by Greer Pohl
Celebrated on March 8 each year, International Women’s Day celebrates women and their contributions to society. In 2025, the International Women’s Day theme was Accelerate Action, or “the importance of taking swift and decisive steps to achieve gender equality.”
Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) recently hosted an essay contest, asking students to write about women they know who value and inspire inclusion. Students wrote about mothers, grandmothers, sisters, friends, coworkers, teachers and more. Coming from a variety of backgrounds, all of these women have inspired and empowered those around them. This essay was selected for publication in The Penmen Review.
In constructing a plan for accelerating women’s equality, few considerations are more significant than resilience. Resilience is defined by Foumani and colleagues (2015) as a person’s ability to adapt to adverse conditions. It involves related concepts – such as individual competence and the ability to ‘bounce back’ from challenges (Foumani et al., 2015; Aizpurua-Perez & Perez-Tejada, 2020). And it is essential in creating a healthy mindset towards growth (Dweck, 2016). Given the significant number of harmful messages that girls receive throughout their development, fostering resilience in youth is crucial to raising a generation of women who persist and succeed in the face of inequality, setbacks, and a society that views them as inferior (Morris & Katzman, 2003; Slater & Tiggemann, 2016).
Resilience is a broad and flexible concept, which makes it extremely beneficial in terms of global application. As it can be promoted in myriad ways, it can fit within any culture and requires few resources. Fostering resilience could be achieved through helping young women develop supportive relationships, valuable coping strategies, recreational skills, academic proficiency, and/or community involvement (Compas et al., 2012; Dray et al., 2017; Galli & Gonzalez, 2015; Mokugothu et al., 2021). It can be taught in schools, at work, through the healthcare system, and in the larger community overall (Cadete & Ruggunan, 2024; Pillay-Naidoo & Nel, 2022). According to research conducted by Cadete and Ruggunan (2024), resilience shaped the interpretations and responses to adversity of women in academics. The researchers suggest that the presence of institutional support systems is crucial to promoting a variety of positive outcomes related to resilience (Cadete & Ruggunan, 2024). Thus, resilience is an extremely valuable tool for women that is possible to implement in myriad ways, which allows efforts to be tailored to individuals and communities for an effective and culturally-appropriate intervention.
One specific action that can be taken by all to promote beneficial resilience in women is to recognize their efforts in addition to their achievements. Despite equal education, skill, and experience, women receive fewer prestigious awards than male counterparts, they receive less professional recognition, and less credit attribution on group work (Howell, 2022; Melnikoff & Valian, 2020; Sarsons, 2017). While removing the barriers and underlying mechanisms related to these disparities would be ideal, it is a complex, lengthy, and involved process. In the meantime, we need to be noticing and supporting the women who make considerable efforts and contributions regardless. Women that persist and achieve in the face of these inequalities. Telling women that they are seen and that their hard work is appreciated, and that you recognize the barriers they are facing to earn recognition, can go a long way towards supporting them. Knowing that others are cognizant of their efforts feels rewarding, and may even give them the language and space to discuss these challenges and feelings that they may not have had before. This can be a valuable step in fostering supportive relationships as well, which can further promote resilience in kind.
As women supporting other women in our efforts in addition to our outcomes, we can also find valuable self-empowerment. According to Kakinuma and colleagues (2020), focusing on achievement compared to effort diminished the praiser’s own motivation and enjoyment of the task. Focus on effort instead had positive effects on both the person praising and the person being praised (Kakinuma et al., 2020). By uplifting other women for their efforts, we may come to develop a better appreciation for our own. Focusing on outcomes alone can contribute to feelings of insecurity, defensiveness, and other responses that inhibit growth (Dweck, 2016). In applying our evaluations to others and choosing to focus on effort, we may be less critical in our evaluations of ourselves, which can lessen these negative responses (Dweck, 2016).
Furthermore, focusing on achievement over effort minimizes the real impact that inequalities and barriers have on women’s ability to succeed. There are significant disparities between perspectives on competence, hiring, and promotional candidates that prevent women from achieving at the same level as male counterparts (Budig & England, 2001; Correll et al., 2007; Kahn et al., 2014). For instance, women who become mothers are less likely to be hired, promoted, or given raises compared to childless women and men with or without children (Budig & England, 2001; Correll et al., 2007; Kahn et al., 2014). Fathers, on the other hand, benefit from the “fatherhood bonus”, where they are perceived as being more reliable and stable (Budig & England, 2001; Correll et al., 2007). Women who become mothers, plan to become mothers, or indicate intention to consider motherhood are also less likely to be hired, promoted, and recommended for management (Budig & England, 2001; Correll et al., 2007; Kahn et al., 2014). They are more likely to be held to higher professional standards, and earn approximately 5% less per child compared to non-mothers (Budig & England, 2001; Correll et al., 2007; Kahn et al., 2014). Even after accounting for factors like education and experience, this disparity persists (Budig & England, 2001; Correll et al., 2007; Kahn et al., 2014). Thus, appreciating the significant contributions of women in order to promote greater resilience is a tactic that is considerate and respectful of the real organizational, societal, and institutional barriers to success-related outcomes, like high pay and promotions, that they face.
Overall, fostering future generations of women who are resilient is the key to fighting inequality and injustice. The road to gender equality is difficult and long. Encouraging women who persist in the face of challenges and setbacks will be necessary to make any significant change. Women who will be able to sustain the focus, commitment, and self-empowerment will continue to challenge harmful gender disparities despite setbacks and barriers. And, while this involves the current generations of women supporting those that come after them, the research of Kakinuma and colleagues (2020) evidences that this can have beneficial effects for supporters as well. If we lift one another up, we stand to gain valuable new perspectives ourselves. Thus, given the absolutely crucial nature of promoting resilience in women in order to accelerate equality, and its broad and flexible potential for application, it represents one action for all.
References
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