International Women's Day 2022: How to #BreakTheBias at your workplace

Marked annually on March 8, International Women's Day (IWD) rallies for women's equal rights and celebrates their economic, social, cultural and political achievements.

IWD has occurred for over a century. The first IWD gathering was in the U.S. in 1911 and was supported by over a million people. Today, IWD belongs to everyone everywhere. It's not country, group or organization specific.

This year's International Women's Day theme is #BreakTheBias

Each year, International Women's Day celebrates a different theme. This year's theme is #BreakTheBias.

Individually, we're all responsible for our thoughts and actions. And But together, we can break the biases that hold women back in and outside the workplace. The official IWD description explains #BreakTheBias like this:

"Imagine a gender-equal world free of bias, stereotypes, and discrimination. Together, we can all break the bias — on IWD and beyond."

To show support on social media, there is a pose associated with IWD. Here's this year's pose modeled by Cornerstars:

Why do we celebrate International Women's Day?

Internation Women's Day works to draw further attention to the injustices and inequities women deal with around the world simply for existing as women. i

While International Women's Day activities escalate on March 8, the goal is for everyone to maintain a deep and continuous focus on equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging all year round.

And while we've made significant progress over these past 111 years since the first IWD, we still have a long way to go, and Cornerstone aims to support that mission. As a company, we celebrate women and work to create an environment free of bias and gender stereotypes.

You too can help #BreakTheBias faced by women in the workplace and society.

Whether you're a man, woman or nonbinary, we can all take some time today, this week, this year to discuss with our coworkers how together we can change perceptions and create positive change for women in our workplaces.

But what does gender equality look like in practice? And how would the world be different? Here are a few talking points to get you started directly from the women of Cornerstone.

Breaking the Bias: Women of Cornerstone speak out on what living in a gender-equal world means to them

At Cornerstone, we have a Cornerstar resource group called Women @ Cornerstone. This group is a place where Cornerstars can engage, inspire, and amplify our community of women here at Cornerstone. This group aims to encourage and empower the women of Cornerstone by providing a place to learn, connect, and grow. We encourage all women (and allies!) to join and engage in the group. There is no better way to learn than by actively participating within your organization and outside!

• "For everyone: the freedom to choose your own unique life journey and be respected for the achievements you value" – Doris Patterson, engineering
• "A gender-equal world is to have the same responsibilities and opportunities to grow, to be respected and valued, no matter if you are a man, a woman or nonbinary." – Diana Luna, customer excellence manager
• "A gender-equal world means Education for girls everywhere, women in politics, and leadership positions as a foundation for a peaceful, prosperous, and sustainable world!" – Nadine Buis Lecomte, EMEA sales & account management
• "Imagine a world free of bias, stereotypes, and discrimination. Imagine the endless possibilities when we'd focus on talent only." – Anja Freiheit, senior customer experience manager
• "A gender-equal world: To be free to pursue a career, Education, and any lifestyle you choose without discrimination." – Jennifer Stone, senior Salesforce analyst

How content can help break barriers

It's easy for people to ignore the problems that aren't affecting them personally. "I've never felt discriminated against as a woman, so everyone else must be overreacting." "Every woman I know makes more money than me, so pay inequality must not be a thing." And that lack of personal connection can make it difficult to convince them that something is broken.

While there is no perfect playbook for how to engage in these types of conversations, providing a model to guide people can really help. And it's what our newest Cornerstone Originals learning series, A Seat at the Table, is designed to do.

A Seat at the Table offers an innovative approach to diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging training. Across eight courses, the series features unscripted, meaningful conversations about important DEIB topics, such as how to talk about pronouns, racial discrimination, depression and more.

Now go #BreakTheBias

This Internation Women's Day do what you can to #BreakThe Bias and be the catalyst your organization needs to create conversations and changes that last the entire year.