Every year on International Women’s Day, women across Australia brace themselves for the annual workplace performance known as “Our Boss Thinks Feminism Means Cupcakes”.
This year’s theme, “Balance the Scales”, is a noble reminder that gender equality should be more than a pink photo op and a hashtag about empowerment.
Unfortunately, going by some of the stories readers sent in, many workplaces remain firm believers that thoughtful feminism can be achieved with a baked good.
Names have been changed to protect that bag.
Tara, 29:
“My company called in the only woman on the leadership team ON HER DAY OFF to run the International Women’s Day meeting. She gave this speech about how we’d achieved a 50/50 gender split across all departments. We definitely hadn’t. Not even close.”
There’s a certain irony in making the one senior woman do unpaid emotional labour to celebrate women’s achievements while the men on the exec team “balance” their golf swings.
Sophie, 31:
“Our boss booked us all a fancy lunch and then at the end we all had to pay individually. I would have been fine with my tuna and rice under fluorescent lighting, over listening to my boss go on about ‘getting it’ because he had a sister and a wife and then not even pretending he was gonna cover the bill.”
For anyone keeping score at home — women: $48.50 down, equality: still pending.
Hannah, 26:
“We were all invited to a ‘Women’s Day morning tea’ blocked into our calendars. When we showed up, our boss was furious that we hadn’t brought any food. Apparently, he thought we’d just magically cater our own celebration.”
Truly, nothing screams empowerment like still being expected to bake for your own recognition.
Nikki, 32:
“Our boss put tiaras on all the women’s desks. He thought it was cute. It was not cute.”
Crowning achievement, some might say.
Lucy, 35:
“My boss brought in cupcakes with icing vulva’s on them. Apparently he made them himself so it was kind of progressive, I guess. It was insane.”
We applaud creative ambition, but maybe next year, we could just do equal pay instead.
Ben, 33:
“This is such a gross thing that has happened, but I’ve seen it occur at two of my workplaces. Whenever the extremely important International Women’s Day comes around, some gross cis men always say the classic line: ‘Where is International Men’s Day?’ At one workplace, it even got to the point where these men went out of their way to organise their own event and tried to get funding for it.”
Men truly will do anything except just quietly support women for one (1) day.
Deidre, 27:
“We all got told to wear pink and then got given a little hamper thing of candles and skincare and tampons at a morning tea. I wasn’t mad, tampons are expensive and I got to have free cake.”
If equality could be achieved one Dyptique candle at a time, we’d be set by now.
Between the tiaras, vulva cupcakes and self-funded lunches, it’s almost poetic how International Women’s Day still gets reduced to pastel aesthetics instead of progress. It’s the day meant to highlight gender equity, yet somehow always circles back to cake and candles.
And while it’s funny (in a ‘laugh so you don’t cry’ sort of way) these stories still show how easily workplaces mistake symbolism for substance. Because for every woman asked to smile for the company Instagram, there’s another quietly wondering when her pay will catch up.
So, since IWD’s fallen on a Sunday this year, maybe that’s for the best. Fewer awkward speeches. Fewer pink cupcakes. More time to think about how to actually balance the scales — not just sprinkle purple icing sugar on them.
Lead image: Kelley Light via Pinterest / @lucy_livin via TikTok / @smallnsweettreats via Instagram
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