Engaging your team: International Women’s Day & Harmony Week

Published:
26
February
2025

Want to bring your team together in a meaningful way? March presents two great opportunities to connect with your team and celebrate diversity and inclusion in your workplace:

8 March: International Women's Day (IWD) – A global celebration of women’s achievements and a call to action for gender equality, with events taking place throughout the week starting Monday, 3 March.

18–25 March: Harmony Week – A time to celebrate Australia’s cultural diversity and focus on inclusivity and belonging.

Whether IWD, Harmony Week, or both resonate with your team, there are plenty of ways to get involved. We’ve put together some inspiration to help you celebrate and show support!

Celebrating International Women’s Day

International Women’s Day (IWD) is all about recognising women’s achievements and action towards gender equality. The 2025 theme is "Accelerate Action " encouraging conversations and taking meaningful steps toward change. Here's some ways to celebrate IWD in your workplace:

1. Bring your team together with an IWD event

  • Host an event: There’s more to IWD than cupcakes!  Events create a space for team discussions and are an opportunity to celebrate the contributions of the women in your organisation. In addition to a morning tea spread you could invite a guest speaker or host a panel discussion with leaders from your team.
  • Attend an IWD event as a team: Many industries host their own IWD events throughout March where you can buy tickets to attend. If you're not aware of any industry specific events, you might like to check out UN Women Australia or Business Chicks who are hosting events in most Australian major cities.

2. Support women-focused charities

Make an impact by giving back. Arrange a volunteer day at an organisation that supports women or organise a team fundraiser. There are plenty of charities doing wonderful work, here’s just a few that provide opportunities to volunteer and/or accept donations.

3. Raise awareness

Keep it simple and acknowledge IWD by sending out some comms to your team, you could encourage everyone to use IWD email signatures or online meeting backgrounds.

Harmony Week

Taking place from 18–25 March, Harmony Week is all about celebrating inclusivity and cultural diversity. With 45% of Australians born overseas or having at least one parent who was, it’s a great opportunity to embrace and celebrate the diverse backgrounds within your team.

1. Celebrate with food

  • Host a Harmony Week lunch: Ask your team to bring a dish from their cultural background or a favourite family recipe and share a bit about the dish they have brought.
  • Team recipe book: Collect team recipes and stories about their favourite cultural dishes and family recipes, compile them into a digital (or printed) book to share.

2. Share & learn together

  • Share a photo or story (this is great for remote teams who can’t host an event). Ask everyone to share a picture or story that highlights a cultural celebration, family tradition or a time they experienced and enjoyed traditions from another culture (this could include travel photos and memories too!).

3. Acknowledge the week and show support

  • Use Harmony Week email signatures and Teams/Zoom backgrounds to create awareness. Check out the downloadable resources on the Harmony Week website.
  • Share infographics or interesting facts on multiculturalism in Australia. You could even highlight your own organisation’s diversity, such as how many languages are spoken across your team!

Need help getting started?

Whether you want to organise an event, set up ongoing initiatives, or simply share resources with your team, we’re here to help! Get in touch with our team of resourceful humans for ideas, guidance, or support in making these celebrations meaningful in your workplace. Contact us.

Kateena Mills
Director & HR Partner

Kateena is the founder of Davy Partners. She works with businesses of all sizes, from employing their first team member to supporting implementation of initiatives for more than 2,000 employees. Her passion lies in partnering with business owners and managers to find lasting solutions to their people needs with an emphasis on commerciality, empathy, and performance.