6 Ways Businesses Are Honoring International Women’s Day

It’s International Women’s Day, a day to highlight the achievements of and the issues facing women across the globe. Here are six ways different companies across the United States are honoring the holiday:

1. RESTAURANTS ARE DONATING THEIR PROFITS.

Many restaurants around the country are putting a portion of the profits made on International Women’s Day toward women-centric charities. At Annisa, a woman-owned restaurant in New York City, proceeds from the restaurant’s eponymous cocktail and a special appetizer of the day will go to Off the Sidelines, an organization that encourages women to vote and run for office.

In Portland, Maine, Sticky Sweet will donate all its profits from the day to Planned Parenthood, and its blueberry supplier, Blue Hill Berry Company, is chipping in an extra dollar for each Blueberry Sticky Rice dish sold.

In Boston, Belly Wine Bar created a special wine list filled with women winemakers and is donating 10 percent of its by-the-glass wine sales to a new charity each week for eight or so weeks, supporting nonprofits like Planned Parenthood, the ACLU, and the Human Rights Campaign.

Farm Burger is donating a portion of the profits from its nine locations across the South and in California to the James Beard Foundation’s Women in Culinary Leadership Program.

2. WALL STREET GOT A NEW STATUE.

Businesswire

The world’s third-largest asset management company, State Street Global Advisors (SSGA), erected a 4-foot-tall statue of a young girl to face Wall Street’s famous Charging Bull sculpture. The company is using International Women’s Day to encourage companies to hire more women. “A key contributor to effective independent board leadership is diversity of thought, which requires directors with different skills, backgrounds and expertise,” company CEO Ron O’Hanley said in a press statement. “Today, we are calling on companies to take concrete steps to increase gender diversity on their boards and have issued clear guidance to help them begin to take action.”

Last year, SSGA debuted an investment fund called the Gender Diversity Index ETF, which invests in companies that rank highest in gender diversity within their corporate leadership. (Not a bad way to start investing.)

3. A CLEVELAND BOOKSTORE IS FEATURING WORKS BY WOMEN.

Cleveland’s Loganberry Books is highlighting fiction written by women by shelving the rest of its catalog backwards. All books written by men have been turned around to have their pages facing out toward customers, while books written by women are placed with their spines facing out as usual. In other words, when browsing the bookstore’s fiction section, the only titles you’ll be able to read are from novels written by women. The awareness campaign has been running in the store since March 1, the beginning of Women's History Month.

4. TINDER IS PROMISING TO #FUNDHERCAUSE.

Tinder.fund

Tinder is helping you raise $100 for the women-centric nonprofit of your choice—without spending a dime of your own money. Just follow @Tinder and tweet at the company about the women’s cause you want to support (a list of eligible nonprofits is here) using the hashtag #FundHerCause. Tinder will direct message you with a special code that you can input at tinder.fund to donate $100 of the company’s money (and more of your own, if you want).

As of 3 p.m. ET on March 8, Tinder had raised more than $37,000 for organizations like UN Women, Girls Who Code, and more. The campaign goes for the entirety of Women’s History Month, so you have until March 31 to tweet. The company has pledged to donate up to $250,000.

5. FASHION AND BEAUTY BRANDS ARE TAKING A STAND WITH SPECIAL PRODUCTS AND OFFERS.

Motif

Several cosmetics, clothing, and jewelry companies have pledged to support ladies through new product launches and charitable donations. The jewelry company Motif debuted its Women’s Empowerment Bracelet for the holiday and will donate $5 from every sale to Planned Parenthood.

Birchbox CEO Katia Beauchamp told Inc that the company will offer a 20 percent discount on select products to highlight the current wage gap between men’s and women’s salaries. On March 9, when female employees who chose to strike are back in the office, Birchbox will also host an "Advocating for Yourself" workshop.

Theory is donating 100 percent of profits from purchases of its Theory x LOLA product box to Girls Who Code (although it’s already sold out online and can only be found in stores).

6. GOOGLE DOODLES IN HONOR OF WOMEN'S HISTORY.

Google

Google’s daily doodle for March 8 is a slideshow that celebrates 13 historical heroines. The list spans the gamut from world-famous to little-known and includes Frida Kahlo; Sally Ride; the first female pilot in Egypt, Lotfia ElNadi; Lee Tai-young (above), Korea’s first female lawyer and judge; and Olga Skorokhodova, a Soviet researcher who studied deaf and blind communication.