International Women’s Day 2025: How to Support Women in the Workplace

Quick look: It’s International Women’s Day, a time to celebrate the many achievements of women worldwide! Including women throughout every business level is linked to increased sales, innovation, and employee engagement and retention. Here are six impactful ways to empower women in the workplace—not just on International Women’s Day, but every day.

Happy International Women’s Day! This recognition takes place annually on March 8 and is intended to be a day to celebrate the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. Incredibly, the first International Women’s Day took place in 1911 and was supported by over a million people. Read on to explore how employers can #AccelerateAction and prioritize uplifting women throughout the year.

About International Women’s Day 2025

International Women’s Day features a different theme each year, and 2025’s is #AccelerateAction.

According to the holiday’s website, #AccelerateAction aims to emphasize “the importance of taking swift and decisive steps to achieve gender equality. It calls for increased momentum and urgency in addressing the systemic barriers and biases that women face, both in personal and professional spheres.”

What’s it like for women at work?

International Women’s Day has several missions, one of which is to “forge inclusive work cultures where women’s careers thrive and their achievements are celebrated.” Before we dive into how employers can tackle this, let’s first review what the workplace is like for the 79 million working U.S. women today.

McKinsey’s Women in the Workplace 2024 study, which surveyed over 15,000 employees from nearly 300 companies, found that:

• Women comprised 29% of C-suite roles in 2024 (versus 17% in 2015).
• Of those C-suite positions, women of color hold just 7% of them, while white women hold 22%.
• Progress has been slower for other positions, with 48% and 39% of entry- and manager-level jobs being held by women in 2024 versus 45% and 37% in 2015, respectively.
• 70% of all women want to be promoted to the next level this year (the same amount as men), with 80% of younger women seeking a promotion.

In 2024, women earned an average of 84% of what men did, a ratio similar to 2002, when women earned 80% as much as men. Further, McKinsey estimates that it will take 48 years for the representation of white women and women of color in senior leadership positions to reflect their share of the U.S. population.

Despite some setbacks, women provide tremendous value to their employers. Gender-diverse teams have been shown to result in:

• Increased job satisfaction
• Improved collaboration
• Unique perspectives
• More supportive, flexible workplaces

6 ways employers can #AccelerateAction

While progress has been made for women in the workplace, much more lies ahead. International Women’s Day is the biggest employee engagement day of the year, but employers can honor the holiday and make a difference in women’s lives daily in several ways.

1. Prioritize parity

The first step toward addressing inequity is identifying it. Creating a fair workplace isn’t a one-time task that companies can check off a to-do list—it’s an ongoing journey.

Leveraging workforce management software, like ExtensisHR’s DEI Dashboard, can help you monitor progress and outcomes by evaluating hires from previous years and providing real-time data regarding pay equity, salary trends across both race and gender demographics, employee turnover, promotions, and more.

2. Start at the top

It’s important that change is supported and communicated by top leadership in your organization.

Encourage executive leadership to communicate their commitment to gender equality by discussing the company’s efforts in town halls, annual kickoff meetings, quarterly business reviews, and more.

3. Include women at all levels

From job candidates to C-suite executives, involving women in every level of your business is imperative.

When it comes to recruiting, HR departments can build a hiring pipeline that actively includes women at all career stages, from entry-level roles to executive-level positions. Similarly, leadership should proactively confirm gender diversity across departments.

4. Focus on flexibility

Burnout continues to affect everyone, including many women. Recent research shows that 44% of working women are burnt out from their jobs, compared to just 36% of employed men.

Businesses can show they understand and accommodate a healthier work-life balance by providing flexibility, whether it’s through adjustable work hours, the choice to work remote or on a hybrid schedule, or the opportunity to change from full-time to part-time work.

Flexibility can help businesses retain their staff who are mothers or caregivers. A previous McKinsey report found that 38% of mothers with young children say that without workplace flexibility, they would need to leave their company or reduce work hours.

5. Encourage collaboration

For women in any role, connecting with a mentor of the same gender can be invaluable. Employers may offer mentorships both within and across different departments. It’s beneficial for women employees to tap into the knowledge and experience of those who came before them, even if that mentorship is unofficial or comes from outside the company. Additionally, businesses can involve newly hired women in virtual speed networking sessions where they can connect and create relationships with leadership and other colleagues.

Collaboration can also come in the form of support and resource groups. In addition to the communication methods outlined above, businesses can launch an internal women’s support group, where staff can meet regularly, host special guests, and share experiences from their personal and professional lives.

6. Provide two-way communication

Including women in various departments and career levels and offering work-life balance flexibility is important—but the need for those women to be heard is just as critical.

Companies ought to establish formal channels for women (and all employees) to report any incidents of bias. These anonymous channels could include a tip box on the company intranet, a confidential telephone line, or an email or text helpline. To ensure your workforce is aware of and comfortable using these tools, leadership should encourage employees to speak up and advocate for themselves (and others).

#AcclerateAction with a PEO partner

Creating a more accommodating workplace requires intentional and continuous planning, evaluating, and adapting. While the process may be complex, its benefits can positively impact every aspect of an organization. Fortunately, you don’t have to navigate this path alone—a professional employer organization (PEO) can offer guidance at every stage of the journey.

A PEO provides a range of HR, employee benefits, and risk and compliance services to help you build a more diverse, woman-friendly work environment. For example, when you partner with ExtensisHR, you receive access to a dedicated HR Manager who can act as a sounding board for your equitable initiatives and help you create compliant policies on flexible working arrangements, mentorships, and more. Additionally, ExtensisHR offers a dashboard highlighting actionable, real-time data to help you make informed and impactful decisions.

The tools and resources you need to support women and #AccelerateAction at your business are just a click away. Explore ExtensisHR’s PEO solution, or contact our experts to chat today.