When you consider the sheer amount of time you spend with your co-workers (even virtually), compared to your family/friends/partner, it's pretty par for the course for your fellow work females to become some of the most important people in your life.
Add to that, the seemingly endless list of challenges women still face professionally, and International Women's Day becomes a pretty important date in the shared Office365 diary.
From attending a virtual 24 hour summit and dressing as your favourite female icon for your weekly Zoom catch up, to simply reminding your work wife why they're totally epic, here's how you can celebrate IWD at work...
1. Sign up for AllBright's 24hr international summit
Fearne Cotton, entrepreneur Marie Forleo and activist Grace Tame are just three of the 25 globally renowned speakers at AllBright's 24 hour virtual international summit celebrating International Women's day. Prepare to leave the day feeling entertained, educated and empowered.
2. Take your lunch to a sunny spot outside and read a book by a feminist icon.
We love Chimamanda, Audre, Naomi Klein. Bring a highlighter to mark up the best bits.
3. Join Alexandria Coe and Mirabeau for a life drawing class (and a glass of wine)
Celebrate the female form in all its glory, and sip on a glass of ice cold rose, with a Zoom life drawing class co-hosted by Mirabeau founder Jeany Cronk and artist Alexandria Coe.
Tickets cost £35 per person for the hour long session including a bottle of Mirabeau rose
4. Organise a series of lunch time speed mentoring sessions
Gather women from across the business and spend fifteen minutes talking to someone from another department to see what you can learn from their experiences.
5. Re-think your immediate reaction to celeb gossip
If 'Framing Britney' has taught us one thing it's that the media can be inherently sexist and misleading. When discussing the latest news story with your co-workers over a coffee, take a moment to consider whether the woman in the article is being fairly represented. Was it her fault? Did she have it coming? Did her outfit mean she deserved that treatment? Ultimately, would you respond the same way to a man in the same position?
6. Send a nice email to a fellow female colleague
Tell them why you think they’re a superwoman. Being each other’s cheerleaders and pulling each other up matters everyday, but why not make an extra big deal this IWD?
7. Play a game of Patriarchy Chicken
Next time you walk, bus or train to work, refuse to move out of the way gratuitously for men and see what happens. Read this first to bolster your commitment.
8. Take a school trip with your team to an exhibition by a female artist
It might have to wait until later in the year, but a creative break from the office routine is just what IWD ordered. We love Tracey Emin's 'A Fortnight Of Tears' at the White Cube in London, or for seriously interesting info on the history of female equality pay the British Library a visit to see the 'Unfinished Business: The Fight for Women's Rights' exhibition.
9. Start a feminist lunch time film club
Organise screenings of films like Jane Campion’s The Piano, Daughters of the Dust, Agnes Varda’s Vagabond, and Penny Woolcock’s Tina Goes Shopping and serve popcorn for added sisterly vibes. Whether you're attending virtually or in real life, the IWD vibes are real.
10. Stage an agreed early walk out
Highlight the gender pay gap that still exists in the UK by walking out of the office or clocking off early. The average female employee works the first two months of the year for free when you compare their salary to a male counterpart's. Not cool.
11. Compile an IWD Spotify playlist of epic female artists
You might be sat in your respective homes but there's no reason why you can't share a themed playlist and synchronise remote listening. The best bit about being office free? You can blast it as loudly as you like.
12. Hero local female-run businesses
Challenge yourself and your team to only use female run/owned services or shops for the entire day.
13. Swap casual Friday for ‘Dress As Your Female Icon Friday’
We might be barely getting dressed at all right now, but this IWD encourage the whole team (men included) to switch up their go-to loungewear for Geri Halliwell’s Union Jack body con dress or Emmeline Pankhurst’s sash. Alternatively, organise a team-wide Suffragette White dress code.
14. Hold a lunch time speed debating session
Give everyone the opportunity to discuss challenging topics of conversation with a member of staff from another department. Open up the channels of thought and get to know people outside of your own team.
15. Take a stand
Make a pledge to politely and kindly educate another member of staff, when presented with an old school narrative or antiquated terminology e.g. In a meeting, politely shut down the suggestion that a female member of staff might not be the best person to lead a project ‘because we think she might be pregnant so could potentially go on leave’.
16. Free yourself and your team members from 'lunch shame'
A Dairy Milk isn’t a 'treat' and a salad isn’t 'guilt free.' Eat what you want and celebrate the joy of a lunch hour without judging whether you, or your co-worker 'deserves' it.
17. Include men in the conversation
Your male colleagues should be feminists as well, so involve them in the situation by encouraging them to question their views, offer their suggestions for championing women in the business, and suggesting ways to tackle ingrained sexism.
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George Driver was the former Senior Beauty Editor - Digital at ELLE UK.
