International Women’s Day, now well into its second century, has long celebrated the achievements of women – whether economic, social, cultural or political. This year, however, IWD’s calling on each one of us, individually, to Break the Bias. We’re being encouraged to stand up and demand an equitable world, where difference is valued and celebrated.

We’re not going to pretend that this’ll be easy. Hey, we wish this weren’t necessary. We wish that we had already come so far that we lived in a world of perfect equality. But we haven’t, as we all know. As 2021 drew to a close, the gender pay gap for all UK workers – those working full and part time – was a shocking 15.4%. We all got very excited in Spring 2020, when the media reported that fathers of young children were, on average, doing more housework and childcare in lockdown than ever before. Sadly, studies show that by September 2020, that trend had reversed and that mothers were still shouldering the burden of unpaid domestic work. And in many parts of the world, girls still have fewer educational opportunities than their brothers.

We’re all aware that bias exists. We’re all aware that it’s holding back women in many walks of life. It can be really hard to speak out against it – in our workplaces and schools and communities - but this is the challenge set to each of us by IWD this year. Can each of us commit to calling out bias and inequality and discrimination when we see it? At 9-2-3, we hope that our campaigning and operational work on flexible working gives women (and everyone else too) more opportunities to stay in the workforce, and to balance their professional lives with other commitments. We hope that this will help to close the gender pay gap, although we acknowledge that there’s still a long way to go. But we know that this is going to be a collective effort. Each of us will play our part in this movement. We hope that our children will look back at #BreaktheBias as a quaint anachronism, rather than an ongoing battle.

Before we go, we can’t help but address the elephant in the room. Of course, IWD is about celebrating the achievements of women everywhere, and fighting for equality. But it also seems an appropriate moment to pause and send our collective thoughts and strength to all of the women (and men, and children) who on this day are the victims of war. We all know that there are millions of women who, even as I write this and even as you read it, are sheltering in basements. Who are crossing borders, with no idea where they are going or what will await them when they get there. Who have lost loved ones. Who are desperately doing everything they can to keep their children or elderly parents or friends alive. On IWD, we salute their courage. It has sometimes been said that IWD can be summed up in one word: hope. Today of all days, we send all our hope for a better future to these women.