It was International Women’s Day on March 8, and after taking a break from calling out corporate hypocrisy last year, I’m back at it.
Why? Because with DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) under attack, pay gaps persisting, and women’s rights rolling back globally, this work isn’t done.
Last year, I stepped back, focused on building my own business, and took time for myself. But this year, I can’t sit on the sidelines while companies churn out the same empty platitudes, hoping no one notices the glaring gap between their marketing and reality.
So, let’s talk about that reality:
- Women in the UK still earn less than men in 80 per cent of firms that have reported their gender pay gap this year.
- ⏳ The global gender pay gap is estimated to take 131 years to close at our current rate of progress.
- In the US, workplace DEI programmes are being dismantled under the guise of “fairness,” while the gender wage gap remains stuck at 84 cents to the dollar (and far worse for women of colour).
- 🌍 Global firms are racing to dismantle their diversity initiatives too, leaving many of us wondering if they were ever committed to fairness in the first place
- 🔬 Women-founded startups still get a pathetic fraction of investment capital – just 2 per cent in 2024
- 1️⃣ in 3️⃣ 1 in 3 women globally experience physical or sexual violence in their lifetime.
- 🙎♂️ In the UK, over 100 women are killed by men every year. In 2024, femicide was the leading cause of death for women under 44 in Latin America
- 💰 And if you think women’s safety is a separate issue, remember that financial independence is one of the biggest factors in whether women can leave abusive relationships.
And yet, today, my feed will be filled with posts from firms making glacial progress on equal pay, or have never promoted a woman to CEO.
This year’s IWD theme is For ALL women and girls: Rights. Equality. Empowerment.
So let’s ask: where’s the action behind those words?
Here’s what I’m doing this year:
- 💥 Calling it out. The Gender Pay Gap Bot did a great job of exposing hypocrisy, but it’s been lost thanks to Elon’s “improvements” to that platform. And in any case, it’s clear by now that awareness alone doesn’t drive change. So I’m back in the comments asking what firms are actually doing to close their gaps.
- 📢 Advocating for real change. Flexible work, transparent pay, parental leave policies that don’t penalise women—these things work. Companies know this, and yet so many are quietly backtracking. We see you.
- 💀 Burying the bulls**t. No more vague “empowerment” messaging while companies ignore structural inequality. Either fix the problem, or spare us the PR exercise.
You want to “celebrate” International Women’s Day? Then pay women properly. Hire them. Promote them. Invest in them. And stop rolling back the few gains we’ve made.
The best way to support Rights. Equality. Empowerment isn’t another breakfast panel—it’s closing the f**king gap.
Sharon first posted this article on LinkedIn. You can follow her there.