8th March is a global day that celebrates the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. Today places a focus on women’s equality and shares a global call to action. International Women’s Day (IWD) has occurred for over a century, the first IWD gatherings were in 1911 and supported by over a million individuals. IWD is not a country, group or organisation-specific event and belongs to everyone, collectively everywhere.
International Women’s Day is celebrated every year and raises awareness of women’s achievements and challenges. This year’s theme is #EmbraceEquity with a specific United Nations focus on ‘DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality. Under ‘DigitALL’ United Nations is highlighting the importance and need for transformative and inclusive technological and digital educational provision.
The United Nations and many other organisations globally highlight issues faced by women. United Nations recognise that there is a digital gender gap which is widening economic and social inequalities. Girls and women who are the front runners in championing the advancement of transformative technological and digital education are celebrated as part of this year’s theme highlighting the role of all stakeholders in improving access and inclusion to digital products and tools.
#EmbraceEquity
Embrace Equity is the hashtag you will find alongside celebrations for International Women’s Day 2023. Equity is not just a nice-to-have, it’s a must-have – society must focus on gender equity and the difference between equity and equality is important.
Equality means any individual or group of people being given the same opportunities and resources whereas Equity recognises that each individual has different backgrounds, and circumstances and may need different resources to be made available in order to reach an equal outcome. Equality is the goal and equity is how we can get there.
The aim of this year’s Embrace Equity campaign is to get the world to discuss ‘why equal opportunities are not enough’. Individuals start from different places and backgrounds, therefore, true inclusion and belonging require equitable action.
We can all be a part of embracing equity – it is important that equity is not just something that is spoken or written about, we need to think about it, value it and embrace it in order to create an inclusive world. When equity is embraced and prioritised, we are also valuing diversity and inclusion.
Transreport are embracing equity
This year’s theme of ‘Embrace Equity’ highlights how important it is to ensure that we are all working towards levelling the playing field for all women and girls, by creating opportunities for everyone to shine. As part of this year’s theme, we wanted to highlight some of the women we have working at Transreport who have shared what this theme means to them and have been drawing upon their own experiences of working within Transreport. Read more from some of our colleagues below:
Linda Truong, Marketing Manager
‘Working in a traditionally male-dominated industry can sometimes feel overwhelming. However, having an employer like Transreport that recognises people’s skills regardless of gender can make a big difference. By encouraging women to embrace technology and innovation in their roles, it will help to create an environment of inclusion and collaboration. Taking steps to ensure that everyone has access to the same resources and opportunities will go a long way towards creating a truly equal workforce.’
Nicole Wong, HR Manager
‘We have been dedicatedly working to establish a workplace culture that highly regards and encourages female leadership, especially in the tech industry that has traditionally been dominated by men. In my opinion, providing women with more career opportunities in this field is integral to our commitment to taking concrete steps towards addressing gender inequality and cultivating a work environment that is inclusive, supportive, and respectful to all individuals. As we celebrate International Women’s Day, it serves as a reminder to continue our efforts towards achieving a more fair and just future for women in the tech industry and other sectors.’
Linda Xu, HR Assistant
‘I hope every woman will realise that her power is unlimited. Please believe in yourself and do what you want to do.’
Emma Partlow, Accessibility, and Inclusion Manager
‘Embracing equity to me is recognising that there is still work to do in order to level the playing field and we all have a role to play in furthering equality. Diversity and inclusion within the workplace is not just ‘nice’ but essential in having a strong team of colleagues that feel able to bring their lived experiences to work with them.’
Mollie Woods, Product Owner
‘Transreport is the first company where I have truly felt of equal value to all of my peers regardless of gender. It’s amazing to find a company that recognises the advantages of having women around the table, making key decisions, and being involved in shaping the future. Everyone has their own unique experiences in work and life and true innovation comes from an environment that allows everyone to flourish and share the learned skills from these experiences with each other. Women are amazing and can add so much value to the tech industry. All the women here at Transreport certainly do!’
Sophie Wiley, Research and Project Analyst
‘International women’s day gives us all a chance to recognise the impact women can make on all industries. As an industry, the technology sector has a long way to go for full equality and diversity. Transreport shows it’s not only possible for equality in the industry but how it can thrive when equality is addressed’
Celebrating IWD at Transreport
At Transreport we are expressing our gratitude to our colleagues for their dedication and commitment to our organisation, ethos and values. We recognise and appreciate the hard work and effort that each of our colleagues put in to make our company a success. This comes with special appreciation to all the women at Transreport on IWD 2023. We have strong women represented across our organisation and their contribution has been instrumental in shaping TR’s growth.
As a token of our appreciation, we are pleased to announce that all TR employees are entitled to a half day off (to be used today or at a later date before the end of May 2023) in celebration of International Women’s Day. We hope that our colleagues use this extra time off and opportunity to spend time with loved ones, pursue hobbies, or simply unwind and recharge.
Transreport’s Embracing Equity pledge
For International Women’s Day 2023, Transreport is pledging to continue to:
- Celebrate women’s achievements
- We will call out gendered actions and assumptions
- We will challenge gender stereotypes, discrimination, and bias
- We will maintain a gender-equal mindset
- We will forge positive visibility for women
In addition to the above promises, we are launching our internal Gender Diversity training programme for all colleagues which will focus on providing foundational knowledge about gender, understanding gender at work, and supporting gender identity and expression to ensure all of our colleagues have the knowledge they need in order to work in harmony with each other and work towards embracing equity with the end goal being equality.