The history of International Women’s Day dates back to 1908, when some 15,000 women marched on New York City in the name of better working hours, fairer pay, and the right to vote.
Three years later, the first official IWD was celebrated throughout Europe as more than a million women rallied for the right to work, hold office, vote, and end gender discrimination.
photo: Erik McGregor, Getty Images
One-hundred-plus years later, we’re still having many of these conversations, and it’s women in the business community, who are leading the charge. In honor of IWD 2019, here’s a look at some of the female entrepreneurs who are trying to change the world, the policies they’re championing and the advice they’d give to women everywhere:
“I try to not focus on, ‘I’m a female entreprenuer, I’m a foreigner.’ I focus on what I’m good at,” says Shirin Behzadi, the Iranian-American CEO of home furnishing juggernaut Home Franchise Concepts. Watch our interview with Behzadi here.
Even among the richest of the rich, a glass ceiling still exists. Of the 2,153 billionaires on the 2019 Forbes World’s Billionaires list, only 12% are women. Here are the stories of these female entrepreneurs—and a look at the top 10—of the richest self-made women in the world.
Christy Coleman is the first woman and first African-American to lead the American Civil War Museum. “If my presence helps people understand [racism’s] impact is still relevant, then I’m fine with that,” she says in this story on leadership lessons from Coleman’s career.
From the “Success with Moira Forbes” series, a look at what some of business’ most powerful women have to say about how they overcame adversity:
Which women in business do entrepreneurial icons like Jamie Kern Lima, Melanie Whalen and Tory Burch most admire? Moira Forbes asked and got some great answers—watch them here!
We could add $28 trillion to the global GDP if we reached full gender equality in political office and boardrooms by 2025. These are the policies that could help us get there.
