Happy International Women's Day

Cross-posting this from our book blog... I was about to write about our annual International Women's Day tradition here at Raised Eyebrow, but Emira beat me to it!

(For those who don't know, Emira and I co-authored a book called The Boss of You: Everything a Woman Needs to Know to Start, Run and Maintain Her Own Business -- and we blog about women and business at www.laurenandemira.com.)

Those of you who've read our book know that we celebrate IWD as a stat in our own business, which means we're taking this coming Monday off in lieu of the Sunday event itself. We started the IWD stat as a kind of cheeky perk when it was just the two of us. A stat in March is always nice to break up the long break between the New Year and Easter (here in BC we don't have another official stat in between), and as a company that declares itself feminist it was one more way of making that declaration a reality. Now that we have staff (including men!) and have the opportunity to also give them the day off in recognition of IWD, I have to say it's even more rewarding. It's really wonderful having the office close down for a day in recognition of women and women's rights, and it's especially satisfying listening to our staff reminding clients that "we won't be in on Monday, because Raised Eyebrow recognizes IWD as as stat."

Now that we have a number of high-profile and big organization-type clients, I sometimes wonder how our clients will react, but I can honestly say that every single one of them responds with "That's a great idea!" or "Wow, we should do that too!". One of the most rewarding aspects of running a business for me has been modeling what business ideally looks like in my perfect world and having the opportunity to make that happen, even if it is just in our little corner of the economy. Recognizing IWD is just one of the little ways that we model change.

PS: Three ideas for celebration: Lunapads.com is holding their annual IWD mega-sale where they cut the prices of their entire online catalogue by 20% (the discount will be applied on checkout). It's a great chance to score some quality alternative menstrual products from a fabulous group of female entrepreneurs. Or, you know, you could always get a copy of The Boss of You for the gal in your life who's been itching to go out on her own. (Sorry, couldn't resist that one). Finally, if you don't feel like celebrating by spending cash, you can always pick a small posey of flowers for the women in your life. The Italians have a lovely tradition whereby the men give mimosa flowers to the women in their lives on IWD one that really should have made it across the pond by now in my humble opinion.

Happy International Women's Day to all of you!