International Women's Day 2016

This type of post is a little bit off-topic for me, but I am hoping to start posting more "personal" and culturally relevant-type things, so I hope you enjoy it! Today is International Women's Day; this year's campaign theme is #PledgeForParity, which I think is so important, so I just wanted to share a little bit about what that means - and what we can do to support the campaign.
Did you know that whilst the World Economic Forum predicted in 2014 that it would take until 2095 to achieve gender parity globally, just one year later in 2015 that prediction had slipped back to 2133? The rate of progress is actually slowing down - as if it wasn't slow enough! That's more than another hundred years before men and women around the world are treated equally. Both men and women agree that female leadership in business leads to stronger companies; many men are simply unaware of the often unconscious bias in their workplace that may be holding women back. This is one thing that #IWD2016 hopes to address, by challenging both conscious and unconscious gender bias.
International Women's Day is also a celebration, with events being held across the world to celebrate women's achievements; you can see what's going on near you here. Here in Lancaster, we've got female speakers including Chris Condor, MBE, speaking about her work with B4RN (Broadband for the Rural North), as well as showings of films by female filmmakers in the library.
I have to admit to being a little uncomfortable with the strong emphasis that International Women's Day places on traditional binary genders, but I do think that working to achieve a world where someone's gender isn't even a consideration is really important. You can find out more about International Women's Day here, and make your pledge here if you want to get involved! Is IWD something you're interested in? What does it mean to you? Is it something you've been aware of? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

xo