Yahoo Lifestyle ‘Our vulnerability is our super power’: leaders on how to make a change on IWD 2025
If one was to take a cursory glance at the world, it’s easy to slide into despondency or even feel fearful at the direction that the geopolitical landscape is heading in. Hard-fought rights for women to have autonomy over their own bodies and their own lives, are slowly being rolled back. Diversity, equality and inclusion are now being touted as dirty words, particularly over in Donald Trump’s America.
It's all the more important, then, that for this International Women’s Day, we use this time to take stock, celebrate smaller wins and become more mindful around strategies to ensure equality for all. Fittingly, this year’s theme for the occasion is ‘Accelerate Action’ – a challenge for us all to push forward to drive for progress. Despite all the work that has been done to make women see as equal to their male counterparts, shocking disparity still exists; women earn 13.1 per cent less than men on average, and are also more likely to be in poverty.
In an inspiring panel hosted by the feminist author and broadcaster Emma Dabiri at Annabel’s and on behalf of The Caring Family Foundation, three female leaders sat centre stage to discuss what this theme meant to them – and how all women can come together to make meaningful change.
For Victoria Prew, the founder the UK's leading fashion rental and resale marketplace Hurr, accelerating action means having the confidence to start pursuing ideas. Prew was just 25 when she launched her company – now 31, she is considered one of the UK’s most prominent young leaders in business.
“When we talk about actually accelerating action, number one is starting,” she said. “I'm a big believer that momentum breeds more momentum.
“I think as women, very often we're striving for perfection. I’m very passionate about getting people to take that leap and understanding that failure isn't that bad. I've failed at lots of things – it’s important to just give it a go.”
Prew added that she wants to see more women in leadership fields; she’s in the small 2 per cent of women that have raised venture capital to start and scale a business.
It’s in sharp contrast to Mark Zuckerberg’s view, with the billionaire owner of Meta reportedly saying earlier this year that businesses need more “masculine energy”.
“I've learned over the last six years that actually my superpower is being a female leader,” Prew said. “I think it is inherently a female trait that to be more vulnerable and it’s better to lead this way. It’s fine to be a bit more vulnerable.”
It was a similar story for Phoebe Schecter, the first British female NFL coach; she found herself one of just three women in what was almost an entirely male dominated field. Schecter also urged women to take risks.
“I love to think that it’s not really about failure,” she said. “But if you're going to fall, fall forwards so that we're always going to grow and learn from that.
“Even at the NFL, the highest level elite sport, one thing I do every single week is I have one of our players go to the front of the room, and talk about themselves or things that are important to them in front of their teammates.
“In any sort of organisation, you want authenticity and to build trust. You grow this through shared experiences, so you almost have to create these opportunities to be vulnerable. Once our walls are down, that's where real meaningful conversation happens, and that's where real change can proceed.”
Schecter also wants women who have achieved big or monumental goals to help uplift others who may still be trying to find and follow their own path.
“I come from a sporting background, and so I think about how, 'if you can see her, you can be her',” she explained. “The biggest thing you can be is to be the first – and making sure that you're not the last. We all have an incredible opportunity to be that example for a lot of young people in that next generation. We're really going to change the world for all.”
Meanwhile, Dr Sabrina Cohen-Hatton, one of the world’s most senior female fire officers, urged women to do things that seem hard.
“Doing something difficult is really important, because if we don't do those tough things, we're never going to progress,” she said. “We're never going to innovate if we're just going to take the safe bet.
“Women are being socially conditioned to appear as less remarkable than we actually are. But there's a problem with that, because when you're hiding your light under a bushel, you're not lighting the way for other people – particularly the next generation that comes up behind us. And that's a problem if we're socially conditioning women and little girls to think they're less impressive.
“I think women need to learn how remarkable we are. Please don't underestimate the impact that you can have to make a change.”
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