INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY 2025

International Women’s Day serves a dual purpose: it recognizes and celebrates women’s social, political, economic and cultural progress throughout the globe, and serves as a clarion call for further action. IWD 2025 is built upon the conviction that women cannot be fully empowered until the cultural and systemic barriers which infect them inside and outside of the workplace are torn down.

Women cannot advance by word alone. The appetite for change needs to be matched by the implementation of transformative strategies, resources and targeted activities. The World Economic Forum has stated that, without such momentum,  another 5 generations of women will endure sexual discrimination. This urgent message underpins the 2025 IWD  campaign’s focus on Accelerating Action: recognizing and implementing the changes required for achieving gender parity.  

This opinion piece focuses on 2 arenas where women continue to struggle: their physical safety and their mental health. Recent figures suggest that just under half of working women around the world are fearful about their personal safety when commuting or travelling to work. For some women, the anxiety about their safety continues even when at work. Some women disclose that they are subjected to abuse by their clients or customers; others add that they are the targets of microaggressions, harassment, and inappropriate comments or behaviours – often from senior colleagues.  The figures for women from ethnic minorities, or with disabilities is higher. Does anyone believe that women can thrive in this environment? How can anyone fulfil ever increasing targets, let alone develop the skills needed for career progression whilst enduring hostile or sexist behaviour?

Rates of depression and anxiety amongst women in the UK workplace have continued to rise over the past 30 years, with higher levels reported than amongst their male colleagues. The prevalence of poor mental health amongst women in part reflects the increasing job demands that follow a downturn the economy. Often triggered by a chauvinistic and inimical workplace culture, poor mental health is exacerbated and perpetuated by the pressures of dual responsibilities (family and work). Women continue to bear the main responsibility for domestic and family responsibilities, irrespective of the salary they ear relative to their partner, or the number of hours they work.

A report earlier this year found that mental health diagnoses for both women and men increase in households where women have become the primary breadwinner, upsetting the traditional family set-up. The rise in neurosis and stress-related disorders was more marked in urban and educated women. The time when women are typically focused on moving into leadership roles often coincides with their looking after teenagers as well as aging parents. It is no surprise that the mid -40s marks the median of female divorce and, sadly, the highest rate of female suicide. Additionally, for most women, the decade from 45 years is also characterized by (peri)menopause, with its biological, social, physical, cognitive and emotional challenges. Whilst there is plenty of noise around this topic, only 20% of working women state that their companies have explicit policies to assist them through menopause. In the absence of organizational support, many choose to leave or else stay and suffer in silence.

The time for action is now. Rather than state that women are more vulnerable, it is time to acknowledge that the organizational and emotional burden carried by many women is both taken for granted in the U.K., and excessive. Educating women themselves, as well as the institutions and corporations  where they work is at the heart of the mission of Women’s Work Matters. Unless we use IWD 2025 to accelerate social and organizational change, women will continue to be at a disadvantage relative to their male colleagues.

Accelerating Action must start with enhancing knowledge about mental health. We have to end the private and public stigma that attaches to mental illness. Everyone of us can play a part, from the grassroots to public bodies and charities, to the top echelons of government. Talking is a good start, but of little value unless underpinned by adequate investment in the resources and actions needed to effect this change. Business and Industry together need to create an equivalent of the NHS Long-Term Workplace Plan with 3 clear objectives: train, retain and reform.

The economic arguments of such an approach cannot be gainsaid. Presenteeism (being physically at work, but cognitively and emotionally absent) results in decreased productivity and efficiency that reduces the profitability of a company. We are not talking about employees whose condition meets the threshold for a diagnosis of a clinical disorder, but rather those who turn up for work with reduced motivation, impaired focus, poor job satisfaction, and ever decreasing loyalty to the company.

Why are women in this situation?

Why do women tolerate working in environments that are unsafe and why do they not disclose their challenges with their mental health? Can we identify a common explanatory factor? The research conducted by Women’s Work Matters has found robust evidence that women in the UK workplace are fearful. Fearful that if they report a senior male colleague, they will either be disbelieved, marked out for ridicule, passed over for promotion – or even dismissed. Forty percent of UK women who had suffered microaggressions at work did not report them to a manager; one third of female victims of sexual harassment also remained silent.  Ten percent of women who tried to discuss their mental health with managers report receiving a dismissive reception. In 2025. In the country that holds itself to be an exemplar of gender parity awareness.  

In the UK, we are quick to point to countries where violence against women is culturally tolerated or where female political representation is either forbidden or very limited.  Perhaps the more apt lesson to be learned is that it is not possible to defeat misogyny solely by talking. In India, where Prime Minister, Modi called for a change in the mentality towards women, violence towards girls and women increased by over 26% in the 6 years from 2016  because it was not accompanied by action. Following the murder of Sarah Everard in London in March 2021 by a serving Metropolitan police officer, a former female Chief Superintendent told the BBC that female police officers feared reporting incidents involving male colleagues because they would they be vilified; further, they feared being ignored if they radioed for help when dealing with street brawls. Harassment and abuse tended to be dismissed as banter – the same response cited by working women in other sectors for remaining silent and enduring behaviour that should not be tolerated in the workplace or public square.

We have an epidemic of mental illness in the UK and a culture of fear and shame around disclosing our human needs. The Telegraph newspaper has just reported that 5 million days of sick leave were taken by UK civil servants over the past 2 years, with 1.7 million related to poor mental health. Last year, the total number of days lost amounted to 2,500 years. Congratulations to the Civil Service for recognizing that we cannot function without good mental health. But the challenge on International Women’s Day 2025 is more than the necessary objective of accelerating education and knowledge about mental health. It is a call to embed strategies and measures focusing on gender equality throughout society. Women’s Work Matters supports the campaign to ensure that organisations develop and implement policies both to support working women and to guarantee that the workspace is a safe space where women can speak up without fear or favour.   

Dr. Nikki Scheiner
February 2025