Catalyst Blog

March 8 marks International Woman’s Day, a global celebration of women’s social, political and economic achievements. This year’s official theme, “Pathway to Decent Work for Women,” highlights the deep links between women’s economic empowerment and a safer, healthier, and more sustainable world.

What better way to mark the day than by celebrating it with new friends who share Catalyst’s mission?

I am in Tel Aviv this week to launch Catalyst’s first Israel Census. Over the next several days, I will be speaking to leading business women and men, NGOs, women’s groups, and academics about the Census findings, plus highlighting a theme I discussed in Catalyzing last week: “What’s measured gets done.”

Central to the new Israel Census, plus Catalyst’s just-released 2010 Catalyst Census: Financial Post 500 Women Senior Officers and Top Earners and 2010 India Benchmarking Report, is the belief that you can’t fix what you can’t see. Precise counts of the number of women in business leadership allow us to take stock of how far we’ve come—and how far we need to go—to hit parity in the workplace.

Catalyst aims to change workplaces and lives on the global stage, so look out for more of our research in more countries in the future. In the meantime, here’s to the many wins for women this past year, and a happy International Women’s Day to all!

One by one, people are starting to get it. What’s good for women is good for the world.

Last month began with the Women Deliver conference in Washington, DC on the economic impact of global maternal health. Then, days after the inaugural G(irls)20 Summit in Toronto, nearly 40 CEOs endorsed a UN-led initiative to empower women by promoting gender equality at work. The following week, the UN Economic and Social Council opened in New York with speakers calling for women and girls to be placed at the centre of the global struggle to achieve a set of UN development and anti-poverty goals.

All four events shared one simple message: women are the key to solving the world’s problems.

It’s all about access. When a woman accesses work and education, she can build a bustling economy in villages, towns and cities. When a woman accesses adequate healthcare, she can see to it that her  family’s health improves. When she can access women in political and business circles as role models, she becomes an active contributor. And when she gets access to political or corporate leadership, she can shape policy to further improve the lives of women, men and children.

It’s a cycle of positive change. And women are at its core.