Executive Women’s panel: Joan Herbig, Joanna Irwin, Myra McElhaney (moderator) Becky Blalock and Helene Lollis

This Wednesday, March 8^th was International Women’s Day and some groups were calling women to stay home. Not work. Not shop. Not contribute. No show. Let the world see the economic impact of women not being available. I couldn’t stay home. Most of us couldn’t. We have jobs, appointments and obligations.

We can’t ‘no show.’ We can control where and how we show up.

On International Women’s Day I moderated a panel of executive women. We discussed how the workplace has changed for women over the years. More women in leadership positions; more people aware of behaviors that used to be commonplace actually being exclusive to women; more women with degrees and advanced degrees; still there are obstacles to overcome. Sadly, there still isn’t pay equality and experts say it’ll be years before the pay gap goes away. Although fifty-one percent of professional positions are now held by women only 14.6 percent of executive officers and 4.6 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs are female.

Some people say there’s no longer a glass ceiling. I don’t care what you call it. When there’s an equal number of men and women on the floor and very few rise above a certain level for unseen and unexplained reasons there’s something wrong.

While having women not show up would definitely make a point and maybe get publicity, I think having women show up, discuss the issues, share ideas to support other women and talk about the importance of mentoring the younger ones is a better idea.

Whether you stayed home, wore red or showed up in a way that supports other women; thanks for doing what you can to make the workplace better for our daughters, nieces and granddaughters.

Let’s do good by supporting other women!