8 ways companies are celebrating Women's Equality Day

Women’s Equality Day is observed on August 26th in the U.S., how is your company planning to celebrate (or has past celebrated) this national observance?

To help your company best celebrate Women’s Equality Day, we asked CHROs and business leaders this question for their best ideas and plans. From supporting organizations that uplift women to holding a panel discussion featuring accomplished women, there are several ways companies have planned to celebrate Women’s Equality Day to promote and support the cause of achieving equality for women in the workplace and society at large.

Here are eight ways companies are celebrating Women’s Equality Day:

Support Organizations That Uplift Women
Build a Space That Supports Women in the Workplace
Commit to Equal Pay Policies and Promote Females into Management
Spread the Word On Social Media
Hold Virtual Sessions to Share Women-Empowering Stories
Invite Female Speakers to Engage With Employees
Launch a Mentorship Program for Women
Hold a Panel Discussion Featuring Accomplished Women

Support Organizations That Uplift Women

Women’s Equality Day is an important day to give back and find ways to support women on their path to financial freedom. We will commemorate the day by not only acknowledging all of the hard-working women at our company, but we will do our part in helping to lift women all over the world through awareness and charitable contributions. We are big believers in charitable work, such as donating to outstanding organizations that have goals to provide supplies, education, and opportunities for women to grow professionally. It is essential to acknowledge these holidays as a company. We want to celebrate how far we have come and use our position to uplift others so they can achieve their dreams.

Ann McFerran, Glamnetic

Build a Space That Supports Women in the Workplace

Give the women at your workplace more opportunities to speak up in honor of Women’s Equality Day. Use the occasion as a good reason to overhaul your feedback and remove the social stigmas women can experience around expressing themselves honestly in the workplace. Set up a complaint box for sexual and gender harassment, set up a suggestion box, and send out a survey to your team asking how you can best improve women’s job satisfaction, emotional safety, and professional security. Then, actually take your team’s advice and make proactive moves to build a more supportive space for women.

Marina Vaamonde, HouseCashin

Commit to Equal Pay Policies and Promote Females into Management

Women’s Equality Day should be celebrated by showing a genuine commitment to the cause, and that means ensuring your company’s behaviors align with your cultural values regarding women’s rights. Assess salaries company-wide and ensure women are being paid the same as male employees in similar roles. If you don’t already have one in place, launch an equal pay policy and meet with every employee to assess their salary expectations 1:1.

While equal pay is crucial, women should also share equal power in your workplace – set a goal to increase female representation in senior positions by 10% in the next year. Create job listings that use gender-neutral language, decrease bias through training and hiring score sheets, and track your DE&I numbers regularly. Then, revisit and reassess your goals next Women’s Equality Day to push the initiative even further.

Ruben Gamez, SignWell

Spread the Word On Social Media

Our company will be celebrating women on Women’s Equality Day by spreading the word on social media. We have several posts and infographics ready to spread awareness across all of our major social media platforms. By shouting out proud and loud on social media the day of, we are getting the word out there to all of our followers. Many people still do not know about Women’s Equality Day and through our posts we will bring more awareness for certain.

Gigi Ji, KOKOLU

Hold Virtual Sessions to Share Women-Empowering Stories

One of the ways my company celebrates Women’s Equality Day is by organizing a virtual session of inspiring stories about women. Employees know about the event in advance. So, we have time to prepare compelling, heartwarming, and motivational stories of women who impacted our lives. We can share stories of powerful females we have met but also of artists, historical figures, and more. Women’s Equality Day is about women’s appreciation, commemorating their achievements, and noticing their everyday battles in life. And that’s what we do. The main aim of the session is to celebrate women’s empowerment and get inspired.

Agata Szczepanek, Resume Now

Invite Female Speakers to Engage With Employees

As a woman-founded, Black-owned company, we model and embody strong, capable women every day. To celebrate the holiday though we mark it as one of education and our never-ending strive for equality in the workplace and beyond. We invite compelling women speakers to engage our talent. We survey the women in our company to find out how they’re feeling about equality in our workplace and put that feedback into action. I also provide voter registration cards for everyone to celebrate Suffragette’s success the week before. It’s not enough to just observe Women’s Equality Day, you have to educate and further the cause of equality that and every day.

Raina Kumra, Spicewell

Launch a Mentorship Program for Women

Show your company’s commitment to supporting women this Women’s Equality Day and make a tangible effort in bridging the gap of gender inequality in corporate America. Dedicate August 26th for letting female employees connect with higher-ups in the company to discuss their career goals and opportunities. Give them a platform to build their network professionally. Statistics show that women comprise only 5% of CEO posts in Fortune 500 companies. This speaks a lot about the wide gender gap when it comes to career advantage. A mentorship program offers a stepping stone for women to boost their professional advantages.

Jim Campbell, Epic Carribean

Hold a Panel Discussion Featuring Accomplished Women

My company celebrates Women’s Equality Day every year with a special event. This year, we are planning to have a panel discussion featuring some of the most accomplished women in the legal industry. We want to create a space where these women can share their stories and provide advice to other women who are looking to advance in their careers. The panel will also mention the accomplishments of women in shaping the law as we see it today. By bringing up the many contributions of women, we want to instill a sense of pride in them and acknowledge their integral part in our society.
We believe that this will be a powerful way to celebrate Women’s Equality Day and help promote gender equality in our law firm.

Marc J. Shuman, Shuman Legal

8 ways companies are celebrating Women’s Equality Day