What is International Women's Day?
What is International Women's Day?On the 8th March every year International Women's Day is celebrated globally. It is a day dedicated to recognising the achievements of women past and present as well as using it as an opportunity to call for action to establish gender equality in all aspects of life.
The first celebration of IWD was in 1911 but it was only recognised by the United Nations in 1975. This year's IWD campaign theme is #BalanceforBetter and is "a call-to-action for driving gender balance across the world."
IWD and Money to the Masses
I started working for Money to the Masses in January this year and I'm not their first female employee. Money to the Masses has helped mums return to work while fitting around their desired work-life balance. Money to the Masses has also recruited mums via Successful Mums, a fantastic initiative.
I have always seen finance as a male-dominated sector and I did not imagine myself having a career within it.
It is a shame to think I had this perception but perhaps it is not surprising. Innovate Finance's annual report found "Female founders make up just 17% of Fintech companies and Women receive only three percent of VC FinTech funding"
I think it is important to encourage girls and women to want to work within male-dominated sectors such as finance and technology as different genders bring different personalities and opinions, as well as varied interpretations of the work and ideas. Ideally International Women's Day should be every day and hopefully generations in years to come will look back and struggle to understand what it was like to live in a world with inequality.
Here's to a future of acceptance, diversity and equality!
