The Importance of Celebrating Women in Business

Celebration can take many forms. Most of us imagine a party with balloons and cake, or a nice dinner out with champagne. One of the most significant forms is celebrating our colleagues in the workforce. Women long ago won a hard-fought battle for the right to work, but we have yet to arrive at a place where women are widely welcomed, nurtured and celebrated for their significant contributions in business.

What does it mean to celebrate? Celebration calls us to be mindful of the subject, imbuing them with importance, gratitude and happiness. Celebration recognizes value in uniquely meaningful ways. It involves investing our resources to lift someone up, communicating to the group that this person matters and deserves our attention. All of us have a deep desire to be celebrated, and as a society it is one of the most important ways to communicate love. In the workforce, this can be shown by expressing gratitude verbally, giving public recognition, mentoring for career development, or taking time out of our routines and being mindful with an event. When we celebrate a colleague their confidence goes up, work performance increases, and our connection becomes stronger.

Women in business are not celebrated enough. According to the US Department of Labor, women made up 46% of the workforce in 2016, and yet in that same year women made only 79 cents to every dollar paid to a man. With this metric, it is hard to see how women are getting the gratitude or recognition they deserve. One important way we can advance our success as women is to celebrate each other. Showing our gratitude and appreciation of women’s contributions will motivate and inspire us and will show society that we matter and deserve recognition.

So let’s lift each other up! Show the world we matter, and that we deserve celebration. Oprah wisely said, “the more you celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.”