International Women’s Day is meant to be a protest
Image: Freepik
Has International Women’s Day lost its clout? What started as a protest movement needs to go back to its roots and beyond feel-good celebrations if we want to see lasting equitable change. Here’s what the whisky industry can do.
I have a confession to make. I didn’t know much about the history of International Women’s Day (IWD) until I was asked to speak at a non-profit event this week. IWD is celebrated on March 8 each year, as you’ll soon find out from the deluge of features, corporate blogs and social media posts.
Despite being a news-reading woman during a time where we’re seeing our rights rolled back around the world, I hadn’t entirely grasped the full urgency of the causes that IWD claims to address.
Image: Creative Commons
As the need for actual equity, fair pay, and safety for all marginalised genders increases, so too does the commercialisation of IWD. From fluffy ‘celebration’ talks and social media posts to the sale of merchandise, IWD has become toothless in recent years. Much like Pride, companies are in it for the PR while doing very little to further the cause. Is the timing a coincidence? I don’t think so. Politicians and corporations benefit and inequalities remain entrenched when we’re too busy being distracted by so-called progress to pay attention.
A quick note: for the avoidance of doubt, this piece is advocating for the rights of all women. Including trans women, Palestinian women, refugee women. ALL women.
The history of International Women’s Day
International Women’s Day started as a protest movement in the early 1900s. There’s debate about exactly when and where. But there is a whole heap of evidence that documents groups of women gathering together to demand the right to vote, access to food, and political change.
Did IWD begin in New York in 1908 when women garment workers took to the streets in protest against terrible working conditions and against child labour? Their action echoed the marches of predominantly Jewish women some 50 years before, who wanted to shorten the length of their working day from 16 hours to the 10-hour days men had. Their 1857 action resulted in women being allowed to join trade unions for the first time.
Image: Timelessmoon
Did IWD begin across continental Europe in March 1911, when millions of women across Austria-Hungary, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland took part in over 300 demonstrations calling for the right to vote and hold public office? They were inspired by the first International Socialist Women's Conference held in Copenhagen the year before.
Did IWD begin in St Petersburg in 1917, when women textile workers started the ‘Bread and Peace’ protests against food shortages and Tsarism that spread across the entire city? These demonstrations are widely considered to have been the start of the February Revolution, which along with the October Revolution, led to the downfall of the country’s Tsarist autocracy.
I like that it’s difficult to pinpoint the origins of IWD. Because it speaks to the collective power of organic movements all around the world. But note: all of these moments, and the many, many more not mentioned here, are based on action, not celebration.
Why protest matters today
Women enjoy more freedoms than ever, right? That’s something to celebrate? In some ways, sure. But when abortion rights are being rolled back in the US and challenged in other countries, when men can exclaim ‘your body, my choice’ and encourage others to do the same without any consequences, it doesn’t feel like there’s much to be happy about.
Image: UN/Flickr
When women and girls continue to be disproportionately affected by forced labour, human trafficking, and child marriage, I don’t want to ‘raise a glass to women’s progress’.
And these rights rollbacks aren’t just happening in faraway lands. When I was researching my IWD talk I discovered the following, all of which are happening in the UK right now.
The UK is now sitting at its lowest ranking for workplace equality in a decade.
Women aged 26-35 do 34.6 hours of unpaid labour a week (think: housework, caring responsibilities etc) compared to 17.4 hours for men. On average, across all age groups, women carry out 60% more unpaid work than men.
A 2023 report found that 63% of people in the UK said they were not prejudiced at all against trans people – an 18% FALL from when the same question was asked in 2019.
A 2025 report found that around 2 in every 10 adults are in poverty in the UK, with 3 in every 10 children in poverty.
In 2022-23, 20% of ALL CRIME RECORDED BY THE POLICE was violence against women and girls.
It’s a pretty bleak picture. And an urgent one. It’s time to put those celebrations on ice and get to work.
What’s this got to do with whisky?
These all stem from political problems, some might argue. Whisky – like most sectors – should be apolitical. This isn’t the industry’s fight.
I disagree. And I disagree strongly. It is impossible to separate the corporate from the political, especially in this climate. Just look to the Jack Daniel’s maker Brown-Forman rolling back its diversity, equity and inclusion policies (DEI) after political pressure.
So what can whisky businesses of all sizes do? What about us as individuals?
Businesses need to do better. ‘Supporting women’ needs to be tangible. And hijacking International Women’s Day purely for PR purposes must stop. At least until measures like the following are taken. This is not an exhaustive list. Equity is not an easy problem to solve. But let’s start with some of the most urgent things first.
As a bare minimum, pay your people the national living wage. Women are 50% more likely to be low paid than men, with 18.7% (2.8 million) of jobs held by women paid below the real Living Wage compared to 12.6% (1.8 million) of jobs held by men.
Make perks actually useful. Sure, yoga classes are nice, but what about providing food? What about providing paid leave and flexible working to make caregiving (which predominantly affects women) actually possible? Look over your policies and look over them again. This is about the basics. 14% of people who use food banks in the UK are in work. Get on it.
If you offer healthcare, make sure that includes contraception and access to abortion. Make sure your policies are trans-inclusive, too.
Are men enabled – or indeed encouraged – to take up caregiving and other responsibilities? If it’s always the women in your team taking short-notice leave to collect a sick child from nursery or do the school run and never the men, ask yourself why.
DEI policies are NOT perfect. And if you’re compelling your team through HR threats to, say, include women in boozy evenings out or to not use transphobic or racist language, obviously it’s not going to work. Same goes if you see DEI as a simple tick-box exercise. Work on the culture as a whole. Hire, train and promote women and people from other minority groups. This is especially important in whisky, which, as we all know, has been male-dominated for so long.
Violence against women and girls is a serious problem – treat it as such. Especially in the era of Andrew Tate et. al. Misogyny has no place in whisky. Take a zero-tolerance approach to inappropriate ‘banter’, bullying and harassment. Women are still penalised for raising sexual harassment at work. Employers should take their duty of care here seriously. Especially in environments where alcohol often flows, which can be seen as an ‘excuse’ for bad behaviour.
Image: Stockcake
We all need to work on this as individuals, too.
Men: advocate for women. In every room. In every conversation. Nearly half of young men like Andrew Tate. While he is clearly not the cause of gender inequality, his popularity serves as a barometer for how bad things have become.
Men again – I don’t mean to go in on you (honestly), but for the love of whisky, do your fair share of unpaid labour. Seriously.
All of us need to get organising, whatever that looks like for you. Campaign. Join a union. Get involved. If the history of IWD shows us anything, it’s that change can – and does – happen. But it’s through communities, and community action. Companies and politicians don’t just change things for the better. Profits come first.
Representation matters, sure. But at this point, just making sure people’s basic needs are being met – safety, access to food, being able to care for their families without fear of being fired – matters more. Women are disproportionately affected by all of these things. Instead of taking the easy wins – social media posts showing off women in the team, hosting panel talks – wouldn’t it be wonderful if whisky took the lead as an industry that tackled these real, entrenched forms of equality?
Every time you see a performative distraction post this International Women’s Day, remember that it’s meant to be protest. Let’s get to work.
