of 100 women from 17 countries including the first three women elected to the Finnish parliament, approved of Zetkins proposal and International Women’s Day was created as the result.
International Women’s Day was first held on March 19th, 1911 and was honoured by Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland. Over one million men and women attended IWD rallies campaigning for women’s rights to work, vote, be trained and to end discrimination. However due to the tragic triangle fire that happened in New York on March 25th the United States lost its focus of IWD. In a later discussion in 1913, it was decided that IWD will be held on the 8th March and the date has stuck ever since.
This year’s theme
Each year International Women’s Day has a new theme and for 2019, it is #BalanceforBetter. The #BalanceforBetter campaign is to make everyone aware that the world is entering an exciting period of history where the world expects balance. It is a chance to notice the absence of balance and celebrate its presence.
The campaign is to highlight that balance isn’t a women’s issue, it’s a business issue. Gender balance is essential for economies and communities to thrive and should be found in all levels of a business. There should be a balance of gender across all aspects of a business and the world, for example, the boardroom, government, employees and media coverage.
Putting your hands out to strike the #BalanceforBetter pose is something we can all do to show our support for International Women’s Day. Striking the hands out pose is a strong call of action for others to be encouraged to make a difference for women everywhere in the world and forge a #BalanceforBetter.
How Women in Tech creates #BalanceforBetter
Promoting female jobs
Women in tech is a site dedicated to closing the gender gap and creating opportunities for women to enter the tech industry. We work with companies that want to hire more women within their organisations throughout the tech sector. By using the search option on our site, you can look and apply for any IT related job. Promoting female jobs is just one part of our site that is used to encourage women into the technology industry as we are committed to helping women find careers in an industry that is deemed as male dominated.
Helping employers promote their diverse activities
Women in tech also have a section where employers can feature on the site who are looking to hire more women IT professionals. They each provide a summary about themselves and why working with them will be beneficial to those looking to apply. Being exposed on Women in Tech is a feature that benefits these employers as it doesn’t just show their commitment to repairing the imbalance in tech, but it provides evidence of how their changing their company culture to become more inclusive for women. Employer profile pages also helps to create brand awareness as their page doesn’t just feature on the Women in Tech site, but it is also shared over our social channels.
Events
Women in Tech also provide companies with the opportunity to advertise their events on the site. All the events that feature on the site are to encourage and support women into tech to help fill skills gaps and create a gender balance. This gives employers another chance to build brand awareness and reach out to women through our site.
Awards
Women in Tech Employer Awards is a recent feature added to our site. The awards were designed to give recognition to employers that are going above and beyond to help close the gender gap and providing a balance within their company in the IT sector. Anyone can nominate and you can nominate the company you work for or another company that you feel deserves recognition for their hard work. The nominations for the Women in Tech Employer Awards 2019 are now open and will close on the 26th April!
Content
A variety of content is created and posted on Women in Tech to provide women and employers with advice. The articles vary from advising women on how to get started in the technology sector, giving employers advice on closing the gender gap in tech and creating a balance that will benefit organisations.
Lastly, Women in Techs sister site Diversity in Tech has launched to give career advice and help those who are underrepresented in the tech industry find careers. The site is similar to Women in Tech but aims to support and build a balance for tech companies who are looking to increase their diverse teams.