Worldwide, women continue to contribute to social, economic, cultural and political achievement.

And we have much to celebrate today. But progress towards gender parity has slowed in many places.

The World Economic Forum predicted in 2014 that it would take until 2095 to achieve global gender parity. Then one year later in 2015, they estimated that a slowdown in the already glacial pace of progress meant the gender gap wouldn’t close entirely until 2133.

Why is gender parity important?
Gender parity is linked to economic prosperity. It’s an economic imperative. Women’s advancement and leadership are central to business performance and economic prosperity. Profitability, ROI and innovation all increase when women are counted among senior leadership.

Numerous global studies on the impact of women in leadership reveal the following findings:

• Women are the largest emerging market in the world
• More equality > higher GDP
• More equality > more productivity
• Better gender balance on boards > better share price and financial performance
• More gender-balanced leadership > better all-around performance
• More women political leaders > more prosperity

IWD gives us the opportunity to not only to acknowledge the important role women play in the workforce but to celebrate women and their accomplishments as a whole.

Please see articles below:

Emmeline Pankhurst
Malala Yousafzai
Eleanor Roosevelt
J K Rowling