How Far Women Have Come: Celebrating International Women’s Day

On International Women’s Day, it’s important to reflect on how far women have come in less than a life time. We’ve made great strides in recent years in terms of gender equality, but there’s still a long way to go. Let’s use this day as an opportunity to celebrate our progress and continue working for a better future for all women.

Here are a few facts about women’s history that simply blew our minds. Check out the dates when women were first allowed to do things in the US. It’s not that long ago!

1965: Allowed to vote
1968: Allowed to open their own bank account
1969: Allowed to file a no-fault divorce
1971: Allowed entry into all Ivy League schools
1972: Allowed to run in the Boston Marathon
1973: Allowed to serve on a jury in all 50 states
1978: Not allowed to be fired for being pregnant
1980: Allowed to file a harassment claim at work
1994: Allowed to wear pants in Congress
2018: Publicly traded companies in CA must have at least one, two or three women on their boards, depending on their size, by the end of 2021

While it is astonishing to see some of the rights women didn’t have and how far we’ve come, we still have work to do. One way is through women forging their own paths by creating their own successful businesses. Here are four women business owners who offer products and services that can improve women’s day-to-day lives while also promoting sustainability for our future.

Hamama sells microgreen seeds that are all certified organic, non-GMO that you can grow easily indoors on your kitchen counter. They carry microgreen broccoli, red cabbage, kale, fenugreek, wheatgrass, clover, wasabi mustard, daikon radish, super salad mix, and zesty mix.

Microgreens have more concentrated flavors, tender textures, vibrant color, and densely-packed nutrients than their mature counterparts. They are generally rich in sources of vitamin C, E, and beta-carotene. Add microgreens to salads, sandwiches, soups, and more! Feeding yourself the right foods and having them at your fingertips is an excellent way to stay healthy for everything you need to do in your day!

Ritology’s mission is to be the world’s leading plastic-free, design-focused personal care brand. They believe small changes to your daily routine can make a huge impact on our planet and also our skin. If you’re looking for quality beauty products that are just the essentials, they create products with your skin and our planet in mind at all times. Their current line includes razors, body buffs, a body shaper gua sha, and cleansing bars. You can feel good knowing these quality products are made with the health of the planet in mind!

Loli offers powerful beauty remedies created with superfood ingredients, freshly harvested and customized. Their products start with the purest, most potent, food-grade ingredients, hand-selected and responsibly sourced. Cleansers, toners, serums, moisturizers, and masks are just some of the products you will find, and you’ll recognize the names of the ingredients! They hope to ‘stir up beauty’ and make a conscious change toward raw, fair trade, non-GMO and upcycled beauty products from food with zero waste.

Foodom is everyone’s personal chef marketplace that connects vetted chefs and busy families to cook 1-2 times a week in the family’s kitchen, starting at $100 per visit. The chefs on the Foodom platform cover a wide range of cuisines and diets of all types, that are ethnically authentic and healthy. Whatever your preference is, they will tailor meals to your specifications and will cook in your own kitchen on your terms! They can also do grocery shopping and will clean the kitchen after cooking.

Our goal is simple-to make life easier and calmer for parents, to make meals that are tastier and healthier, to save money on groceries, to cut food waste, and to ultimately have more time to do the things we love and care about.

If you ask any of the founders above, they would probably like to see an increase in opportunities for women-owned companies. According to the Harvard Business Review, in 2020 women-led startups raised just 2.3% of the venture capital funds invested. As more VC firms start hiring women, or women create their own VC firms, and more female founded and led startups raise venture funding, this number will rise. We are hopeful that more firms will weed out the institutional patterns and old school thinking, and will open up venture capital perspectives to recognize the great potential of ideas presented to them, gender neutral.

Many women are having to juggling it all right now because they are still the primary care givers. Although some have learned to share responsibilities in a more supportive way, which allows them to build their careers and companies, they are often treated differently than men in the workplace and beyond. International Women’s Day celebrates the work that has been done so far, and the work that is yet to come.