IWD 2025: Five actions for our industry

Last year I wrote about the prevailing ‘woman-washing’ that takes place on 8th of March, calling for leaders in our profession to implement actual policies that lead to change, not just put up token pictures of ladies in the office having lunch to mark International Women’s Day . For IWD 2025, it feels harder to talk about the glass ceiling when women around the world haven’t got roofs or tents to shelter under, because they were on fire, bulldozed and bombed.

We currently see the growth of a feudal broligarchy of bullies rolling back aid packages, cancelling climate action agreements, suggesting that genocide and property development go hand in hand and slashing DEI in the corporate world. What are we most afraid of? Gay marriage, a brown person in your workspace, someone using a toilet with the Prince sign, a woman in a leadership position – or that the west is totally losing its moral compass?

The issues are huge, doomscrolling is addictive and depressing, but completely switching off is just sticking our heads in the sand. John Thornhill in the FT writes about “inner emigration” as a coping mechanism that evolved in both Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia, and now on the rise “as an antidote to renewed totalitarianism.” It may seem like a way to retreat from a world that is falling apart, but it leaves the door open for someone to come in and create that new order when we’re not watching.

So – we start in our little net zero studio box in East London and remind ourselves that if WE don’t create the world we want to live in, someone else will. “If you don’t live by your own code, you’ll live by another’s” (Nicholas Carr)

As a small company of 8 people, we try to model equality. We’ve talked about it before – we are about 50/50 male and female. I recommend it – it makes the studio a nice place to work. We have a transparent pay structure, we seek out female collaborators, and I occasionally try to stick my head out and accept that in order to get more women into construction, those of us that are here need to be visible.

But our impact as a small company is limited. What else can we do?

With every voice of support, every group of people that are speaking up, others are inspired and enabled, and change can come. So, in line with this year’s IWD theme of Accelerate Action, we have put together a short list of micro-actions we can do in our professional lives.

We are pledging to take action for IWD 2025 (and in the future). Will you join us? Please let me know what else can be added to the list.

1. This spring we’re likely to hire someone. As before, we will encourage candidates from underrepresented groups to apply. We don’t want photos of applicants, and we remove the names in the screening process so portfolios can speak for themselves and we don’t get sidetracked by unconscious bias. 
2. We actively try to collaborate with diverse teams, consultants and experts. There is a notion that ‘there are not enough talented women’ available – look harder.
3. Use your voice to support women. Highlight the achievements of a female colleague on social media. Cheer for and engage with female colleagues that are using their voice publicly. Women are 30 times more likely to receive abuse online, and this number is significantly higher for black and queer women. This silences voices that need to be heard, we can not accept a world where only the thick skinned are engaged in debate. 
4. Call out panels, juries, events that put the same old faces on stage – as above – look harder for fresh voices. But at the same time, if you’re asked, and this is new territory for you, dare to show up!
5. Call out gender and racial bias in the images we surround ourselves with. Project illustrations and renders still land at the lowest common denominator of “white happy family with the woman doing the dishes.” 

Individually, we can’t change the world, but by collective action, our voices are louder, and inspire others. The first steps are the hardest.

This list of suggested micro actions is focused on what we can do in our workplaces. But there is also plenty we can do in our personal lives. There are some great lists available on the IWD website and elsewhere.

As ever, inclusion benefits everyone, and misandry is not a part of feminism.

Have a great IWD, let’s keep the momentum going.

Siri Zanelli