International Women’s Day (IWD) is celebrated on 8 March every year. This global event is dedicated to recognising, celebrating, and empowering women while driving action towards gender equality.
The International Women’s Day organisation selects a theme to promote collective impact each year. The theme for 2025 is ‘Accelerate Action’, which presents the perfect opportunity for businesses of all sizes to drive change.
Every contribution matters—no matter how small—and small businesses can influence change by supporting women in their communities. At 1st Formations, we’re committed to this initiative and encourage other founders to join us in making a meaningful impact.
In this blog, we’ll highlight some of the biggest challenges working women continue to face today and explore practical ways that small businesses can show their support this International Women’s Day.
Key Takeaways
- International Women’s Day is an annual event on 8 March dedicated to celebrating women and advancing gender equality.
- Some of the biggest struggles women still face today include the gender pay gap, workplace promotion inequality, and a lack of flexible working, compromising their opportunities to balance work with home life. These challenges show how much progress is yet to be made to achieve gender equality.
- Small businesses can take action during this International Women’s Day by supporting women in their organisations and local communities. Impactful initiatives include implementing mentoring programmes and donating to a charitable cause.
Challenges working women are facing today
Despite significant progress, we have a long way to go to support women in the workplace and achieve true gender equality. Below are some of the biggest struggles working women continue to face today:
Gender pay gap
The gender pay gap is the difference in average earnings between men and women. PwC’s Women in Work 2025 report compares the UK’s gender pay gap to its historical performance. Here’s how it has changed over time:
Not much has changed since 2011. Although the gender pay gap has reduced from 16.5% to 13.3%, improvements have been marginal. With the exception of 2020, the UK has remained above the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) average.
Overall, pay disparity in the UK is slowly reducing. Still, with the UK ranking 18th across the OECD (down one place from 2022), the gender pay gap remains one of the biggest challenges and inequalities women continue to face.
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A recent TUC analysis reveals that the gap effectively means that women work for free for 48 days out of the year compared to the average man. The reasons for this are twofold: women tend to be in lower-paid roles and are more likely to work part-time than men.
Paul Nowak, TUC’s General Secretary, said:
Everyone should be paid fairly for the job that they do. But working women are still waiting for pay parity. The Employment Rights Bill can help to close the gender pay gap by banning exploitative practices like zero-hours contracts that hit women the hardest.
In contrast, Iceland ranks first on the index for equal pay, followed by New Zealand and Luxembourg. PwC’s research explains that this strong performance is partly due to Iceland’s generous parental leave policies and childcare support, which have caused the country to reach the highest female participation rate (84%) across the OECD.
Workplace promotion inequality
Another persistent issue is promotion inequality. Generally, women are less likely to rise up the corporate ladder than men. This concept is also known as the ‘glass ceiling’, a metaphorical barrier that prevents women from being promoted to management and C-suite roles.
In a HiBob survey of 2,000 full-time professionals in the UK aged 25 and over, 40% of respondents said they believe men and women are not promoted equally in their organisations – despite 92% of women expressing confidence in their work versus 82% of men. And yet, just 16% of women received a promotion compared to 23% of men within the survey’s timeframe.
Promotion and career advancement inequality is a global obstacle. In the US, for instance, a recent McKinsey & Company report found that the proportion of women in C-suite positions increased by an incredible 70.5% between 2015 and 2024. However, this still leaves 29% of women in these roles compared to 71% of men.
Lack of flexible working
Generally, women continue to have more caregiving responsibilities than men. However, the lack of flexible working arrangements leaves many women stuck in a perpetual cycle of choosing between raising their children and pursuing their careers.
It feels impossible to do both. However, there is evidence to suggest that those who attempt to balance careers with caregiving seem to get penalised. A recent survey discovered that a shocking 74,000 women in the UK potentially lose their jobs every year for getting pregnant or taking maternity leave—an increase of almost 40% since 2015.
Emma Whitney, Director of Embryology and Genetics at the Evewell fertility clinic, expresses:
We expect women to work like they don’t have children, but we expect them to raise children like they don’t work.
Furthermore, according to a Women at Work 2024 report by Working Families, a government-backed support helpline for working parents, mothers are likelier to work reduced or part-time hours than fathers, despite the number of dads in part-time roles having increased since the pandemic. More specifically, 37% of working mothers were in part-time roles compared to 11% of working fathers.
Moreover, those who need flexible working the most tend to have reduced access. The report found that two-thirds of lower-income working parents had no flexible working arrangement.
The good news is that the recent changes to employment law will help bridge this gap. All UK employees now have a day-one right to make two flexible working requests per year, and employers must respond to requests within two months.
How 1st Formations is taking action: our commitment to supporting women
At 1st Formations, diversity, equity, and inclusion are core values. We have numerous corporate policies and practices to support the women in our organisation and communities. For example, we provide flexible working for parents. This includes flexible start and finish times and hybrid arrangements that align with their personal commitments.
We’re also developing a policy to support breastfeeding employees and give them a safe, comfortable, and hygienic space to pump.
Furthermore, we’re deeply committed to equal opportunities in the workplace. We actively support and encourage all the talented, ambitious women in our business, helping them advance their careers.
As a testament to our efforts, 42% of our management team are women. Although there’s still plenty of room for improvement, we currently exceed the global average of 34% for women in senior management positions.
Finally, our commitment to supporting women goes beyond the workplace. We’re proud to be a corporate partner of WONDER Foundation, a UK-based charity dedicated to empowering women and girls through quality education in over 20 countries across Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America.
Since 2012, WONDER Foundation has worked with over 30 global partners to transform the lives of more than 120,000 women and girls with livelihood skills, education, and confidence. As strong advocates for gender and education equality, we’ve been one of the charity’s dedicated corporate partners for nearly three years, regularly participating in local volunteering events and organising internal fundraisers.
Our latest volunteering day took place on Friday 28 February 2025, just in time for International Women’s Day. A group of 1st Formations employees visited WONDER Foundation’s volunteering centre in London, helping make the space functional and inspiring for the women and children who rely on it.
Our impact so far
“At WONDER Foundation, we are incredibly grateful for the support of all our corporate partners in empowering women and their families and transforming communities. Through their commitment, we have been able to expand our programmes, providing education and skills training to those who need it most. 1st Formations have now helped us reach over 800 children in Guatemala with quality education, gaining language skills, digital skills and confidence. Support like this creates a ripple effect of positive change that benefits entire communities.”
We’re proud to support WONDER Foundation not just on International Women’s Day, but every day. Their dedication to empowering women and girls through education is creating lasting, sustainable change, helping them build brighter futures for themselves, their families, and their communities.
International Women’s Day initiatives for small businesses
We hope small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) will unite this International Women’s Day to show their support for gender equality and take action to improve the lives and opportunities of the powerful and influential women around us. Remember that SMEs make up 99% of the UK’s business population; together, we can make a real difference.
Here are five practical ways small businesses can get involved this International Women’s Day:
1. Provide equal opportunities in the workplace
A great place to start is to set an example and promote equality by giving your teams equal opportunities in the workplace. This involves fair and equal pay, running regular pay audits to avoid pay gaps, and offering all employees the same career advancement prospects.
To achieve this, you should create and enforce clear policies that promote diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Encourage employees to give honest and constructive feedback about how these policies can be implemented or improved and strive to make your business a great place to work for all.
2. Offer flexible working arrangements
As we’ve seen, the work/life imbalance for working mothers is one of the biggest challenges professional women are still tackling. Therefore, consider implementing flexible working styles in your business if you don’t already. You could offer hybrid arrangements, allowing working parents to split their working week between home and the office.
A four-day workweek could also benefit those who need it. Employees can either work compressed hours or simply reduce their work week by a day. Not only would this help promote gender equality in the workplace, but your business could see higher productivity and happier and healthier teams.
3. Support female entrepreneurs
Another way to create an impact this International Women’s Day is to support the female entrepreneurs around you. This involves shopping locally and encouraging your colleagues and employees to do the same.
It can also involve forming partnerships with other small business owners in your community. Whether it’s a brand collaboration or working with new suppliers, look for women founders and work together.
If you’re unsure how to find female entrepreneurs, look for relevant accreditations and certifications, such as WEConnect International, the largest online community of women-owned businesses. The organisation connects female entrepreneurs with qualified buyers, providing access to essential funding, training, and equal opportunities that drive wealth and sustainable growth in their communities.
WEConnect International is a globally recognised certification. You can spot the businesses in this community with the ‘Women Owned’ logo in their branding.
4. Donate to charity
Is there a charitable cause you feel strongly about? Or do you simply want to show your support and gratitude through philanthropy? International Women’s Day is the perfect opportunity to make a difference by donating to a women-focused charity that matters to you.
You could make a one-off monetary contribution, sign your employees up for a volunteering day, or become a long-term corporate charity partner.
If you don’t have a particular cause, why not donate to the WONDER Foundation?
5. Implement a women’s mentoring programme
Implementing a mentoring programme to show the women in your organisation long-term support is worth it. This initiative is specifically dedicated to boosting women’s skills and confidence and providing them with new opportunities for growth and development.
You could also open the programme to external women seeking professional mentorship and career guidance. Our guide to mentoring for women provides more information on the importance of mentorship and how to introduce a programme in your business.
Accelerate action this International Women’s Day
We hope this International Women’s Day inspires you to take action towards creating a more inclusive, fair, and harmonious world for everyone, regardless of gender. Remember, even the smallest actions can make a big difference, so use this opportunity to support the women in your organisation and local community in meaningful ways.
Thanks for reading. Please leave any comments or questions below, and we’ll reply. Don’t forget to explore the 1st Formations blog for more articles and tips and advice for small business owners.
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