International Women’s Day is March 8, and this year’s theme is #BalanceforBetter.

It’s a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women – while also marking a call to action for accelerating gender balance. Every person and all groups can make a difference by taking concrete action to help build a more gender-balanced world. From small powerful grassroots gatherings to large-scale conference and events, International Women’s Day is celebrated everywhere.

Locally, Rotary Club of Bentonville is hosting an International Women’s Day event on March 8 at Record in Bentonville. Find out more about the event at www.nwawomensday.com.

Let’s be honest, balance is not just a women’s issue; it’s a business issue. Balance drives a better working world and is essential for communities to thrive. We need gender-balanced boardrooms, a gender-balanced government, gender-balanced media coverage, a gender-balance of employees, more gender-balance in wealth and gender-balanced sports coverage.

Want to know the gap in balance? Here’s a few stats from a 2018 Women in the Workplace study:

  • Women are dramatically outnumbered in senior leadership. Only about one in five senior leaders is a woman, and one in 25 is a woman of color.
  • For every 100 men promoted to manager, just 79 women are promoted.
  • For 64 percent of women, microaggressions are a workplace reality. Most commonly, women have to provide more evidence of their competence than men and they have their judgment questioned in their area of expertise.

The first International Women’s Day occurred in 1911, supported by over one million people. Today, IWD belongs to all groups collectively everywhere and is not specific to one country, group or organization.

And the #BalanceforBetter campaign is not only on March 8; it runs all year long!

Show your support by putting your hands out and striking the #BalanceforBetter pose. Share your poses on social media with the hashtag #IWD2019. Find out more on ways to celebrate at www.internationalwomensday.com. We can’t wait to see how you will #BalanceforBetter!