International Women’s Day (IWD) is celebrated annually on March 8. It’s a day to celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. It has occurred for well over a century, with the first IWD gathering in 1911.

It’s also a day to raise awareness and take action for equality. The theme for this year’s International Women’s Day is #BalanceforBetter, a call to action for accelerating gender balance. A new global study by Ipsos MORI, in collaboration with King’s College London, and International Women’s Day, found that people believe gender equality has not gone far enough. Over half (52%) believe there are more advantages to being a man than a woman in society today.

At Synthesio, we believe in achieving diversity, inclusiveness, and balance across all of our global offices. We asked members of our team to share their experiences of what International Women’s Day means to them, and how we can all #BalanceforBetter …

Katie McLaughlin Walsh

VP of Human Resources at Synthesio

New York

“In the last couple of years we’ve seen a lot of women’s activism – from marches, to the #metoo movement going global. Many of the policies that women are advocating for, are good for everyone in society – not just women. That mindset fits so nicely with this year’s International Women’s Day theme of #BalanceforBetter.

Another positive trend is women coming together to support each other in their professional relationships. As Serena Williams said: ‘The success of every woman should be the inspiration to another. We should raise each other up. Make sure you’re very courageous: be strong, be extremely kind, and above all be humble.’”

Sakshi Prakash

Enterprise Technical Account Manager at Synthesio

Singapore

“IWD is important to me as it’s a day where issues around women empowerment and equality are discussed and highlighted. That’s crucial because talking about issues is the first step toward resolving them.

All working women — especially working mothers — inspire me. In certain countries, particularly in Asia, maternity benefits are still not on par with other parts of the world. This is a challenge that impacts job security. But it’s not just about government mandates. Employers can take a step forward and provide greater maternity and parental benefits like Standard Chartered has done in Singapore.”

Hermine Fabre

Jr. Product Manager at Synthesio

Paris

“IWD has an impact throughout the whole year, but even more so on this special day. It raises consciousness of how we can all stand for women and their rights.

Even after 100 years IWD will always be relevant as people have to remember how much both women and men have done to defend women’s rights. There is still so much to improve and so much to gain. #BalanceforBetter is the definition of feminism. It is wrong to believe that feminism means more rights for women over men. Equal rights for humans means equal rights between men and women.”