International Women’s Day observance is always a highlight of my year. I’ve been privileged to be at the heart of planning events and afforded the opportunity to share my perspectives by speaking on panels and contributing articles. Interestingly, I have noted some recent developments that perhaps signal it’s time to rethink how we approach adoption of IWD global themes.
For several years, almost everyone I knew that was involved in planning IWD celebrations used the IWD website. We usually aligned with the stated theme and hashtags, downloaded collateral, briefed speakers and organized our panel discussions accordingly.
A couple years ago, Priya Bates and Advita Patel – respected communication professionals whom I follow on social channels, uncovered that the IWD site is owned by a marketing company. They raised salient questions about their motives and questioned the substance of their yearly themes. We were therefore encouraged to look to UN Women for guidance on the global theme.
Well, here’s the thing – the IWD website was always ready several months in advance. By December 2025 they had a 2026 theme, ‘Give to Gain’. This would facilitate planning such as booking speakers internally and externally, producing a video series, employee spotlights, community activities etc., all aligned to a global theme.
Meanwhile, since late November many folks like me were awaiting word from UN women, while quietly starting to shape our own plans.
In a January LinkedIn post, Claire Josa, author and coach, published her views on this IWD conundrum and shared the ‘official’ 2026 theme ‘Balance The Scales’. This turned out to be the theme for UN Women Australia.
Finally, on January 12, the global UN Women organization released their theme, ‘Rights. Justice. Action. For ALL Women and Girls‘. I’ve since heard comments:
- Is this a theme or a statement?
- What’s the clear call to action?
- Isn’t it late? We need more than 8 weeks notice if we are aligning to a global theme.
To be clear, I have no issue with this theme; it is a powerful statement that urges us to take action to dismantle the structural barriers to equal justice for all women and girls. However, is there room for a better marriage between marketing and meaningful action?
Surely there can be a timelier approach to launching global themes and it’s hard to deny the benefit of having relevant, well-crafted, and neatly packaged materials months in advance. Late theme announcements reduce the ability of organizations to develop contextually relevant initiatives.
In any case, all of this got me thinking.
As communication and engagement leads should we be waiting on a global theme?
Within our organizations are we collecting the data, having the conversations to understand what issues women are facing, unearthing where inequity exists, and being brave enough to implement actions to address issues both internally and externally in the community, where possible? That’s the real work. And without timely cohesion around a single global theme, we need to focus on the matter at hand within our own spheres of influence.
The surest way to derail a global movement is to become fragmented and mired in semantics. I believe that global themes can happily co-exist with local themes rooted in relevant organizational issues. It adds strength to the conversation if we focus on what will make a difference within our organizations while remaining cognizant that gender equity issues go beyond the workplace. This approach removes the pressure to wait and see what everyone else is doing, and opens the pathway to a more genuine exploration of what will make a difference to our own employees.
I am curious as to what approach my community is taking – are you following any of the global themes for International Women’s Day? Or have you created your own? How are you combining global inspiration with local action?
Whatever we land on in our various spaces, I am looking forward to listening to some rich conversations around how we will balance the scales and achieve justice and greater equity for all women, together.
#IWD2026 #Rights.Justice.Action. #BalanceTheScales #ForAllWomenAndGirls
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© Arlene Amitirigala 2026. All Rights Reserved.
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