'Step it Up’ for gender equality

With International Women’s Day last week, the world is calling to ‘Step it Up’ to achieve gender equality.

Courageous advocacy and dedicated funding needs to be established to assist the advancement of gender equal societies. To help celebrate this International Women’s Day, Senior United Nations officials gathered to discuss what advancements could be made.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said “We have shattered so many glass ceilings we created a carpet of shards. Now we are sweeping away the assumptions and bias of the past so women can advance across new frontiers.”

“The participation of women at all levels and the strengthening of the women’s movement has never been so critical, working together with boys and men, to empower nations, build stronger economies and healthier societies,” UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka said.

Read the full UN News Centre article here.

Strengthening women to feel a sense of determination and reach for what has never really been impossible will help advance gender equality.

Even though women are continuously breaking new records and establishing new highs in their careers, there is still a low in the amount of women in senior leadership positions.

An ABC News article states, “Although women make up 40 per cent of the average company's workforce, they only represent a third of managers and 26 per cent of senior managers.”

Women need to take the stand and fight for the positions that they deserve to be in – and the more women who can do this, the more glass ceilings we can break.

Societies need to acknowledge the professional gender gap is still significant. To reduce this, companies need to invest in building talent pipelines to promote diversity. Employers also need to be more flexible with full-time and part-time situations to allow women, and men, to feel comfortable to have a positive work-life balance. This then allows for an employee to care for their responsibilities while working on their career progression.

The time is now for women to continuously raise this controversial topic and push for what is deserved. If companies can assist and lead women into senior positions, women in leadership will soon just be a norm.

After finishing University with a degree in Business Marketing, I decided to make a big jump across seas for the first time and move from the east coast of America to Sydney, Australia. I landed my first job in a sales position in the event industry and soon thereafter moved into a marketing assistant role – following I had the pleasure of interviewing with Akolade which got me to where I am today.

Akolade is a fun, innovative company that brings together people from different walks of life to implement change. As the Marketing Manager, I have the pleasure of wearing many hats which motivates me to succeed, reach people in an array of avenues, grow our events to their full potential, and raise our story. As for me, I am a kind dedicated woman who loves to work hard, exercise, cook, be social and have some fun.