Celebrate International Women’s Day, March 8, with These Mentorship Ideas

Challenges faced together are often easier to manage. That’s true no matter your age or stage in life. Having someone who is by your side to help you face challenges is the power of mentorships! So for this International Women’s Day, we are celebrating the power of mentoring – in all its forms – women and girls in order to challenge current systems and eliminate inequity and gender bias. Here are seven ways you can challenge gender bias through mentoring.

1. Inspire friends and family to become mentors. Create community by sharing the benefits of mentorship. In the workplace, mentees gain a wider perspective of their industry, develop a network and draw value from it. A stronger network also helps generate more professional opportunities and helps the mentee learn from their mentor’s expertise.

2. Share social posts that uplift women. Fight the ways that social media can tear women down by posting empowering content. Don’t feed into the trend of scrutinizing women’s bodies, for example. Instead share an article about the increasing numbers of women who are running for office. By taking this step you can lead by example and inspire other women to do the same.

3. Explore local opportunities to become a mentor. Gryphon Place has listings of volunteer opportunities in Kalamazoo, and you can find Battle Creek opportunities here. Be a role model to your community for how to make impactful social change.

4. Encourage a male friend or family member to fight gender bias. Challenging inequity is not just women’s work. Men can examine their prejudices, change their outlooks, and connect a woman or girl they know with a female leader.

5. Call out gender bias when you see it. Whether you are quiet or outspoken, it’s important to spread awareness and call out inequity wherever it exists. By speaking up, you bring attention to a phenomenon of which some people might not be aware.

6. Start a conversation about basic terms. Once you find a young woman to mentor, start talking about language and phrases connected to inequity and gender bias. What does inequity mean to both of you? What are some examples of gender bias? Brainstorm ways to fight against them. As a woman, you may think you understand what bias means and what it looks like. But do you really? Consider gender identity, race, culture, religion, education, socioeconomics, and how they can influence how gender bias presents.

7. Talk about your experience as a mentor in your workplace, on social media, with friends. Again, awareness is the key word here. By sharing your experience, you could make an impact that you wouldn’t have expected.