Women Breaking Barriers and Shaping the Future
By Natalie Lange, VP of People and Culture at AVOW
Every year, International Women’s Day (IWD) serves as a powerful reminder to celebrate women’s indispensability and highlight their strengths and achievements. In 2025, the theme #AccelerateAction pushes us beyond conversations into decisive, bold action. Incremental change is no longer enough. Real progress demands urgency, commitment, and an unwavering focus on dismantling systemic inequalities.
One of the most impactful ways to drive change is to ensure that every discussion, decision, and innovation includes a woman’s perspective. Representation isn’t just about numbers—it’s about actual change and transformation.
It’s Time for Companies to Lead with True Diversity
To truly bring thoughts into action, businesses should not just talk about diversity but live it. It’s about every day, not just International Women’s Day. In my current organization, my two dynamic women leaders and I face three (fantastic!) men across the table. While we value our collaboration, we also firmly believe that true success doesn’t come from just balancing numbers or looking skin deep. Rather, it comes from fostering real diversity in thought, gender, and background. This is what makes a company not just a successful business but also a great workplace.
Let’s be clear: one woman’s presence among eight men does not create equal representation. Instead, it reinforces underrepresentation. No matter how strong, a single voice cannot carry the weight of an entire gender. If we truly want innovation, fairness, and success, we need multiple women in leadership who are actively steering decisions, influencing strategy, and shaping company culture.
Women Must Shape the DNA of Businesses
A company’s DNA, culture, values, and decision-making frameworks will only truly reflect women’s perspectives if women actively lead and shape their direction. Having women in leadership isn’t and shouldn‘t be about optics; it should be about ensuring that policies, strategies, and innovations consider the realities of half the world’s population.
Why Women’s Leadership Matters:
- When women lead, workplaces become more inclusive and equitable, benefiting all employees.
- When women shape business strategies, products and services become more reflective of diverse consumer needs, driving better market success.
- When women influence policy, communities, and economies thrive as decisions account for diverse social and economic realities.
We’re not just here to be included. We’re here to lead. Or, as Queen Beyoncé famously put it: Who runs the world?
Beyond Corporate Leadership: Women’s Rights Are Human Rights
A Reality Check: The Struggles We Cannot Ignore
Across the world, women and girls face systemic barriers that restrict their opportunities. Access to education, economic independence, and personal freedoms remains limited, while gender-based discrimination, violence, and exclusion from decision-making structures persist. Women in conflict zones bear the additional burdens of war, displacement, and insecurity, often without representation in peacebuilding efforts.
Thus, how can we discuss equality in leadership when so many women still struggle for basic needs, security, and freedom?
At its core, International Women’s Day is not just about workplace policies or career progression—it is about fundamental human rights. It is a moment to recognize and stand in solidarity with those whose struggles go beyond corporate discussions of leadership quotas and wage gaps as they continue to fight for dignity, security, and a voice on the global stage.
True progress means advocating for the rights of all women everywhere.
Accelerating Action for Lasting Change
Talking about gender equality is no longer enough, and we need action. Accelerating change requires:
- Equitable Leadership: Organizations must move beyond diversity targets and actively cultivate workplaces where women don’t just participate but lead.
- Gender-Responsive Innovation: From product design to policy-making, it is imperative to challenge default male-centered approaches and ensure solutions address diverse needs.
- Allyship and Accountability: Progress isn’t just a women’s issue—it’s a collective responsibility. Leaders from every aisle must commit to advocating for systemic change.
The Future We Shape Today
International Women’s Day 2025 reminds us that we cannot slow down while we celebrate progress. The necessity of a woman’s perspective isn’t just about fairness—it’s about creating a world that works better for everyone.
The power of #AccelerateAction this International Women’s Day lies in moving forward with urgency, ensuring that every decision we make today builds a stronger, more equitable tomorrow.
Organizations must champion women’s leadership—because when women lead, communities thrive, barriers break, and possibilities grow. And if anyone still doubts the power of women leading, we’ll just remind them: We run the world.
Don’t forget to use the hashtag #AccelerateAction on LinkedIn this International Women’s Day