I can’t celebrate IWD anymore

Just as a reminder to those who may not know what International Women’s Day (IWD) is about, it is the global celebration of the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. In 1908, 15,000 women marched through New York City demanding shorter working hours, better pay and the right to vote. In 1910, Clara Zetkin suggested it become an International Day and in 1928, Australia held its first IWD day in Sydney where women called for equal pay for equal work. That was 95 years ago.

We are almost at the 100th-year anniversary of IWD in Australia.

Women and allies have demanded equality, equity, and inclusion for nearly a century in this country.

What has changed?

That’s why I am finding it hard to celebrate this failure. We haven’t been able to achieve equality for the decades of women on whose shoulders I stand and the young women stepping forward into the future.

Shouldn’t we already be living in a world that is free from bias, and discrimination, that is diverse, equitable and inclusive?

I grew up in an environment that was discriminatory; I removed myself from that part of the family and never re-engaged. It is much harder to do this in everyday life. You may be surprised to know that on a regular basis, I face discrimination; I get strangers telling me to go back to my country and I am tired of fighting the good fight. So to mark IWD this year, I am simply going to point out the facts.

As we head towards IWD on the 8^th of March, take note of how many men roll their eyes or don’t feel comfortable participating in IWD. I invariably hear the comment “What about International Men’s Day?” which, by the way, is on the 19^th of November.

If you are attending a breakfast — often difficult for women with children — how many speakers are from diverse backgrounds? And by diversity, I mean people who come in different packages: ability, sexuality, neurodiversity and nationality.

It seems that IWD has been hijacked by corporates who make a song and dance about the current theme, give a token thought to actually having a diverse line-up, ensure that men attend the event, acknowledge their gaps and make no commitments as to what changes they are going to make over the next 12 months to genuinely close these gaps.

I stopped accepting speaking opportunities years ago because I wasn’t being paid the same as other speakers, or wasn’t being paid, full stop. And today I know that despite the fact I am presented as an option to speak at events around the country, I am still seen as a high-risk speaker… Will I connect with the audience given I am an outspoken woman and Indian? One day, I will turn up and do my entire presentation in an Indian accent, just for fun!

I don’t want to be asked how I balance my work and home life, how men react to how confident I am, or how I broke through a double-glazed glass ceiling. And worse, pronouncing my name incorrectly because it’s inconvenient to find out how to do so.

It is hard to celebrate IWD when one woman every week continues to be killed in Australia despite the work done by many victims and survivors; the national pay gap sits at 13.3 per cent (Workplace Gender Equality Agency), women retire at 23 per cent less superannuation than men (ATO 2022). In the property industry, the pay gap sits at 15 per cent, which has reduced from 17 per cent so we are moving in the right direction.

In a survey I published a few years ago now, where I interviewed 230 women, this is what I found (and I don’t believe that these numbers would have changed much):

• 52 per cent have experienced inappropriate behaviour in their workplace
• 70 per cent were interested in owning or a shareholding in the business and only 36 per cent were provided opportunities
• 83 per cent were interested in leadership roles such as General Manager or CEO
• 95 per cent stated that flexibility was critical to them
• 61 per cent felt their business could be more supportive of women

For most of my career, I have stepped into environments that are either 100 per cent male or where women are in the minority. My call out to these board rooms, management and executive teams is to make deliberate decisions now to bring more women to the table. You will never be as strong or as relevant or impactful until you have diversity.

So how do we drive change so that we do have something to celebrate?

Let’s see brave leadership embracing the following:

• mentoring and sponsoring women into leadership roles, allowing women to bring a diversity of thought, capability, experience and leadership style to the table
• take the time to understand women’s ambitions and map a pathway to enablement
• ensure a talent pool of women in succession planning pipelines
• ensure there is parity in the organisation
• ensure women are respected
• ensure there is equal billing and intersectional diversity at all conferences
• ensure flexible and family-friendly policies
• make deliberate hiring decisions that value broader cultural experience, cultural capabilities and language skills
• curate boards and internal teams that are genuinely and intentionally diverse
• keep the conversation going past IWD

Women on their own cannot change the status quo, we need men standing with us to do this. Maybe we do need to set targets and quotas to move the dial forward rather than waiting for organic change. This is not something I generally support, but right now I feel we are stuck.

It concerns me that my daughter’s generation is not as connected to this day as we once were. To me, this shows that we are failing yet again as a generation of change-makers who don’t genuinely believe they can move the dial. Why should they have to have the same fight we and generations before have fought?

IWD is not a day that empowers me, rather reminds me of how little we have progressed. The theme for 2023 is #EmbraceEquity. I see equity not as something we need to embrace as a nice to have, but as a fundamental human right.

We shouldn’t have to fight for equity or justify it; it should be a given. Equity is about the financial, emotional, and physical safety of women. Global equity is over 280 years away.

We need to accelerate far beyond equity and into full empowerment of women.

Because when we lead with diversity, everybody, every ecosystem and every form of life benefits.

Hopefully, I have given you a different perspective on IWD. Celebrate the day, and eat an IWD cupcake if you feel inclined. However, make sure that you don’t sugarcoat progress. Please make at least one fundamental change in your business that will create equity.

Sadhana Smiles is the CEO of Real Estate Industry Partners and the host of the Future Fit Leadership podcast