This Month Is Women’s History Month!

Here at FL, it is International Women’s Day every day as we work all year round to support women’s causes. So we are excited to continue sharing the stories, achievements, and contributions of brilliant women, the trailblazers, the difficult ones, the unstoppable ones and the non-conformists because these stories will help us change the narratives that fuel injustice towards women.

The theme for this year’s, International Women’s Day, is Breaking The Bias.

From our experience working with thousands of women, speaking up, using your voice, and using that voice to challenge bias, can be a daunting task for many women – young or old.

This is why communities like ours play a vital role in giving female leaders the confidence and tools needed to seize opportunities to challenge the status quo.

Every year on March 8th, millions of women, men, and companies worldwide collectively celebrate women’s achievement whilst also reminding ourselves to keep working towards equality because, sadly, the world remains unjust for women across countries and industries.

Let’s take the publishing industry for example:

Gender bias in the book publishing industry is real. The result is that female voices, perspectives, and experiences are muted. This results in less published work from female authors as publishers disproportionately refuse to acknowledge or publish women’s works.

Reader bias means that whilst women are likely to read both female and male authors, men tend to choose male writers and recommend more books by men. Compound this with the fact that women’s work is less visible i.e. women receive less physical space, visibility in prizes, publications, and media attention even as they become published.

Last but not least, the racial bias in the industry has muted other voices. The publishing industry is 76% white so non-white female authors have it worse than white women. The #WhatPublishingPaidMe campaign revealed a shocking disparity in advances and salaries in the sector which places more value on white authors and their stories.

What can you do this international women’s day to #breakthebias?

1. Explore your digital or physical bookshelf and add some female authors.

2. Add female authors from minority backgrounds.

3. And of course, you can start with my book, Unstoppable Women. The book shares stories from 26 diverse women – to inspire and motivate the unstoppable mindset.

Buy it for yourself, a friend, a mentee, or an aspiring entrepreneur.

The kindle version is available here – https://lnkd.in/d6WZ5CDv

The paperback version is available here-  https://lnkd.in/dXXs4mBU

Join us to inspire personal change, by accessing the connections, community, and content that will help you keep breaking through your personal barriers. Together, we will keep pushing the boundaries, challenge the status quo, and support other women as we achieve our own goals.

We are indeed stronger together.

We are #UnstoppableWomen

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