IWD Special: The Greatest Stories Of Female Entrepreneurs Of The 21st Century

Plus: 5 Female Entrepreneurs Who #ChooseToChallenge This International Women’s Day

Happy March 8th, everyone! Or, as everyone else likes to say, happy International Women's Day.

The theme of this year's IWD is "Choose to Challenge," and this year, I choose to challenge the commercialization of IWD. The day has radical origins—in 1908, 15,000 women marched on New York City for equal wages and voting rights—but it's morphed into something far more commercial. As someone who covers women's achievements and systemic gender inequities all year long, the singular one-day focus irks me. (I flesh this argument out in fuller detail here.)

But I do believe in the underlying intent of the day, which is to recommit ourselves to making the world a safer, more equitable place for all women. In pursuit of that goal, we at ForbesWomen have a number of ways you can get involved, including joining us for a conversation tomorrow focusing on how to voice your power and clicking over to the ForbesWomen Instagram and tell us what YOU are choosing to challenge.

We all have a role to play in making the world a better place for women—and because you're reading this, I suspect you've been working on these issues well before now. So thank you for doing your part, today and every day.

Cheers!
Maggie

Women's Day Must-Reads

Melinda Gates has announced the ten finalists in the Equality Can't Wait Challenge, which will award $40 million in grants to fund the most transformative ideas that help expand women’s power and influence in the U.S. by 2030. This is the first competition putting meaningful resources of this scale toward the often overlooked area of gender equality.

"Royalty is not a shield from the devastation and despair of racism,” civil rights activist Bernice King said after Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's stunning interview with Oprah Sunday night. She is one of many prominent leaders speaking in support of Markle.

The mountain of evidence keeps growing: Women leaders outperform. Especially during a crisis. But only half the world is listening to the data that proves this. And no, it’s not women versus men. It’s public sector versus private sector.

A new crop of female-to-female businesses has emerged with the premise that women can do more when they support each other. Read our profile of two of the newer ones, The WIE Suite and Modern Day Village.

Yewande Akinola has built skyscrapers in China and was recently appointed the U.K. ambassador for clean growth and infrastructure. As a female engineer in the U.K. (and in the world), her success is the exception, rather than the rule. But for World Engineering day on March 4, Akinola spoke about how to get more women into male-dominated STEM fields.

Across Forbes