"The story of women's struggle for equality belongs to no single feminist, nor to any one organization, but to the collective efforts of all who care about human rights."

- Gloria Steinem

This International Women's Day, Greater Vancouver Board of Trade's Diversity and Inclusion Leadership Council is proud to join people across the world to celebrate the resilience, achievements, and contributions of women (female and female-identified) individuals and their champions.

According to the World Economic Forum, sadly, none of us will see gender parity in our lifetimes, and nor likely will many of our children. Gender parity will not be attained for almost a century. This bleak prediction is one we cannot and should not accept. There is more that can be done to take this challenge head-on. Beyond the business case or moral imperative, it takes bold conversations to inspire bold actions to help forge positive change for women.

This important conversation is an opportunity to learn from our community's champions of the cause who continuously challenge the status-quo to inspire and accelerate change to ensure we achieve gender parity in our lifetime.

The information presented will help inform businesses how they examine and adjust their HR to ensure they are hiring and promoting a diverse workforce which will ultimately help them best succeed through the challenging social and economic times brought on by the pandemic.

Let's all participate in this year's International Women's Day theme and #ChooseToChallenge.

Our panel of experts will discuss:

• Closing the power gap
• Gender parity in the future of work
• Disproportionate impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on women

Panellists:

Wyle Baoween, CEO, HRx
Jodi Evans, B.C. Managing Partner, Deloitte
Dr. Victoria Lee, President and CEO, Fraser Health
Candice Loring, Director, Business Development Indigenous Community Engagement, Mitacs
Moderator: Bridgitte Anderson, President and CEO, Greater Vancouver Board of Trade