International Women's Day 2022 | What Top Organizations Are Doing to Celebrate

I am proud to work for a company that is focused on creating opportunities for women leaders—especially when you consider the dramatic toll that the global health crisis has had on women in the workforce. The reality is that while women gained 188,000 jobs in January, they are still short over 1.8 million jobs since February 2020, and account for over 60% of the 2.9 million jobs lost in the last two years.

Linkage’s focus on advancing women has never been more important than it is now. As I reflect on my 15 years here, I’m grateful for the support I’ve received in my career and realize that I’m fortunate to be in an environment surrounded by others who care as deeply as I do about this mission of advancing women and creating gender equity in organizations globally.

In honor of International Women’s Day, I had the opportunity to connect with several of the amazing human resources and leadership development directors whom we work with to learn about the programming they have planned for International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month. These initiatives provide rich opportunities for discussion around critical topics—they create space for our leaders, teams and organizations to think bigger and to envision not only what’s next, but what’s possible.

From monthlong initiatives filled with everything from executive panels to high-profile guest speakers, read on for an insider’s look at some of the exciting events underway at Allegis Global Solutions, American Family, Constellation Brands, Lenovo and Oracle, among others.

ALLEGIS GLOBAL SOLUTIONS 

Allegis Global Solutions’ women’s ERG, Elevate, prepared a very strategic plan for this year’s International Women’s Day. Elevate’s leadership committee is comprised of women from diverse backgrounds and organizational units at Allegis Global Solutions. They each offer a unique perspective and continuously empower their ERG members to lean on the employee network to help elevate them to the next level. There are multiple events planned for the month, each one addressing different topics that are essential in helping women advance both personally and professionally, while also highlighting the immense contributions that their female employees have made both in and out of the organization.

Events on International Women’s Day include a Breaking the Bias panel, featuring Chantha Ayyappan, Recruitment Operations Manager, AGS/Fresenius; Natassia Marie, Program Manager, AGS/Samsung and Best Buy; Keondra Taylor, Program Executive, AGS/Samsung; Lucien St. Gerard, Program Executive, AGS; Mike Danczak, Senior Program Executive, AGS; and Joanne Henderson, Recruiting Manager, Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Elevate is also running a global photo campaign on Yammer and social media asking everyone to post with the pose (example on right) and share how they have challenged biases and what they do to “break the bias.” In addition, on March 15, the Financial Wellness Speaker Event will feature guest speakers including two executives from Allegis Global Solutions’ finance organization, Jenelle Madonna and Craig Clarke. The event is a collaboration between the Women’s ERG, Elevate, and the Wellness ERG, Myself. Programming continues on March 31 with a Women in Leadership Symposium, a four-hour event organized by multiple Allegis Group companies and Elevate. Discussions include: 1) Unlocking Your Confidence: The Journey to Knowing, Believing and Owning Your Self-Worth; and 2) Health & Wellness: What Does This Really Mean for Our Work?

Each event will be followed by breakout rooms where women and allies can network and share their thoughts and activities in safe spaces.  

AMERICAN FAMILY 

In recognition of “Women’s Herstory Month,” American Family Enterprise is celebrating women through the theme of #LiftUp to: 

The International Women’s Day event will feature the How Women Rise keynote by Sally Helgesen, coauthor of the eponymous book. Employees will be wearing purple on this day in solidarity of women. Some internal events include a panel on Transcending the Broken Rung, featuring recently promoted female leaders; Real Talk and Tools for Workplace Burnout, a workshop facilitated by Mettacool; Self-Care Series focusing on Mental Health in the women of color community; and a conversation with Suzanna Valdez Wolfe and Galia Pennekamp on The Power of Relationship Building and Asking for Help.

Non-event activities include charitable giving to nonprofit organizations (selected by the women’s business resource group members) and extra reward points on the well-being platform by completing sessions around overcoming burnout.

Additional public event: DreamBank, AFI’s inspirational community destination and digital experience, hosts a variety of free, consumer-facing programming including a conversation with Emily Chang, Emmy Award-winning journalist, on Women’s History, Present & Future. Check out their curated Women’s Herstory Month YouTube playlist, highlighting fearless female “dreamers” they’ve had the privilege of celebrating and learning from on their platform.

CONSTELLATION BRANDS 

WISE is Constellation Brands’ Business Resource Group (BRG) for women and their allies. WISE supports Constellation’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion strategy by providing engaging and relevant programming and partnership throughout the business, and developing inclusion. Their mission is to create a culture of positive change by empowering women in every aspect of life, driving toward a future where equity is unconditional and gender isn’t destiny.

Constellation is celebrating Women’s History Month by focusing on their global partnership with Dress for Success (DFS), a nonprofit organization that empowers women to achieve economic independence by providing support, professional attire, and development tools. WISE members and other Constellation employees give back to DFS beneficiaries by leading educational workshops, mentoring, and hosting donation-matching drives.

This year’s internal WISE events include Own Your Power, which will feature a keynote speaker who will share her perspective as a leader in the Wine & Spirits industry and discuss her thoughts on what it means to “Own Your Power.” This month will also celebrate the official launch of WISE México, featuring a series of panel discussions centered around Mastering Your Inner Critic. Additionally, WISE U.S. is collaborating with Stellar Pride (LGBQT+ BRG) to host a virtual event on Transgender Day of Visibility to raise trans awareness and promote advocacy within the Constellation Brands family.

CORNING 

In honor of Women’s History Month, Corning is sharing several stories and reflections of their female employees, through a profile series called “Corning Celebrates.” This series allows Corning employees to hear from those in different roles and at different stages of their career, as they share a little bit of their own personal accounts and journeys. Corning will also host special events for employees throughout the month, sponsored by Women’s Partnership for Growth (CWPG) and Technology Community Women’s Network (TCWN), two global Employee Resource Groups that support women at Corning to achieve their full career potential. Across the company, they will host regional and local activities, as well, to recognize the women who drive Corning’s progress.

FIRST AMERICAN

First American is proud to support the 2022 theme, #BreakTheBias. Imagine a gender-equal world. A world free of bias, stereotypes and discrimination. A world that is diverse, equitable and inclusive. A world where difference is valued and celebrated. First American believes that together we can forge women’s equality. Collectively we can all #BreakTheBias. To celebrate this year, Sharon Wingfelder, CHRO of First American, will moderate a live panel discussion between Women in Leadership alumnae and SPARK program alumnae. First American is looking forward to an exceptional turnout for this highly anticipated event.

LENOVO 

Lenovo joins the International Women’s Day theme to “Break the Bias” by challenging their employees to recognize and mitigate their own biases about gender in the workplace and communities. Unconscious bias is not intentional—it’s part of the lens through which we see the world. We must accept that we all have biases and work to mitigate those. With that in mind, Lenovo is  challenging their employees to self-reflect and take action against bias by the three following actions:

This action-oriented International Women’s Day campaign will augment Lenovo’s gender representation strategy and promote their recognition on the Bloomberg 2022 Gender Equity Index.

After exceeding their goal of 20% female executive representation in 2020, Lenovo has set a new target to reach 27% female executive representation by 2025 and is preparing for the 7th cohort of the Women’s Leadership Development Program, designed to bolster their pipeline of female talent for executive positions.

LPL Financial  

LPL Financial is focused on creating an opportunity for sharing, awareness and engagement, while driving exposure to the Executive Vice President and Managing Director women in the Women Business Leaders Program (WBLP) community. Efforts around International Women’s Day are designed to align and compliment firm-wide DEI efforts by collecting short personal stories, experiences, favorite podcasts, books, articles or TED Talks. The collection will be shared via LPL Financial’s WBLP workplace social media page with the intention to engage community members to comment, share further and connect. At the end of the month, all the stories and information will be pulled together to showcase the WBLP women’s history month playlist.

In addition, women leaders will share a story or experience that reflects on trailblazing women who have led or who are leading the way for change, beginning on March 8, with Executive Sponsor Sallie Larsen, CHRO and Managing Director Human Capital.

MITRE 

MITRE will be recognizing Women’s History Month with a number of activities focused on Achieving Equity, and sponsored by their Women’s Employee Resource Council. These events will support MITRE’s journey to strengthen the sense of belonging for all employees, as well as highlight the accomplishments of their exceptional female employees.

The events are open to all staff and explore and celebrate the incredible impact of women across the organization, nation and the globe. Activities include:

ORACLE 

Oracle is celebrating International Women’s Day (IWD) with events across the globe. Oracle employees are encouraged to participate in this year’s activities hosted by Oracle Women’s Leadership. The 2022 #BreakTheBias theme is incorporated within all sessions worldwide, each featuring thought-provoking speakers and guests, both internally and externally. Customer-focused regional events will also take place.

Oracle is running a comprehensive internal and external communications campaign featuring their senior leadership, a dedicated Slack channel for employees, an internal IWD website, and videos and articles from employees and leaders taking a pledge.

Employees are encouraged to think about their commitment to #BreakTheBias in terms of the following seven main pledges:

Additionally, Oracle is engaging with employees by creating and releasing assets for employees to use and share, including IWD visual graphics, Zoom backgrounds, social cards, email templates and pledge cards.

SYNCHRONY 

The Synchrony Women’s Network’s (WN+) mission is dedicated to advancing women by providing meaningful and impactful programming and empowering one another to reach both personal and professional goals.

Synchrony’s WN+ will honor 2022 Women’s History Month through engaging programming aligned to the call to action, “Choose to Challenge.” They are asking their employees to take responsibility in the creation of a more inclusive, equal and thriving environment that empowers women to be their best selves. It’s a call to action to help create the momentum needed to elevate women within Synchrony and elevate every day. Each week will focus on a key theme, from uniting women for success and advocating for equity, diversity and inclusion to supporting a better future for women—both overall and within their careers. There will be panel discussions, community outreach, and a signature event honoring International Women’s Day, among other activities. #choosetochallenge

TEKsystems

TEKsystems is committed to fostering a more inclusive, diverse and equitable workplace. They are passionate about hiring and promoting women, especially because women are underrepresented in the IT industry. Last year, TEKsystems was named to the Seramount Inclusion Index for embodying best practices in creating an inclusive workplace, and the organization takes pride in helping to set the standard for workplace DE&I.  

On International Women’s Day, TEKsystems will be hosting a live event for their internal employees, featuring 4 female TEKsystems vice presidents. Topics will include celebrating the achievements of women, discussing the importance of diversity in the workplace, and questioning what we can do to challenge bias. The Women@TEK Employee Resource Group will also be hosting a series of events internally.

U.S. Bank

U.S. Bank is taking action to recognize Women’s History Month with a lineup of events and activities that showcase how they make work work for women. All employees will be invited to: