Articles

Women's Equality Day

Women’s Equality Day is a national holiday annually celebrated on August 26th to commemorate the 1920 adoption of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which prohibits the states and the federal government from denying U.S. citizens the right to vote on account of sex. This historic event was actually initiated in 1848 with the Seneca Falls Convention – the country’s first-ever women’s rights convention that became a major step in establishing women’s equality. However, there is still plenty of work to be done today - and human resource managers can lead organizations and businesses in showing their support by: 

• Recruiting diverse talent with fair compensation and setting the bar by training managers and recruiters in how to make equitable offers to candidates based solely on experience, skills, and requirements of the position at hand.
   
• Offering fair and equitable career growth opportunities, such as continued learning programs and promotion opportunities, to all employees based on individual qualifications without involving gender.
   
• Ensuring that gender equality is celebrated and amplified within the workplace by understanding your DEIB (diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging) Metrics, and taking an honest audit of your staff to understand gender and pay parity throughout the organization. This will help make informed decisions on where to focus DEIB initiatives, as well as to create internal policies that help celebrate diversity while challenging any inequality or gender discrimination issues.
   
• Launching a female-to-female mentorship program, which will allow for women to become more confident in the workplace, offering space and time to be seen as equals, with personal value and power, and with the means to motivate others to grow and do the same.