Women's History Month and International Women’s Day are celebrated in March. There are many inclusive and engaging activities for your team to promote diversity and celebrate the contributions women make in the world. Check out our Women's History Month ideas below and see how your organization can recognize incredible women in March. 👇
What is Women's History Month? 👀
Did you know this month-long celebration actually began as National Women’s History Week in the early 1980s? However, following the request from women leaders of the National Women's History Project in 1987, Congress made the nationwide celebration a month-long holiday honoring the steps made towards gender equality, now celebrated every March. 🎉
Why should you honor Women's History at work? 🤔
Whether or not it's March, it's always time to empower women in your workplace and celebrate their journeys and achievements. 💪 The awesome women you work with deserve it — every one is a role model and your company wouldn’t be the same without them.
As a bonus of showing your appreciation and empowering women through inclusion efforts, your company as a whole can benefit. Here are some examples:
- According to Forbes, showing the rest of the world that you celebrate and appreciate women makes your company more attractive to Gen Z job seekers — who, by the way, account for most of the new talent pool today.
- By celebrating women in the workplace, you embrace diversity and build a more inclusive environment, which according to McKinsey, makes the organization more likely to achieve profitability.
Now that we’ve covered a little history and given you a few reasons to celebrate, let’s get into how you can celebrate the month with some interactive and educational activities. 👏
1. Learn about women artists 🖼
When you think of famous artists, the first names that come to mind are likely Pablo Picasso, Vincent van Gough, Claude Monet, or Salvador Dali, to name a few. But how many women-identifying artists can you name? Broaden your knowledge of the inspiring women who have shaped art history all over the world with a virtual museum exploration!
A global art tour with a knowledgeable guide is a great diversity and inclusion activity to learn about famous women from different backgrounds. Plus, it brings museum programming to team members who don't have the same access where they live!
How to get started 👉 Celebrate trailblazing women with an Exploring Women in Art class today! 🎨
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2. Host a movie or book club 📚
Encourage employees to gather for a movie club to learn real-life stories from women in literature and film. Choose a movie to watch or book to read as a team, and find time to gather at your local coffee shop over lunch for some meaningful dialogue and discussion. Engaging in an educational discussion serves as an excellent professional development activity for the diversity calendar.
Gathering with colleagues to discuss stories from diverse backgrounds encourages employees to share complex ideas and build better communication within the team.
How to get started 👉 Make some popcorn and learn from Diverse Women in Film! 🎥
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3. Play some team building trivia 🧠
Celebrate, and create a safe space for competitive team building, with a round of trivia all about Women's history! Feature questions about the works of female authors, activists, and other historical figures, as well as fun pop history about TV, music, and movies!
Trivia is a great team building experience for small groups and remote teams to work together, and learn something new at the same time!
How to get started 👉 Buzzers ready? Recognize women and their achievements in Women's History Trivia!
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4. Wear purple 💜
Colors have a unique meaning in celebrations, and purple is Women's History Month's color. Celebrate International Women's Day, or month, with a splash of purple in the office! This is an easy employee engagement opportunity for your diverse workforce to show solidarity with the female employees in your office.
We always recommend direct action first, but this is a great idea to combine with the others on this list!
In addition to other inclusion and diversity activities for Celebrating Women's History Month, wearing purple is the simplest way to show off a unified and inclusive work environment!
Pro-planning tip 👉 Switch up the décor with purple accents, make purple Zoom backgrounds, and encourage everyone to wear some purple during March.
5. Enliven the virtual office with music 🎸
Working remotely can get quiet. Why not make some noise for Women's History Month with a virtual Boom Box? If you've ever heard of Name That Tune, this Confetti event will offer your team an upgraded version of that classic. With the help of a live host, you'll play five rounds of nonstop hits from female artists and bands who have shaped all genres of music through the decades.
The team that identifies the most album art, song titles, and lyrics wins the game. Best of all, teams get extra points for injecting some hilarity into their answers. If music is the language of the soul, then there's no better way to celebrate Women's History Month than to help your team members connect on a deeper level and find music that speaks to them.
How to get started 👉 Don't put your Women's History Month celebrations in a box. Book Confetti's unique Boom Box: Women in Music Edition activity today.
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6. Help women build leadership skills 💪
More than three-quarters of Gen Z employees believe learning new skills is essential to career success. What better way to encourage the women in your office — especially those who have just entered the workforce — to achieve professionally than to offer leadership development opportunities? These can come in several forms:
- Mentorship programs
- Employee resource groups
- Lunch and learns
- Conference events
- Virtual training sessions
No matter what format you choose, focus on content that is geared toward helping women gain leadership skills, expand their professional horizons, and achieve their goals.
How to get started 👉 Ready to help the women in your office take their careers to the next level? Book a leadership workshop or interactive activity!
7. Make space for reflection 🫶
Encourage team members to reflect on women who have impacted their lives in an inspiring way, and share reflections with the group. This can include women in their personal lives or women in the workplace that have made a positive contribution.
Make sure to acknowledge gender disparity in leadership roles and the importance of uplifting women in all areas.
How to get started 👉 Schedule a 30-min coffee chat to give team members the time and space to come together and reflect. Groups can be broken down into smaller groups of 3-4 so everyone gets a chance to share!
Celebrate women all year long with Confetti 📆
Our company likes to take the “year-long” celebration approach – aka, we’re always championing our outstanding women on the team.
We go out of our way to source from women-owned businesses. Our gender equity efforts include comprehensive healthcare options for all women and gender-non-conforming employees to cover their medical needs.
And, did you know? Confetti is comprised of 64% women employees, with 70% of our leadership team being women (not even counting our CEO!).
Of course, there’s always more to do. But, empowering the individuals who work with us is always at the forefront of our plans, and diversity and inclusion activities are a great place to start!
Celebrate Women's History Month with a team building activity from Confetti!
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