March is Women’s History Month
In the U.S., March is recognized as Women’s History Month. The theme this year is women in labor and business, so I wanted to share a few interesting statistics I found, courtesy of the U.S. Census Bureau.
- As of July 2014, women outnumber men in the U.S. – 162M to 157M.
- The percentage of social scientists who are women is 63 percent.
- Of the firms in the U.S., women own 35.8 percent of them.
Women have been instrumental in developing today’s workplace environment. If you want to learn more about the accomplishments of women in labor and business, check out this Women’s Day video from our friends at Kronos.
In fact, you might have noticed that yesterday was International Women’s Day. It’s been observed since the early 1900’s to inspire women and celebrate their achievements. Originally called International Working Women’s Day, it focuses on respect and appreciation toward women to celebrate their economic, political, and social achievements. The United Nations encourages its members to recognize the day for women’s rights and world peace. This year’s theme was #BeBoldForChange and asks people to help create a better working world – a more gender inclusive world. I think it’s a challenge we should take on all year around.
As part of last year’s Women in Technology event during the HR Technology Conference, I had the opportunity to interview Dr. Tacy Byham, CEO of DDI, a global leadership consultancy with more than 42 offices in 26 countries. She made this comment about diversity programs in today’s organizations. “if organizations want diversity, they need process change. Organizations have to remove unconscious bias to create high potential talent pools. Women must have equal access to the same opportunities for coaching, mentoring, work experiences, etc.”
If organizations want to truly be diverse and inclusive, they need to create cultures that allow for diversity of thought, ideas, innovation, and creativity. Days like International Women’s Day are great for reminding us that we need to promote and celebrate diversity every day, not just one day a year. That might involve being bold for change. Organizations that embrace diversity are better in every way because they hire the best talent and it shows in their bottom-line results.
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