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By Liam Verster
Choose To Challenge

International Women’s Day promotes equality, support and female empowerment in Grande Prairie

Mar 8, 2021 | 3:05 PM

March 8 is International Women’s Day, a day intended to raise awareness of inequality and promote changes that lead to more inclusivity.

The theme of this year’s International Women’s Day is Choose to Challenge, with organizations and industries demonstrating how they are working to challenge and call out gender bias and inequality.

Makayla Marcotte, the Director of Communications for Odyssey House, says they are always trying to break down barriers and create more opportunities for women to grow, but it’s been nice to see other industries doing the same to mark the day.

She points to a local oilfield company who have taken to social media to participate in the #ChooseToChallenge social media campaign that’s being run in conjunction with International Women’s Day.

“I just saw it when I was on social media posting our own stuff, but thought that was really cool because that’s an industry where maybe you wouldn’t have seen that inclusivity or that involvement before and now you’re seeing people take it upon themselves to celebrate the day and be involved in the day,” says Marcotte.

Marcotte says along with taking to social media, there are things people can do to make for a more inclusive world.

“They’re saying make your workplace more inclusive, forge better commitments and work together and celebrate those good moments and those winning moments,” says Marcotte.

She says it’s also important to have difficult conversations and take direct action to create positive changes.

“If you know that a company you work for doesn’t have maybe a great policy when it comes to a certain harassment claim, it’s going to HR and saying ‘Hey, we can do this better, can I support that [change].’ And I don’t mean that in a sense of pointing fingers, I mean that in a sense of choosing to stand up and work together to be responsible for your own thoughts, to be responsible for your own actions, to make it a safer space for women to achieve and to go forward.”

Marcotte adds that, along with promoting change and inspiring the tough conversations, the day is a great opportunity to celebrate women and their achievements and acknowledge the roles they play in a person’s life – whether as a mother, an employee, a teacher, or a role model.

by Liam Verster