Be bold for change

Today is International Women's Day, and the theme this year is "Be Bold For Change." The organisers are calling on all of us to help forge a better, more inclusive, gender-equal working world. 

Last night I wrote a long, impassioned blog post about gender equality in the workplace (and at home), about the pay gap in Australia, and about discrimination world-wide... but then I reminded myself that, by my own decision, this blog is not the right forum for those kinds of conversations. 

So, instead, I want to take this opportunity to celebrate hard-working women the world over. 

These little illustrations-in-progress are part of a commission that I'll be able to share with you shortly (I can't wait for THAT big reveal), made for a woman who, like many others, is also an artist, an entrepreneur, and a mother, trying to make a living while also giving up many hours of her day working for her family for free.

You can't see the faces of these women because they are supposed to represent you and me, and celebrate the beauty in our everyday lives. Reading, hiking, working, making. Bringing home the groceries, and multi-tasking on the phone.

Whether you are the CEO of a fortune 500 company, the CEO of your kitchen, or the CEO of your personal dreams, you deserve to be recognised and rewarded for your work in accordance with the contribution you make, and not whether the midwives tucked a blue or pink baby-blanket on you in the maternity ward the day you were born. 

Wouldn't you agree? 

* Raise this issue on social media to maximise awareness and support. Use the hashtags #IWD2017 and #BeBoldForChange to join the community discussion 

* Get involved in advocacy and find inspiration for other ways you can campaign - big and small - on the International Women's Day website here