Embracing Equity on International Women’s Day

Today is International Women's Day, and we are all called upon to #EmbraceEquity. As a woman who holds many roles – executive, leader, mother, mentor, coach, friend and ally – I actively work for equity every day. But today, I wanted to take a minute to share how I plan to #EmbraceEquity. 

I will embrace equity as an executive by championing the policies and procedures that create equity. 

• Pay equity takes diligence and a united dedication by the entire leadership of an organization. At Allison+Partners, we review pay constantly to ensure we always have parity. 
• Healthcare is an often-overlooked source of inequity. As leaders, it’s critical that we review our organization’s healthcare coverage to ensure all employees have the access to the health and wellness coverage they need the most. 
• Representation matters. We must all do our part to ensure all who identify female can look up, down and to every side and see people like them. 

I will embrace equity as a mother. I will raise my daughter to be strong, vocal and to never settle. I will raise her to always keep one hand reaching up for what’s next and one hand reaching out to bring others along with her. I will raise my son to be an ally. I will raise him to understand his privilege and teach him to use his voice to create equity for the women around him. 

I will embrace equity as an ally. I will never lose sight of the fact that I have privilege and my experience as a woman is not that of many others who identify female simply because of where they live or what they look like. Gender equity does not just exist between the sexes but within our own community. We must see each other as equal, or others never will. 

International Women’s Day may only be 24 hours and Women’s History Month only 31 days, but the fight for equity is every day. Our sons, daughters, mentees and all those who identify as female are watching and listening.  

Anne Colaiacovo is president of A+P North America and is accountable for the financial performance, new business, and management of the agency’s 13 U.S. offices. A dynamic and innovative leader, Anne was the agency’s first and youngest female partner, named one of PRWeek’s “40 Under 40”, and has earned industry recognition from PRWeek, PRovoke, AdAge and the Public Relations Society of America.