Is It International Women’s Day Seen as Tokenism by Average Joan Soap?
Multiple women who spoke to a recent feature, including Carmel, said International Women’s Day is often treated as tokenistic, with some calling it “a load of nothingness. ” Wednesday at 9: 22 a. m. ET, the question is it international women’s day matters because many said the day’s corporate focus sidelines mothers, carers and working-class women.
Is It International Women’s Day: Joan Soap, Carmel and Denise on Tokenism
Carmel framed her ambivalence around a personal milestone: her youngest child will celebrate an 18th birthday on International Women’s Day, but she said that alone does not make the day meaningful. “Another bloody hallmark nonsense day. There is a day for everything… can we not just get on with it?” she asks, arguing that the ritual can feel performative.
Another woman captured the gap between awareness and engagement in three words: “When is it?” That simple question, offered unprompted, underlines how the day’s profile can depend on workplace visibility or invitation to a corporate event rather than on widespread, everyday recognition.
Claire Ronan and Valerie Point to Pay Gap and Dáil Childcare Failures
Claire Ronan said the observance “smacks of tokenism, ” and urged a focus on concrete workplace change: pay equality and fairer promotion practices. Valerie was more blunt: “It’s a load of nothingness. It means nothing and nothing changes, ” and she pointed to persistent expectations that women handle housework and child-minding while lacking political representation and childcare facilities in the Dáil.
Those critiques link the day’s public gestures to unchanged structural issues: a gender pay gap, a motherhood penalty in the workplace, ongoing gender-based violence and the continued oppression of women and girls worldwide, all cited by contributors as reasons the day should still matter despite its perceived shortcomings.
Emma, Sarah and Siobhán Describe Unseen Work and Social Media Facade
Emma said that while International Women’s Day is good “in theory, little is actually done in real life to improve equality, ” highlighting that social-media celebrations can mask a lack of substantive progress. Sarah said she will not have time to mark the day because she will “be too busy doing unseen, unpaid work. “
Siobhán recalled telling her boss years ago: “I don’t want to shatter glass ceilings. I am already shattered. ” Lilian added that the same voices often dominate the conversation: “a lot of the same women talking to the same women. It’s meaningless, ” she said, underscoring the sense that the day’s public face can feel exclusionary to rural women, carers and working-class women.
Across these accounts, contributors questioned whether social-media displays, mini-marathons and corporate panels reach the women most affected by inequality, asking instead whether attention could be redirected toward measurable changes in pay, promotion and childcare support. The recurring, practical question—”is it international women’s day”—served as both literal confusion for some and a shorthand critique of the day’s relevance for others.
World Press Freedom Day on May 3 is the next confirmed event mentioned in the piece; it is scheduled for May 3 at 12: 00 a. m. ET.
