March is Women’s History Month in the United States, and March 8th marks International Women’s Day around the world. At Symantec, we want to take this time to reflect on the contributions women have made in the history of technology, celebrate our communities of women at Symantec through SWAN, and highlight some of our inspirational partners in gender around the world.
“Weaving the Stories of Women’s Lives” is the theme for National Women’s History Month in 2015. The theme, according to the National Women’s History Project, presents the opportunity to weave women’s stories – individually and collectively – into the essential fabric of our nation’s history.
Women’s History Month
Women’s History Month in the United States grew out of a weeklong celebration of women’s contributions to culture, history, and society organized by the school district of Sonoma, California, in 1978. A few years later, the idea had caught on within communities, school districts, and organizations across the country.
In 1980, President Jimmy Carter issued the first presidential proclamation declaring the week of March 8 as National Women’s History Week. The U.S. Congress followed suit the next year, passing a resolution establishing a national celebration. Six years later, the National Women’s History Project successfully petitioned Congress to expand the event to the entire month of March.
International Women’s Day
International Women’s Day is a global celebration of the economic, political and social achievements of women. The celebration took place for the first time on March 8, 1911, and the United Nations began its sponsorship of International Women’s Day in 1975, citing as its reasons: “To recognize the fact that securing peace and social progress and the full enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms require the active participation, equality, and development of women; and to acknowledge the contribution of women to the strengthening of international peace and security.”
Celebrating Women’s History Month
For Women’s History Month, we’re celebrating our partnership with the Global Fund for Women and their Be the Spark Gallery. Be the Spark is an online collection of inspirational stories, written by women and girls from around the world, that explore how their passion for science and technology first developed. It’s part of Global Fund for Women’s Ignite Project, a global campaign exploring the roles of science and technology in advancing gender equality.
Twelve Symantec employees co-curated this gallery of spark stories from around the world, listening, reading and watching hundreds of submissions to pick the most inspirational narratives to be featured in the gallery. To meet the co-curators, scroll down to the bottom of Ignite’s About Page.
Alexia Idoura, Senior Principal Program Manager and Corporate Coach at Symantec, was not only one of our co-curators, but was also selected to be featured in the gallery for her own spark story:
“I've always been surrounded by STEM. My father was an engineer/HAM radio operator. I played on the floor of his radio room and I spent my time with him on weekends poking through bins of electronics at Tandy in Tokyo, where we lived at the time. After he died, when I was still a young girl, my mother could see where the future lay. She worked to get me my first computer, a Commodore 64, and signed me up for a Basic programming class. Thanks to them, I never felt anything but at home around technology -- it's always been a natural fit for me.”
Interested in submitting your own spark story to the gallery? Apply here.
Diversity & Inclusion at Symantec – Celebrating Our Employees
Partnering with women’s advocacy organizations like Global Fund for Women ensures that we support the global campaign for gender equality, and that we provide our employees with ways to learn and get involved. But our external partnerships are only one piece of the gender equality puzzle. We also need to focus on the opportunities available to our employees internally.
We strive to create a workforce that embraces every culture, language, age, sexual orientation, disability, background, and experience – and give a voice to all employees. Employee Resource Groups, such as the Symantec Women’s Action Network (SWAN), are a big part of how we give employees that voice.
SWAN is a networking forum for both women and men at Symantec, intended to help support and encourage female employees to achieve their potential. SWAN accomplishes this by building a positive work environment, supporting women to become more visible leaders, creating and providing access to best practices, peer mentoring and capability building. By focusing on growth, learning, and networking, SWAN enhances Symantec's reputation as a great place to work for women.
Our goal is to make sure that all employees have easy access to the resources they need to design meaningful careers, feel supported in their professional journeys, and find strong mentors and networks both internally and externally. Our internal efforts, coupled with our external partnerships, allow us to move toward a more diverse and inclusive workplace that gives all our employees a voice.
Antoine Andrews is Symantec's Director, Global Diversity and Inclusion.