March 8th is celebrated the world over in many different ways, and often used to
advocate on issues affecting women and to inspire others for positive change.
Believe it or not, the day’s origins go back as far as 1908 when 15,000 women
took to the streets of New York to march in demand for shorter hours, better pay
and voting rights.

Still in 2023, we are calling for the businesses and governments to address the
gender pay gap. For example, in the European Union the gender pay gap stood
at 12.7% in 2021 and only changed marginally over the past decade.
In the United States, it was reported that all women were paid 83% of what men
are paid in 2022, be the US Department of Labor. And, women of colour are paid
even less. Unfortunately, Black women are paid 64% or 64 cents to every dollar
and Hispanic women were paid 57% or 57 cents to every dollar earned by white
non-Hispanic men.

At the recently held virtual Lunchtime Chat hosted by the University of the
West Indies to mark International Women’s Day executive director at Compete
Caribbean, Dr Sylvia Dohnert, highlighted that the majority of large corporations
were owned by men and women-owned businesses were in the minority.
This year’s theme for International Women’s Day is #EmbraceEquity, a call to get
people talking about why equal opportunities are no longer enough and can in
fact be exclusionary, as opposed to inclusive