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Corporate events and lunches drenched in pink, featuring cupcakes and champagne, feel more like a marketing exercise than a movement for change.
At its heart, I deeply respect the intention of IWD. As a passionate advocate for gender equality, I understand (unfortunately) why we still need this day—particularly in Australia.
But this year, I’m opting out, and I want to share why.
The Irony of ‘Empowerment’ Without Action
Firstly, I’m bothered.
This year, I received three invitations to speak at IWD events. Not one of them offered my standard keynote fee. One request was to speak for free.
The irony.
But what bothers me more is that despite a decade of pithy, tokenistic IWD themes—Each for Equal, Break the Bias, Inspire Inclusion—we’ve barely made progress.
The Data Speaks for Itself
In 2012, Australia ranked 25th in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index. In 2024, we’ve moved up just one spot to 24th. Hardly a leap forward.
The gender pay gap has followed a frustrating trajectory. In 2012, it sat at 28.6%. By 2021, it had dropped to 19.3%, but today it has widened again to 21.8%—trending in the wrong direction. Research suggests it could take another 26 years to close entirely, with some industries on track to never reach parity.
But gender equality has never just been about equal pay. It’s also about safety, dignity, and survival.
The Disturbing Reality Beyond the Workplace
Since 1989, 1,710 women in Australia have been killed by an intimate partner. In 2022–23, police charged 88,377 offenders with domestic and family violence-related offences—a 25% increase nationally. Attitudes remain deeply problematic: one in four Australians believe that women who don’t leave abusive relationships are partly responsible for the violence continuing.
Even more disturbingly, where pay parity and domestic violence intersect, the numbers become even darker.
In 2021, an Australian government study revealed that women who out-earn their partners are 35% more likely to experience domestic violence at the hands of that partner.
In response to those findings, the then Prime Minister announced the creation of ministerial roles for women’s safety and women’s economic security.
Yet here we are.
In 2023, 54 women were killed by their partners—a 100% increase since 2021.
This is not progress.
So, This Year, I’m Opting Out… But Not Entirely
Once again, I’ll be declining underpaid IWD speaking invitations. Instead, I’ll be donating my time to speak at a women’s prison—a space where gender equality isn’t just a discussion topic, but a lived reality for many of the women there.
There won’t be pink cupcakes or champagne.
I won’t be presenting graphs about the pay gap or talking about progress we haven’t made.
Instead, I’ll be having an honest conversation with a group of women—many of whom are incarcerated due to the very statistics outlined above—about one thing:
That their past doesn’t need to define their future.
And that message reflects my hope for young women today. Because while we have failed to make meaningful progress in the past, that failure should not define our path forward.
How You Can Make IWD Meaningful
If your workplace or community is hosting an International Women’s Day event, here’s how to ditch the tokenism and drive real change:
- Involve men in the conversation.
We don’t move forward without them. Invite male leaders and decision-makers to be part of the solution, not just passive attendees. - Pay women what they deserve—starting with speakers.
If your organisation is paying for venues, catering, and entertainment, but expects women to speak for free or at a discount, you’re part of the problem. - Focus on action, not just awareness.
Move beyond panel discussions. Conduct a gender pay audit, invest in leadership pathways for women, and introduce workplace policies that support survivors of domestic violence. - Fund grassroots initiatives, not just corporate lunches.
Redirect your IWD budget to women’s crisis centers, domestic violence shelters, or programs that provide economic empowerment and legal aid. - Rethink representation beyond IWD.
If your IWD panel consists of only women, but your boardroom doesn’t, you have work to do. Commit to long-term gender equity in leadership.
A Final Thought: IWD Should Be a Catalyst—Not a Celebration.
Until we stop treating gender equality as a PR moment and start treating it as a systemic, ongoing issue, progress will remain painfully slow.
So this year, let’s stop asking, “How do we celebrate women?”
And start asking, “How do we make women safer, more valued, and truly equal?”
Because that’s the conversation that actually matters. And the only way to really march forward.