How to celebrate IWD? Don’t bother.
If you’re reading this and you’ve already broken your New Year's resolution then we bet that International Women’s Day is only a matter of weeks away. If you’re just Googling how to celebrate International Women’s Day now, we think it’s about time to take a different approach.
If getting rid of cupcakes from your life was already on your list of New Years resolutions then we’re hoping this article will give you more than one reason to kick them to the curb this IWD. Here’s our guide on how to celebrate IWD in way that could actually lead to some change.
Each year without failure, this day sets off a chain reaction of sugar-covered corporate posts on social media that attempt to signal that the senior leadership team has ticked the box for another year. Honestly, if what to do for International Women’s Day can be answered by your local bakery then what’s our chance of changing the culture around internalised misogyny?
We think it’s about time to call companies out for sugar coating the struggles of females in the workplace. Despite how many alarming statistics we post each year, there’s often no mention of them by the time you start to see Easter chocolate in your local supermarket.
As we always say, Fck The Cupcakes is about less icing and more action, so rather than labouring on about cupcakes that say YTG or International Women’s Slay, let’s actually do something about it. Besides, who said you can’t have fun without cupcakes. It’s time to celebrate this International Women’s Day properly with some IWD Bingo.
While ticking off the above might seem a bit depressing to start with, each square unlocks an opportunity to make a real change. See below for what can be done to change the culture of IWD.
Happy International Women’s Day
1. Ticked off that someone just said ‘Happy International Women’s Day’ to you with the same sarcasm that’s usually reserved for saying ‘Happy Monday’?
What to do about it
Ask them what they think your company could be doing the rest of the year to support women. If they struggle to think of anything, suggest they check out the Global Gender Gap Report and get back to you.
International Women’s Day Quotes
2. Ticked off that your senior leaders are saying typical International Women’s Day quotes in a presentation without any meaning behind it?
What to do about it
Message the person who made the presentation to encourage them to share with the company some tangible actions of the person they’ve quoted. You can also ask them to suggest what else the company could be doing year round to support women at work.
Women organising International Women’s Day events
3. Ticked off that it’s just women who are organising any International Women’s Day events at your company?
What to do about it
Ask your senior leadership team whether there are any male colleagues that they would recommend to get involved in the planning process.
History of International Women’s Day
4. Ticked off that your company fails to mention anything about the history of International Women’s Day?
What to do about it
Send a link to your senior leadership team to encourage them to educate the company on where this day came from. An example they could share could be the original strike of NYC garment workers who wanted better pay, conditions and voting rights.
Pink Merch for IWD
5. Ticked off that your company has spent money on performative pink merch for IWD rather than investing in women’s organisations?
What to do about it
Look up a range of organisations that you could send to the senior leadership team for your company to support.
When is International Women’s Day
6. Ticked off that someone in your company asks when is International Women’s Day in the days leading up to it.
What to do about it
Just send him this article and say thanks for helping me with my IWD bingo :)
Gender diversity in the workplace
7. Ticked off your company doesn’t mention their stats around gender diversity in the workplace.
What to do about it
Send your senior leadership team an email to ask them to disclose their stats to the company, educate the company on the characteristics of gender diversity, the Australian gender pay gap and see whether they have any proposed actions on how they could address equal opportunities in the workplace.
Men declining invitations to IWD events
8. Ticked off that some male colleagues have already declined invitations to IWD events.
What to do about it
Don’t worry, we’ve got this one, check out our previous campaigns.
Cupcakes for International Women’s Day
9. Your company orders cupcakes for International Women’s Day
What to do about it
Thought we’d give you this one as a freebie because if you’ve done all of the above, you’ve worked hard enough.
If you’ve made it this far into the article, we’re proud of you. If you’re a woman and reading this, we know we’ve asked you to do a lot and the last thing we’d want you to do is more unpaid labour than what women are already subjected to.
We’d recommend sending this article to a male ally in your office to help out with.
If you and your ally have ticked all these off this year then DM @fckthecupcakes on on Instagram and we can contact your company anonymously.
Unlike New Year's resolutions, making a commitment to support the women in your workplace is something that is actually possible to stick to all year round, we’re hoping your bingo efforts lead to a change in your organisation. If it doesn’t help then contact us at contact@fckthecupcakes.com and we’d be more than happy to have a word with them.
In the meantime, you can check out what our founder has to say on the matter, and what else we’ve been up to through our initiatives and Show Up for IWD pages.
For more information please contact contact@fckthecupcakes.com