10 Organizations Celebrating International Women's Day in a Powerful Way

It’s finally here — International Women’s Day — and this year, the theme is #BalanceforBetter. It’s a call-to-action imploring businesses and organizations around the world to focus on achieving gender balance. These are just some of the ways that different organizations and business are celebrating IWD this year. What will you do to help support #BalanceforBetter this year?

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1. Peet’s Coffee

This International Women’s Day, Peet’s Coffee is celebrating by featuring two of their women-grown coffees in stores. Guests can choose between Las Hermanas, a Fair Trade coffee made in Nicaragua, or their 2019 Anniversary Blend, which is a woman-grown blend of coffee from Rwanda and Colombia. Up to $50,000 of the proceeds of the blend will go to an entrepreneurship program that supports women in the coffee industry in Huila, Colombia. Any excuse to drink coffee, right?

2. Etsy

To celebrate IWD, Etsy is launching a “Fearless Women Capsule Collection,” which will feature a curated selection of products that “celebrate popular female heroes like Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Rosa Parks, Malala Yousafzai, and dozens of others,” according to a press release. Another reason to support Etsy any time of year? A whopping 87% of Etsy sellers are women, so any time you shop there, you’re supporting them.

3. Google Play

In honor of International Women’s Day, Google Play is featuring games created by women in the Play Store from March 1st through March 9th, and will also feature movies, books, and audiobooks that have strong female protagonists. Women-created games like Words With Friends 2, Symphony, and Monument Valley 2 will all be showcased.

4. Pyrrha

Pyrrha, a jewelry store in Los Angeles that also sells online, is teaming up with Dress for Success this IWD. Dress for Success is an international non-profit organization that helps provide professional attire to women living in poverty to help them secure stable employment. This International Women’s Day, Pyrrha is donating 50% of all sales both online and at their flagship in Los Angeles to Dress for Success.

5. Vibrate Higher

A woman-owned clothing and wellness products brand, Vibrate Higher will donate 100% of all proceeds collected on IWD to the Vibrate Higher Foundation’s upcoming Women’s Health Day in Haiti, which will focus on improving women’s access to healthcare in the country. The rest of the year, a purchase with Vibrate Higher also does good, as for each item sold, Vibrate Higher donates a solar lamp to a family in Haiti, where 63% of residents live without electricity. Just one lamp can make a difference for a family, providing safety in the darkness, more time to study after school, and making it so they don’t have to rely on dangerous and expensive kerosene to power their lights.

6. Muscular Dystrophy Association

This year Lynn O’Connor Vos, the president and CEO of the Muscular Dystrophy Association, is focusing on the official “#BalanceforBetter” theme of International Women’s Day. This theme focuses on her campaign to make the nonprofit world more gender-balanced. Though about 75% of employees in the nonprofit sector are women, men in this field tend to hold more leadership positions and are paid more. However, women-led nonprofits tend to be more successful and have better employee satisfaction, so Vos hopes that by raising awareness and intentionally trying to better the balance, more women will get into leadership roles in the nonprofit world.

7. IF/THEN

Announced just in time for International Women’s Day, Lydia Hill Philanthopies‘ IF/THEN is a new initiative that seeks to get more girls into STEM careers. Its focus will be funding and supporting women in STEM, working with other industries to highlight the importance of STEM in all fields, and encouraging positive representations of women in STEM in the media, which will hopefully help young women feel inspired to explore careers in STEM fields.

8. Lou & Grey

In honor of International Women’s Day, clothing company Lou & Grey has announced that by 2020, all of its clothing will be made in factories that have HERproject programs. According to a press release, “HERproject’s mission is to unlock the full potential of women working in global supply chains through workplace-based interventions on health, financial inclusion, and gender equality.” Lou & Grey has worked with HERproject since 2014, but this is the first time they’ve committed to fully transitioning to a supply chain that fully participates in HERproject’s programs.

9. Adidas

Adidas has launched the next phase of its She Breaks Barriers campaign in an effort to increase visibility for female athletes. The campaign will comprise of a new short video series featuring raw, emotional and inspiring personal stories. Why? Because if girls see other girls play sports, they too will feel empowered to play whatever sport they feel like playing.

To help young girls who play sports get more visibility, Adidas is partnering with Twitter to livestream the six games in the Three Stripes Live’s high school sporting events globally via the social platform.

10. S&P Global

Back in January, S&P Global launched the #ChangePays social media campaign to highlight the financial and business benefits of gender equality in the workplace. Today, in honor of International Women’s Day, they’re doing something a bit more visual. In New York at the Oculus at the World Trade Center, a physical sculpture the size of a New York City bus called “Change Pays” will be displayed to the public. The public art installation will feature currencies from around the world but instead of men’s faces, the currency will feature the faces of women. The installation will be on display from Friday, March 8th beginning at 7 am EST through Tuesday evening, March 12th so if you can get to New York between those dates, we definitely recommend checking it out.

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