Women’s History Month

International Women’s Day:  #InspireInclusion

During the month of March, we are taking time to celebrate Women’s History and all the big and little things that women do to make life better.  On March 8th, we support International Women’s Day.  The theme for 2024 is #InspireInclusion. 

According to the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report, it will take another 130 years to reach full gender parity at the current rate of progress.  Considering that the suffrage movement started in 1848, it is expected to take over 300 years of activism to reach the ultimate goal.   

The equality landscape has certainly looked different over the years.  The suffragettes operated in a subdued and secretive way to express their desires to be heard and counted.  Robust activism took many years to get rolling.  Then feminism became more popular in the 1970’s with large groups of women openly rallying and lobbying for inclusion and equal standing.  In the 1980’s, the “Fix the Women” campaign tried to make women conform to the patriarchy before allowing them an opportunity to succeed.  As a direct reaction to this ill-conceived campaign, the 1990’s and early 2000’s shifted to attempts to adapt to women in the workplace.  Sensibilities about making everyone feel welcome have resulted in both men and women’s roles in society becoming more varied as the years progress. 

We at Heirmark believe in recruiting, retaining, and investing in female talent as valued members of our team.  We support women in leadership and advisory roles and hope for a day when the number of female advisors is on par with the number of male advisors.  And while prominent, client-facing female voices are valuable, we would never discount the contributions of the female team members who work behind the scenes to help our clients achieve their goals.  Often, success is measured by how well women can do jobs that are traditionally male-driven roles while roles that have always been considered “for women” are discounted as not as important.  These roles carry a lot of weight at Heirmark, and these women are often unsung heroes when faced with the challenges of navigating the insurance industry for our clients.

Inclusion doesn’t end with our employees.  We notice that the women in families are sometimes overlooked during advisory discussions.  We strive to include everyone in the conversation, so big decisions can be made with shared information.  When couples are planning for their future, it doesn’t make sense to exclude the female partners of the decision-making teams (unless, of course, someone elects to be hands-off).

Contact us with any questions or opportunities to help your clients achieve their goals.  This is what we enjoy doing for only a select number of families, businesses, and charitable institutions each year, and we look forward to hearing from you.