They called for free child-care, equal employment and education, and reproductive rights. Rep. Bella Abzug was one of the women who marched for these demands. The following year, Abzug pioneered the bill to introduce Women’s Equality Day.
Women’s Equality Day is more than just a celebration of the 19th Amendment, it also brings awareness to society’s continuing efforts toward equality. We asked Holly Shoemaker-Creative Director, Jess Tedrick- Copywriter, and Harini Chakravarthy- Data Scientist, to chat with us about equality.
Equality in the workplace for me, means acceptance of our differences. As humans, we are all unique, we have unique backgrounds, unique stories to tell. Not one person is the same -- so as individuals, we all need to give each other similar opportunities but also take the time to understand our differences. It is those differences that a company truly wants. This allows for a more well-rounded company with unique perspectives.
I agree that equality is about celebrating what each individual can bring to the table, no matter their gender. I’d also say that for equality to happen, there are some measures companies can take to ensure that women are on an equal playing field. Most companies now have facilities on-site for nursing mothers and on-site childcare is even becoming a more common perk. We are getting there!
Equality in the workplace for me means giving everyone a fair chance, fair treatment, and a fair assessment of everyone regardless of gender, age, faith, sexual orientation, fact that one has children or not. For example, many times we see that if someone has young children at home, they are automatically not given much responsibility as they are dismissed as having less focus/less efficiency in the workplace. Simply because someone is a woman, does not need to have anything to do with their technical knowledge or ability to work in a very technical role.
As women, we need to first be accountable for our own actions and take a very close look at how we show up EVERY DAY. How can we change our actions and be role models to others around us, inspiring others to act in similar ways.
Speaking up when we see something that needs to be addressed and ensuring that we are supporting the women in our communities ourselves, first and foremost.
As women, we can show that we can perform as good if not better than anyone else, by setting an example of being very efficient, productive at workplace and be willing to take the responsibility and complete it, if that is our interest/passion. We need not be brainwashed by society's opinions/norms that have been followed for ages or doubt our ability to do anything that we think we can.
Let us hold each other up. Celebrate our wins, learn from our losses and failures but not only learn, but TEACH others how we overcame or the knowledge we gained. When we see someone struggling, take the time to listen first, understand their perceptions before we ACT. These things allow us to be more empathetic leaders.
Using our voices, leading by example, and doing what we can to ensure that the women around us have a seat at the table. I think sometimes it takes courage to be the one to say “something isn’t right about this” and to bring attention to an issue, especially in a male dominated workplace or industry.
We can support women around us by having a fair treatment and appraisal of fellow women on the team. We can also share difficulties we faced in the past and how we overcame those, to help others who may be going through something similar, such as being a parent and trying to juggle responsibility or being an older individual in the team and returning to work after a break.
