What Are the Vibes This International Women’s Day?

Today is International Women’s Day—and as with every other holiday that marks the passage of time, it’s a chance for reflection, celebration… and existential crisis.

As we turn the page on another year in women’s history, the picture can feel mixed, the progress hard won, the challenges mounting, world events somehow even more tumultuous.

As a woman or non-binary person, is your life better than it was in 1975, the first year the United Nations marked IWD? The answer feels like it can be both “yes” and “no,” even within the same area of life we’re measuring. Gender inequity is somehow both better (there are more women in the C-suite!) and worse (director-level women are leaving their jobs at the highest rates ever!). For every stride forward we’ve made (the FDA approved a first-of-its-kind pill to treat postpartum depression!), it feels like there’s been a freefall backwards (Roe v. Wade overturned!). We live in a time when a movie about Barbie can be both a critique of modern feminism and an excuse for us all to get together with our girls dressed in pink, while also being a billion-dollar film directed by a woman that’s shut out of all the major Hollywood awards.

Suffice it to say: It’s an interesting time to be celebrating the state of the world’s women, which is why we thought we’d do an informal vibe check, polling a few women from diverse walks of life for their thoughts on #IWD2024. Their feelings were predictably complex—and surprisingly positive.

For example, Elara Verret reports feeling “driven” this International Women’s Day.

“As I grow in my career, I’m seeing more and more the impact women have on me, and the drive that it’s making me feel as a leader and a woman in my position to bring that to the next generation,” says Verret, vice-president of marketing, e-commerce and visual presentation at Reitmans, a national women’s clothing store in Canada.

It’s not that she’s unaware of the sense some might have that women have taken a step back, however. Through COVID, for example, she’s witnessed the impact the pandemic had on women’s mental load and mental health, all against a changing business landscape and rising cost of living.

“I don’t think that should be minimized, but I think one of the great things that also comes from that is this aspect of being our authentic selves,” Verret says of the more honest conversation many of us are having. “I feel like COVID really brought out this sisterhood of realness, and I’m here for it.”

That more authentic sisterhood is what she’s celebrating this IWD. “I see it within my team, within our organization, my network—this idea of coming together and talking about the good, the bad and the ugly, and how we can help ourselves out,” Verret says. “Versus, I would say earlier in my career, there was this idea of ‘Let’s tear each other down as women to get ahead of the others,’ and that’s not the vibe anymore.”

That said—and despite the fact that she works at a company whose board is 45 percent women and an executive team that’s 50 percent women, statistics that far exceed the average female representation in these spaces—Verret acknowledges the need to keep on pushing, particularly when it comes to the gender wage gap and the number of women who left the workforce during the pandemic. “It’s two steps forward, one step back, but that’s still one step forward,” she says. “We have to keep at it over time. I’m choosing to stay in that positive realm.”

As the mother of a 7-year-old boy, she’s also choosing to use this IWD to continue the conversations she has with him about the importance of gender equality.

“It’s really important for him to know that from the beginning,” she says, pointing to a recent example at school where boys and girls play soccer on different days so they’re never on the field at the same time. “His assumption was that girls don’t play soccer, because he didn’t see them,” she says, adding that it’s “silly” that they’re even being split by gender for sport at that age. “You know, yes we want to empower women, but we also want men to be strong supporters of women as well.”

Rachel Wong, co-founder of networking platform Monday Girl, says she feels “energized” this IWD.

“Our growth is a clear indicator of the progress being made toward gender equality in the workplace,” she says. “What's driving my optimism this IWD is the real success stories from our platform—women landing dream jobs, gaining confidence and breaking barriers.”

From her perspective as president and CEO of the Ms. Foundation, Teresa C. Younger is buoyed up by a sense of optimism born out of the universal bond women can share.

“This has been such a difficult and challenging time for women, and I feel much more connected to the sisterhood and siblinghood, which is a global connection to what’s going on,” she says. “Really understanding what’s happening to our sisters who are caught up in systems of war, those who are caught up in systems of oppression who cannot be themselves, and those whose bodily autonomy is being taken over by governments and systems.”

Younger just got back from the 2024 Black Feminist Forum in Barbados, an event that she says was attended by women from 50 countries speaking eight languages.

“I don’t think my heart has been more full, more joyful, more connected than that,” she says. “When I think of International Women’s Day this year, I’m happy that we are on this side of COVID, because while we’re still in a very challenging time, we can still be connected to each other.”

Younger has a few more reasons to be cheerful this IWD: The number of women and non-binary folk who are running for political office with “equity and gender inclusiveness” at the heart of their campaigning; the strengthening of the relationship between elders and younger people in the movement. “I’m [also] excited that people are finding their voice, and challenging the narratives that are out there to be more inclusive, more expansive and honest,” she says.

On the flip side, however, there are more than a few things troubling her as we mark this day of women’s action. “I’m horrified that women are still not at the negotiating tables in these times of war,” she says. “I’m heartbroken for decisions like those in Alabama [which ruled that an embryo created through IVF should be considered as a child] that are so restrictive on not just determining whether women can have an abortion, but on how we get to control our bodies, and whether we have a family or what that family size looks like.”

She is also “furious” that women continue to be “dehumanized” like this, especially somewhere like the United States which she believes should be leading the way. “I’m also really taken aback by all the movement around the elimination of DEI, and the vilification of women, particularly Black women, in this country.”

And while March—also Women’s History Month in the US—is usually the busiest time of year at the Ms. Foundation, Younger emphasizes that the work of International Women’s Day doesn’t begin and end on March 8.

“On International Women’s Day, I know in some places people get flowers. I think it reminds us that we should be giving each other flowers every single day,” she says. “Almost every major movement in this country and across the globe has been started by [and] supported by women and girls. We are still leading the cause, we are still calling for what needs to happen.”

And, as she points out, the people who are affecting that change are not the big corporations with their once-a-year celebration of women. It’s the smaller, grassroots organizations who she says are doing the most work for the lowest remuneration.

That’s why, if you’re looking for one meaningful thing to do this IWD, Younger suggests making a $2 or $5 donation to your favorite local non-profit, many of which are run by women.

“Also, buy flowers for a gender-expansive person or woman in your life that matters to you, and say thank you to them,” she says. “And the other thing to do is make sure that you’re registered to vote—and vote!”