As the first female Ambassador from the Netherlands to Canada, this is a particularly meaningful year for me and has prompted some personal reflection on what measures we are taking to support women around the world.

My mother and my grandmother had very different lives than I did growing up when it came to equal opportunity. My grandmother was an accountant, but she had to do her job in secrecy, and unpaid. My mother was expected to resign her post upon marriage – of course that was over 50 years ago, and certainly wouldn’t fly right now! But still, women experience discrimination or restrictions based on their gender every day. This isn’t just in the work place, but this often extends to public spaces, political involvement and even the rights to their own bodies.

I’m encouraged that the Netherlands has put gender champions like Pascalle Grotenhuis, our Ambassador for Women’s Rights and Gender Equity, to work to continue to make progress on these issues. Ambassador Grotenhuis works tirelessly with leaders around the world to ensure women have equal opportunities to their male counterparts, and to work to break barriers to women’s political and economic participation. She spends her days working with our missions around the world and international bodies like the United Nations to put initiatives in place that will allow women and girls to be involved in whatever they want to be.

Of course, once women land in positions of leadership and power we need to make sure that we continue to shine a light on their accomplishments and keep clearing the road ahead to give them a clear path to continue to succeed. The Funding Leadership and Opportunities for Women (FLOW) program is an example of an initiative that supports women-led projects that create opportunities for women and girls. Led by women and for women around the world, giving financial support and a platform to women is an important step forward in creating genuine equity.

It’s wonderful to look at some of these initiatives and how they contribute to the continued effort to truly establish gender equity. They have a lot of potential to continue to drive us forward, and are worthwhile efforts. While I am encouraged by the advancements that have been made since my mother and my grandmother’s time, the fact remains that underlying gender norms still permeate our society which, in turn, affects our economic growth. In addition to my field of diplomacy, there also continues to exist a lack of women in politics, business, and the sciences, to name just a few. The world as a whole stands to benefit greatly if we focus on the large economic opportunity of improving gender parity in sectors such as these.

The most important work we can do is to reflect on how we contribute to gender equity in our daily actions. How do we do that? Here are just a few of my suggestions that you can implement in your daily life:

• Support local, women-owned businesses in your community.
• If you’re in a position to do so, support non-profits that provide help to economically or socially disadvantaged women.
• Lead by example. Promote, encourage and celebrate women in your family, at work and in your friend group who have innovative ideas or challenge the status quo.
• Speak out when confronted with gender biased behavior, and make people aware of –unconscious – gender biased remarks.  Patience and humor can help landing your observations, but perseverance is required!

There has been a lot of progress – let’s not diminish the great work that has already been done. With that in mind, I am optimistic that we can continue to build towards a world where women and men can live equally and freely regardless of where they live.

Let’s keep this conversation going beyond March 8th.

Ines