Celebrating International Women’s Day 2021 with the theme #ChooseToChallenge

Celebrated around the world on 8th March every year, International Women’s Day is about marking the achievements of women and about challenging inequality. Each year organisers choose a new theme that we can use to help raise awareness and to inspire us to focus our efforts. This year, the theme for the day is #ChooseToChallenge, which encourages women to challenge whatever is holding them back.
 
The International Women’s Day website states: “We can all choose to challenge and call out gender bias and inequality. We can all choose to seek out and celebrate women’s achievements. Collectively, we can all help create an inclusive world.”
 
At Leigh Day, we’re not allowing the COVID-19 pandemic to hamper our efforts this year. We are launching a Talking Law podcast hosted by Sally Penni MBE, Founder of Women in the Law UK, and our current Managing Partner, Frances Swaine. Through this podcast we are celebrating the successes of a trailblazing and inspirational lawyer who has challenged inequality throughout her career.
 
Our Women’s Committee identified imposter syndrome as something that could be holding many people back and something that we choose to challenge this year. Imposter syndrome is the feeling that we haven’t really earned our accomplishments or that our ideas and skills don’t deserve other’s attention It is a feeling of fraudulence and is something that was experienced even by Maya Angelou and Albert Einstein. To empower our colleagues and open to everyone, the Committee has organised an online interactive workshop aimed at helping people to combat their imposter syndrome. The workshop is being led by award-winning coach, Donna Smith.
 
We are also proud to announce that the firm has made the commitment to the Law Society’s Women in Law Pledge. The Pledge is a commitment to setting and achieving targets to improve gender equality in the workplace and to help achieve gender equality across the profession. Leigh Day is proud of the fact that 66 per cent of our colleagues and 59 per cent of our partners are women, but we recognise that there is always more to be done.
 
Some of our Committee have chosen to write letters to their younger selves. These letters are aimed at encouraging others and helping to raise awareness of the issues that women face. Others have written a blog highlighting some of the successes Leigh Day has had in the employment field challenging inequality.
 
Finally, members of the Women’s Committee and others have made their own pledge to challenge something this International Women’s Day. What will you choose to challenge, today and going forward?