International Women’s Day 2023 | What Top Organizations Are Doing to Celebrate

International Women’s Day, celebrated on March 8, is a global day of recognition honoring the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women.

This year’s IWD theme, Embrace Equity, calls on us to acknowledge that as a society, equity is a necessity and something we need to think about, focus on and value. Not everyone starts from the same place—women often face barriers that limit their opportunities or their ability to fully contribute their skills and talents. We can help to remove these barriers, though, by challenging gender stereotypes, calling out discrimination and bias, encouraging others to participate, and acting as role models for inclusion. Together, when we embrace equity, we help ensure everyone has fair access to opportunities and the support needed to grow and succeed.

Here at Linkage, a SHRM company, we are committed to our mission of advancing women and accelerating inclusion in leaders, and creating gender equity in organizations globally. And, we are proud to partner and work with amazing organizations that are making women’s advancement and gender equity a priority.

In honor of International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month, several of these organizations have planned special activities and events. These initiatives provide opportunities for discussion around critical topics—and enable our leaders, teams and organizations to envision not only what’s next but what’s possible on the path to achieving gender equity. From executive panels to high-profile guest speakers, read on for an insider’s look at some of the exciting programming underway at Allegis Global Solutions, American Family, Constellation Brands, Corning, NFI, and Oracle, among others.

ALLEGIS GLOBAL SOLUTIONS 

Allegis Global Solutions’ women’s ERG, Elevate, prepared a very strategic plan for this year’s International Women’s Day. Elevate’s leadership committee is comprised of women from diverse backgrounds and organizational units at Allegis Global Solutions. They each offer a unique perspective and continuously empower their ERG members to lean on the employee network to help elevate them to the next level. There are multiple events planned for the month, each one addressing different topics that are essential in helping women advance both personally and professionally, while also highlighting the immense contributions that their female employees have made both in and out of the organization.

Events on International Women’s Day include a global Embracing Equity panel, featuring Jean-Claude Fresnel Jr., CEO and Founder of Lenserf & Co., Calli Roberts, Sales Support Executive in EMEA, Ramya Krishna, Head of Supply Chain Management in APAC, Christopher Floeter, Recruitment Delivery Manager for the RDC, Aneesah Williams, Recruitment Sourcing Manager for the RDC, Nancy Goff, Senior Vice President of Global Operations, Daniela Ebler, Senior DEI Manager, and Jon De Feo, Solutions Executive in Business Development.

Elevate is running a global photo campaign, internally on Yammer and externally on social media, asking everyone to post with the Embrace Equity pose (example on right) and share how they show solidarity when embracing equity. Their newest ERG, Unite, which supports the AAPI community, is also hosting a Women’s History panel to discuss how to break barriers and embrace equity for women in the AAPI culture.

AMERICAN FAMILY 

The American Family Group fosters the support, mentorship and advancement of women within their organization and across their broader communities. They are celebrating women throughout the month with a variety of programming, starting off with the Women’s Herstory Month Opening Event. In addition to this event, other events and activities include:

• Strong Women Strong Girls Fundraiser to support gender equity
• #EmbraceEquity Social Media Campaign to spread the word on how to Embrace Equity
• Book recommendations about women’s stories
• AmFam’s signature event—with multiple on-site viewing parties—where they will hear from Sunny Hostin, Emmy Award–winning legal journalist, former federal prosecutor, New York Times best-selling author, and co-host of ABC’s The View. Sunny will share how giving voice to the voiceless and hearing others’ stories changes all of our lives.
• Inclusion through Change—interactive, hybrid session with best-selling author, diversity, equity and inclusion thought leader, and keynote speaker Jennifer Brown (she/her), who will discuss the power of the ally and the inclusive leader journey
• Enterprise Leadership Panel—powerful stories from women in the AmFam Enterprise
• Women’s Herstory Month Closing Event

Additionally, DreamBank, AFI’s inspirational community destination and digital experience, hosts a variety of free, consumer-facing programming. This year for Women’s Herstory Month, DreamBank is highlighting:

• Imagination Workshop: Your Story Matters: Women’s Writing Workshop
• March On with Lila Grant—as the second female drum major in history to lead the Spelman-Morehouse marching band, Lila will discuss the importance of representation and leadership
• FAMILY: Book Club for Kids: Women’s Herstory Month Edition
• Women’s Herstory Month—YouTube Playlist—curated presentations from fearless female “dreamers” who DreamBank has had the privilege of celebrating and learning from on its platform

CONSTELLATION BRANDS 

WISE is Constellation Brands’ Business Resource Group (BRG) for women and their allies. WISE supports Constellation’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion strategy by providing engaging and relevant programming and partnership throughout the business, and developing inclusion. Their mission is to create a culture of positive change by empowering women in every aspect of life, driving toward a future where equity is unconditional, and gender isn’t destiny.

To celebrate International Women’s Day this year, Constellation’s WISE BRG will host a flagship event exploring current themes of allyship, with comments from guest speaker Jenna Arnold, and a panel discussion featuring WISE Executive Sponsors, as well as ¡Salud! (WISE’s Hispanic/Latinx BRG). Jenna Arnold is an activist and author, writing about and speaking to the ever-evolving landscape of American identity. She is a political contributor on national news outlets, was one of the national organizers of the 2017 Women’s March, and is the author of the best-selling book Raising Our Hands.

Additionally, local WISE chapters have activities planned, including an IWD 5K, a headshot event, office get-togethers, a book club, and watch parties for the flagship event. The WISE team will also be elevating Constellation’s support of Dress for Success by encouraging members to donate to the Your Hour, Her Power initiative, which encourages people to donate the equivalent of just one hour of their pay, to give a Dress for Success client access to programs, services and tools that will help her achieve economic advancement.

CORNING 

In honor of Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day, Corning Incorporated will hold special events and activities for employees throughout their locations around the world to demonstrate how they “embrace equity.” These events and activities include:

• Sharing stories and reflections of female employees through a profile series called “Corning Celebrates.” This series allows Corning employees to hear from women in different roles and at different stages of their career, as they share their own personal accounts and journeys.
• Hosting several panel discussions with women leaders and workshops focused on topics such as Imposter Syndrome
• Recognizing women inventors via a display and a weekly quiz based on the display
• Hosting a Women’s History Month trivia event with prizes, coffee and snacks

The activities are sponsored by two employee resource groups (Corning Women’s Partnership for Growth and the Technology Community Women’s Network), the Office of Global Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and several of Corning’s businesses and women’s leadership development programs. Together, these regional and local activities will serve to recognize women who drive Corning’s progress.

More information around two of Corning’s women’s leadership development efforts can be found at Corning’s Women Leaders in Finance and Corning’s Rising Together Program.

NFI

Women’s Initiative Network (WIN) is NFI Industies’ Employee Resource Group (ERG) for individuals who identify as female and their allies. WIN supports NFI’s diversity and inclusion strategy by seeking to grow an internal community dedicated to women’s equality and equity. WIN will host several activities in recognition of International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month aligning with their mission of cultivating an inclusive environment that supports and encourages women to advance their professional and personal growth. Some of these events include:

• Keynote Speaker Event: Nicole F. Smith, CEO of JMS Creative Leadership Solutions, will be NFI’s Keynote Speaker on International Women’s Day. She will speak on how to #EmbraceEquity during Women’s History Month and beyond.
• Women’s History Month Employee Spotlights: Extraordinary women will be featured in NFI’s Employee Spotlights throughout the month. NFI employees are also encouraged to recognize their female coworkers by either posting to the WIN Kudoboard or sending a personal thank-you note using NFI-branded templates.
• Wear Purple: On March 8, NFI employees will wear purple to show their support for Women’s History Month. Historically, purple is a color associated with efforts to achieve gender equality, denotes justice and dignity, and now is used to represent women.
• Education: NFI will use educational bingo games to highlight important women in history, including women in the trucking/logistics industry.

ORACLE

At Oracle, CEO Safra Catz will send a message to all employees in support of IWD as a day to celebrate the social, economic and cultural contributions of women. Oracle employees can join in the IWD conversations and celebrations through an internal event portal and internal Slack channels. They can also participate in regional events organized by Oracle Women’s Leadership and lines of business across the globe (JAPAC, EMEA, North America, and Latin America). Employees are encouraged to attend a webinar titled “You Cannot Be What You Cannot See” with Girls Who Code CEO Dr. Tarika Barrett.

Read here for more information about Oracle and their focus on Diversity and Inclusion.