March 8 is International Women’s Day and this year’s theme is one that I’m very passionate about. Give to Gain is a worldwide call to lend our support to the advancement of girls and women in the ongoing struggle for gender equality. As individuals, giving support can mean calling out stereotypes, challenging discrimination, questioning bias, celebrating women’s success, and much more.

Give to Gain can also be financial and, although there are many great organizations to choose from, I’m going to highlight two of them for your consideration. I’ve mentioned the first one many times before. Kiva is a global non-profit organization that facilitates microloans to underserved entrepreneurs around the world. With as little as $25, you can help fund one of these loans. As the borrower repays their loan, the money is returned to your Kiva account to be lent again. This is truly a gift that keeps on giving! Although Kiva lends to both men and women, 84.8% of the loans that were disbursed in 2025 went to women. This is partially due to a strategic focus on combating systemic financial inequality. Also, it has been shown that money in the hands of women tends to have a much greater impact on the welfare of their families and communities. When mothers are given the resources to provide for their families, children go to school and when children go to school, change occurs. Kiva’s International Women’s Day goal is to fully fund 5000 loans to women this week!

CARE is another organization that puts women and girls at the centre of all they do because they know that we can’t overcome poverty until all people have equal rights and equal opportunities. CARE Canada supports 50 projects and initiatives in 35 countries, working across four main pillars: her health, her safety, her livelihood, and emergency response. Every donation made to CARE during the month of March will be matched by corporate sponsors, so this would be a good time to double your impact. 

While the plight of women is much greater in many other parts of the world, we mustn’t forget that we have yet to achieve equality here in North America. As of early 2025 in Canada, women held nearly half of all jobs (47.4%), but a 13% gender wage gap continued to persist. In other words, women earned 87¢ for every dollar earned by a man. In addition, women are underrepresented in leadership, holding only 36.4% of managerial roles and less than 29% of senior management and legislative positions. Women in Canada are more likely than men to live in homes that fall below acceptable housing standards. Women are five times more likely than men to be victims of reported sexual assault. Roughly 30% of all women in Canada over the age of 15 report having been sexually assaulted at least once. Human trafficking is happening right now in communities across Canada and over 90% of the victims are women and girls. The list of inequalities goes on, but what can we do this International Women’s Day to make a difference? How can we Give to Gain in these situations?   

We can give our voice to these issues advocating for policy change by writing to local or national leaders and pushing for legislation that addresses gender inequality, such as closing the gender pay gap or combating gender-based violence. We can call out gender bias every time we see, hear or witness it, actively challenging stereotypes, discrimination, and misogyny. We can include men in discussions about gender equality and emphasize the importance of working together to achieve positive change. We can give our time to local organizations that specifically help women, such as shelters for survivors of domestic violence or mentorship programs for young girls. 

As Gloria Steinem once said, “The story of women’s struggle for equality belongs to no single feminist nor to any one organization but to the collective efforts of all who care about human rights.”