International Women's Day: Are we nearly there yet? – Sneddon

We’ve all had that feeling when, knackered, you still have to dig deeper to tick just one more thing off the ‘to do’ list, either at home or in the office.

That’s why International Women’s Day on 8 March actually isn’t just about the ‘girls’. It’s about everyone, especially with this year’s ‘Give to Gain’ theme and a commitment to raise our game as people.

Gloria Steinem, world-renowned feminist, journalist and activist reportedly once said: “The story of women’s struggle for equality belongs to no single feminist nor to any one organisation but to the collective efforts of all who care about human rights.”

Because the fact is, however successful a woman’s career or well-balanced your life, childcare and the state of the world change the rules of the game for both men and women.

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A report from the Fawcett Society and Totaljobs shows the impact in numbers, with just a third of working mothers able to access the childcare arrangement they need, and 85% of working mothers struggling to find a job that will accommodate their childcare needs.

Some households have moved on, but there are also plenty that haven’t. The juggle is real.

However wonderful, family life can be hard for everyone. A sleepless night just before a big presentation to a new client with travel away from home might be a rough day anyway, and that’s without forgetting one of the kids’ packed lunches for the school trip.

Or even if it’s the norm, or with no one to delegate it to (because everyone’s ‘busy’ or there isn’t anyone), women often end up picking up the tasks.

It’s a truism that having a hugely successful career means you need a support network in place. But the reality is, some people (and often women) are simply doing it all and working around the clock to make it happen.

Let’s be honest, others making judgements at the school gates or desperately trying to create division, doesn’t help either. Let’s say it – the sisterhood could sometimes do with upping its game with more camaraderie, less of those ‘looks’ and more ‘live and let live’ all round.

Push, push, push

But it’s the extra strain that takes the toll. This is one of the clearest single things holding women back compared to men, no matter how supportive and generous your workplace is.

At work, we are all judged equally and want to perform at our best, although we’re not all operating from a level playing field.

For a start, we need an agreement that work and childcare are worth the same – in fact, we all know that childcare is harder a lot of the time.

It means a real discussion and full agreement on who does what and equal credit given for those responsibilities. But the trick is finding the time for that discussion.

But, somehow, even when women earn more, they still do more, possibly hesitant to take on the extra job of managing someone else through a list of tasks. And when men do become the main caregivers and try to get the balance right, they can be viewed with suspicion, derided or excluded from playdates.

In that sense, we’ve got a long way to go still in terms of getting that perfect environment to live and work in.

So, on International Women’s Day on Sunday, 8 March, let’s consider how far we still have to go and also remember those struggling even harder than we are.