Yasmina Benslimane: Is International Women's Day tokenistic?

03/08/23 • 20 min

PSA: Women aren't asking for flowers and chocolate on International Women's Day. They're asking for equal opportunities and equal rights.

In this episode, I chat to Yasmina Benslimane about the problematic tendency of corporations to tokenise marginalised voices on days like International Women's Day to signal their interest in diversity and inclusion. We touched on:

The value of international advocacy days
Whether raising awareness is useful at all anymore when it comes to global issues like gender equality
How we can move beyond tokenistic and short-lived campaigns

Yasmina is a feminist human rights defender and communications specialist with a multicultural background. She is a trained UN Women peace-builder and a certified women empowerment coach, helping young women to develop their leadership skills. Yasmina is also the founder of Politics4Her, a feminist youth-led blog and movement encouraging the inclusive participation of young women and girls in politics.

To keep up with Comms for Good, follow me on LinkedIn and Twitter!

PSA: Women aren't asking for flowers and chocolate on International Women's Day. They're asking for equal opportunities and equal rights.

The value of international advocacy days
Whether raising awareness is useful at all anymore when it comes to global issues like gender equality
How we can move beyond tokenistic and short-lived campaigns

To keep up with Comms for Good, follow me on LinkedIn and Twitter!

Previous Episode

Rachel Firth: Comms is non-negotiable for non-profits

In this episode, I speak to Rachel Firth about her journey as the founder of a feminist communications agency and her experience battling the common assumption that comms is not a strategic priority. We explored:

How to make comms non-negotiable in a business strategy
What makes an ideal candidate for a social impact comms job
Tackling barriers to access in the sector

Rachel has 15 years of experience working alongside non-profit organisations and social enterprises to deliver a more sustainable global future. She is the founder and managing director of Global Office Consulting, providing NGOs with financially accessible consultancy services across a range of business areas. Rachel is also the founder of Women in Dev, a network designed to connect and unite women working at all levels and regions in international development.

To keep up with Comms for Good, follow me on LinkedIn and Twitter!

Next Episode

Zulu Uwolloh: Don't just give social media to the intern

Raise your hand if you've been the intern left to run an organisation's entire social media portfolio 🙋‍♀️🙋‍♀️🙋‍♀️

It’s no secret that young people hold immense potential to create change in the world. But all too often, youth voices are taken for granted. Digital skills are not a given. The ability to manage multiple social media accounts, write copy, and design graphics (which are all separate jobs FYI) requires hard work and training. Young people can absolutely fulfil this to an exceptional level. But when c-suite executives just hand these jobs down to the lowest rung of an organisation, the importance of good comms is completely dismissed.

In this episode, I speak to Zulu Uwolloh about her experiences as a young social impact leader. We discuss:

The unique benefits of young people working in social impact
Overcoming imposter syndrome as a young person in the sector
The assumption that all young people can ‘do’ social media and that it isn’t a 'real' skill

Zulu is the founder of Kurerie (which means change in the Isoko language), a youth-led digital platform, global movement and community that amplifies the voices of youth making an impact in their communities. Through the Kurerie website, Kurerie educates young people on how they can become active stakeholders in the achievement of the UN SDGs. She is currently a Program Assistant at Ford Foundation, where she works on the natural resources and climate change and gender, racial and ethnic justice program areas.

To keep up with Comms for Good, follow me on LinkedIn and Twitter!