Our coverage of International Women’s Day, indeed International Women’s Month, continues with Cristy Garcia, the CMO of global adtech, impact.com.

Despite the immense technological and societal shifts we’ve all been through, Cristy explains why there is still much work to be done on gender equity…

What did IWD mean to you?

IWD is a celebration, for me, of all the wonderful women I work with, not just currently, but also those in the past who have inspired me both personally as well as professionally and impacted my career in such influential and positive ways.

It’s also a time to reflect on the challenges that still remain and lie ahead.

In recent years, with such immense technological and societal shifts and changes happening all around us, it’s important to highlight not just during International Women’s Month, but throughout the year and constantly that there is still work to be done to break barriers for women, eliminate bias, discrimination, and stereotypes to ensure a gender equal world.

This year’s theme is #EmbraceEquity – how are you planning to address this year’s theme?

At impact.com, we created a company-wide holiday- globally! We wanted every single person at impact.com to celebrate IWD2023 how they wanted to, and demonstrate the value and importance we as a company place on the day.

We also wanted to ensure that as a company, we were allowing everyone to have a clear break, guilt-free, meeting-free, Slack-free to celebrate the women in their lives.

How will this be reflected in your work?

As we came together on IWD to promote the message of equity, our company mission and message around the value of partnership can be felt the world over.

We hope to act as a bridge; building trust between brands and consumers, developing ties within and among communities, avoiding cultural missteps, localising and supercharging experiences.

Our work is focused on helping clients to leverage the partnerships channel for growth and on IWD we’ll celebrate in particular the fabulous female creators, women in tech, publishing, retail, and more that we work with and partner with year-round.

Do you think there is enough awareness among GenZ women about how they can support gender equality?

GenZ is one of the most savvy generations when it comes to challenging ingrained stereotypes and prejudice.

Fortunately, I think most GenZ women and men today have grown up online and learned that past generations, even those in leadership today, haven’t always made the most progressive or equitable policies or rights for women.

This generation has grown up with digital platforms and, as a result, is more vocal and proactive across this type of media, too.

How can women in business promote women’s causes effectively with their clients?

I believe it’s about leading the way. It’s all very well ‘talking the talk,’ but you also have to ‘walk the walk’ and really embody the values you claim to espouse.

This, in turn, can inspire others.

Where are you seeing the most progress in gender equity?

We’re seeing more women in leadership positions today, and representation across industries and organisations. We’re also seeing more men taking paternity leave as caring responsibilities are becoming more evenly split.

But often, there are biases like performance bias and attribution bias that hold women back. It’s critical that organisation’s look for these biases and train managers to look for them also because both men and women hold these biases against women.

What can men do to support IWD this year?

I work in the world of partnerships, which is an industry built on trust and collaboration. It’s clear to me that in order to make progress, men must collaborate with their female colleagues – respecting their needs, encouraging them, and pushing them forward for promotions.

We need male allies every day of the year; not just on International Women’s Day.

It’s about truly listening, being receptive to new ideas, and challenging ingrained biases or stereotypes.

Also published in: Mediashotz