Spotlight on Celebrating Women in March: 5 Social Impact Campaigns to Watch

By: Michele Egan

As a woman-owned and women-led company, For Momentum is keenly aware of the importance of calling out the accomplishments of women in the cause marketing space at every opportunity. This is particularly critical given the pandemic’s disproportionate impact on women. We are pleased to see many campaigns celebrating Women’s History Month and March 8 International Women’s Day striving to address the effects of COVID-19 and positively impact gender inequality and economic disparities. We also pause this month to acknowledge and support March 24th as Women’s Equal Pay Day. This day symbolizes how far women must work into the year to earn what men did the previous year.

Take a moment to learn more about how these dedicated months and days came to be and the ways nonprofits and corporate partners are making the most of the platform.

The History of Women’s History Month

In 1981, the United States Congress passed legislation designating March 7 as the beginning of Women’s History Week. In 1987, the timeframe was expanded to include the whole month of March.

The Evolution of International Women’s Day

International Women’s Day has been much longer in the making ̶ with the first stirrings in 1908. Women of the day marched through New York City for voting rights and better working conditions. The movement spread across several European countries over the next three decades. The first official International Women’s Day was acknowledged by the United Nations in 1975. Today, it is celebrated March 8.

Back to the Present: 5 Social Impact Campaigns We’re Excited to See Unfolding

1. CARE: Celebrate Every Woman For International Women’s Day, CARE celebrated women as leaders, problem solvers and change makers. They partnered with presenting sponsor P&G to engage individual donors to send CARE packages to women around the world. Awareness and funds were raised through the celebrity endorsements of singers Chaka Khan and Idina Menzel who re-made the song, “I’m Every Woman”, which was widely promoted on social media #ImEveryWoman.

2. Dress for Success: Your Hour, Her Power In honor of both International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month, Dress for Success partnered with Arm & Hammer, Sonobello and Chloe Wine Collection to raise awareness and funds to open up opportunities for underserved women. The campaign extension “31 Days of Women in Power” highlights women leaders and their stories of empowerment. The fundraising ask was for one hour of pay to give a Dress for Success woman access to programs, services and tools to help her achieve economic advancement.

3. Secret Deodorant: Raise It Up Secret Deodorant has made a $1 million pledge to help foster gender equality through assistance with paying for safe and affordable childcare and providing workforce development for 100,000 women across their partner YWCA network. Supporting 12 communities that continue to be impacted by the pandemic, the goal is to ensure that moms are able to re-enter the workforce with family-sustaining jobs, while celebrating those moms’ strength, bravery and intuition to inspire all women.

4. LogiTech: Defy Logic Women only receive 2% of venture capital, and women of color receive a fraction of that. The “Defy Logic” campaign is a partnership between LogiTech and EnrichHER to highlight the endeavors of women who defy industries, genres, careers, expectations ̶ anything in their path ̶ in order to create and do incredible things. It funds underinvested women so they can enrich their communities with new businesses.

5. LEGO: Future Builders Celebrating orginality, LEGO’s “Future Builders” campaign celebrates International Women’s Day and today’s young women on their journey to becoming the decision makers, role models and changemakers of the future. Based on their 1981 “What it is is beautiful” ad, LEGO provided an online tool to submit a photo of your child holding their design and complete a quiz to generate a unique poster celebrating your child’s creative style. LEGO is partnering with UN Women, leveraging their Women’s Empowerment Principles to build a more diverse, equal, inclusive and family-friendly workplace.

How are you responding to the call for women’s equity this month or any month? And where are your campaigns landing? We’re here to help you contribute to this very near-and-dear cause. Contact us to collaborate anytime.