International Women’s Day: A pause that still matters
By Dr. Priscila Periera, Director of Research & Innovation, Shape Talent, and Sharon Peake, Founder & CEO, Shape Talent
International Women’s Day (IWD) isn’t just a moment to celebrate. It’s a moment to pause, to reflect, and to recommit; a day to recognise women’s achievements while also being honest about where equality still falls short.
That’s why the question keeps coming back: Do we still need it?
The answer is simple. Yes, because the work isn’t finished.
Why IWD is still needed
Progress towards gender equality has been real. But it hasn’t been equal, and it hasn’t been linear. Shape Talent’s recent research with more than 7,000 women across Europe finds patterns many organisations will recognise: women remain underrepresented at senior leadership levels and everyday biases still shape who is heard and promoted [i]. Globally, the picture is even clearer, according to the World Economic Forum (WEF), at our current pace we are still well over a century away from full gender parity, with estimates suggesting it will take 123 years to reach full parity worldwide if progress continues at the current rate [ii].
A scary past that’s closer than we think
The UK today is often cited as one of the better-performing countries on gender equality. In the WEF’s 2025 Global Gender Gap Index, for instance, the United Kingdom is ranked 4th in the world, – a huge jump from 14th in 2024 [ii]. And yet, many women alive today grew up with legal realities very different from those of young women now. For example:
- 1975: The Sex Discrimination Act 1975 made it unlawful to discriminate on grounds of sex in the provision of goods, facilities and services, helping to curb discriminatory practices in areas such as credit and mortgage lending. Before this, many women encountered barriers in financial services, including lenders requiring a male guarantor or treating women’s income as less reliable, which limited independent access to credit and mortgages.
- 1991: Marital rape was recognised as a crime in England and Wales. In October 1991, the House of Lords in R v R abolished the old common-law “marital exemption,” confirming that marriage does not imply irrevocable consent to sex and that a husband can be prosecuted for raping his wife.
- 2003: Sexual offences law in England and Wales was significantly modernised through the Sexual Offences Act 2003. Crucially, it put a clear statutory definition of consent into law: a person consents only if they agree by choice and have the freedom and capacity to make that choice (Sexual Offences Act 2003, s.74). The Act’s offences are framed without any spousal exemption, finally reflecting the principle confirmed in R v R (1991) that rape within marriage is a crime.
None of this is ancient history, it is lived experience. If you’re in your 40s today, there’s a real chance your mother entered adulthood while women still routinely faced barriers to independent access to credit and financial services. And if she married before 1991, she married before the law fully caught up to protect a basic human right: that marriage is not lifelong consent to sex. Holding that reality alongside the UK’s high gender-equality ranking today puts progress in perspective: it shows both how much has changed, and how deeply culture can lag behind the law.
Furthermore, the restriction of women’s rights for much of the 20th century continues to manifest in the labour market today. It’s legacy shows up in persistent gender pay gaps, unequal access to senior roles, and the normalisation of sexual harassment at work, demonstrating that while laws can change quickly, workplace cultures shaped by historic power imbalances take far longer to dismantle. For example, in the UK in 2025, women’s median hourly pay was 6.9% lower than men’s for full-time employees, and the gap widened to 12.8% when all employees were included [iii]. Also, a UK Government commissioned survey found that 29% of people in employment experienced sexual harassment in the workplace in the previous year, with women disproportionately affected [iv]. The report explicitly links harassment to workplace power dynamics and gender norms, not individual behaviour alone.
The illusion of permanence: rights that are still fragile
It’s not just about how far we’ve come it’s also about how easily progress can be stalled or reversed, sometimes without much attention. Some rights exist on paper but are only partially realised in practice.
Take shared parental leave in the UK. Legally, parents can share leave after a baby’s birth. But it’s paid at such a low statutory rate, and so inconsistently supported by employers, that the policy remains out of reach for most families. The law may say it’s possible, but the system often says otherwise. In fact, a government evaluation found that only around 1% of eligible mothers and 5% of eligible fathers actually take up Shared Parental Leave, largely because most families can’t afford to use it under current conditions [v]. In short, some “rights” are not fully felt in everyday life.
Globally, we’re seeing just how fragile progress can be. In the United States, the 2022 Supreme Court decision Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturned Roe v. Wade (and Planned Parenthood v. Casey), ending nearly 50 years of federal constitutional protection for abortion rights and returning primary authority over abortion regulation to individual states. The result has been a patchwork: in many states, trigger laws took effect immediately or soon after the ruling, sharply restricting or banning abortion access. These moments remind us that legal change can happen in an instant, whereas cultural change rarely does, and neither can be taken for granted [vi].
I often describe the pursuit of gender equity as trying to fill a bucket full of holes, the moment you stop pouring in effort, progress starts to leak away. Achieving change is one challenge; maintaining it is another. This is especially true when systems like patriarchy are woven into culture, institutions, and social norms. Equity work is never “finished,” because the structures we’re working within constantly regenerate the very patterns we’re trying to shift.
That’s why IWD still matters, not as a one-off marketing campaign or a feel-good calendar date, but as a collective pause to ask ourselves: What are we building? What are we at risk of losing? And what will we recommit to, now?
Using IWD well
International Women’s Day doesn’t need to be perfect; it needs to be intentional. When used well, IWD can serve as a launchpad, a moment to share real data and real stories, to listen to lived experiences, and to turn public commitment into concrete action that lasts beyond a single day.
Critically, it’s not about excluding men. It’s about involving everyone in building fairer systems. Rigid gender norms, after all, don’t only harm women. Many men today either no longer fit or no longer want to fit the traditional breadwinner role. True equity, done well, creates more humane and flexible systems for everyone.
What actually drives progress is meaningful engagement and accountability from leaders of all genders. Progress happens when leaders treat equity as an ongoing commitment, part of core business and culture, rather than a one-off publicity campaign. It happens when organisations set targets, measure outcomes, and hold themselves responsible for improvement.
Real progress happens when International Women’s Day prompts sustained action, not when it’s treated as a symbolic tick-box.
For 10 meaningful, non-performative ideas on how to celebrate IWD, we have created a short downloadable guide here.
References
[i] Shape Talent. (2025). The Three Barriers® to women’s progression (3rd ed.)
[ii] World Economic Forum. (2025). Global Gender Gap Report 2025. Geneva: World Economic Forum. Retrieved from https://www.weforum.org/reports/global-gender-gap-report-2025
[iii] Office for National Statistics. (2025). Gender pay gap in the UK: 2025
[iv] Government Equalities Office. (2021). Sexual harassment in the workplace: Government survey findings. UK Government.
[v] Department for Business and Trade (UK). (2023). Shared Parental Leave: Evaluation report
[vi] TIME. (2023) What Abortion Laws Look Like in the U.S. One Year After the Fall of Roe v. Wade. Retrieved from https://time.com/6288526/abortion-laws-map-2023-dobbs-anniversary/
FAQs
Q. Why is International Women’s Day still important in 2026?
A. International Women’s Day remains essential because gender equity is far from achieved. Despite progress, women are still underrepresented in leadership roles, face persistent pay gaps, and experience workplace harassment at disproportionately high rates. IWD provides a necessary pause for reflection, recommitment, and action.
Q. Has gender equality improved in recent years?
A. There has been progress in many areas, including education, policy, and leadership representation. However, according to the World Economic Forum (2025), we are still 123 years away from reaching global gender parity if current trends continue. Progress has not been equal, nor guaranteed.
Q. Is International Women’s Day just for women?
A. No – IWD is for everyone. Gender equity benefits all genders by challenging outdated norms, making workplaces more inclusive, and creating flexibility for diverse life paths. Men, trans, intersex and non-binary people also benefit from dismantling rigid gender expectations.
Q. How can organisations use International Women’s Day meaningfully?
A. To make IWD meaningful, organisations should focus on real data, listen to lived experiences, and turn statements into action. This includes setting equity goals, auditing progress, improving policy, and fostering inclusive cultures – not just launching one-off campaigns.
Q. What is the connection between legal rights and workplace culture?
A. Legal rights can shift rapidly, but workplace culture takes longer to evolve. Many rights (like shared parental leave or protection from harassment) exist in law but are not fully realised in practice due to stigma, financial barriers, or weak enforcement.