You found the list of top Women’s History Month ideas for work.
Women’s History Month is an acknowledgment of the contributions of women to history and modern society. The month happens during March in the US, UK, and Australia, and in Canada, the month falls in October. However, because International Women’s Day occurs in March, all companies can do special female-centric programming during the month. Women’s History Month ideas for work are ways to celebrate women in the workplace. For example, book clubs, lunch and learns, and parties. These activities aim to make women in the office world feel appreciated and empowered.
These ideas are examples of indoor team building activities and are in-person versions of virtual Women’s Day celebration ideas.
This article includes:
- Women’s History Month activities for the office
- Women’s History Month office games
- Women’s History Month corporate event ideas
- ideas for Women’s History month at work
- Women’s History Month topics for lunch and learns
- employee engagement ideas for Women’s History Month
Here are the tips.
List of Women’s History Month ideas
From games to quotes to spotlights to events, here is a list of ways to celebrate Women’s History Month in the office.
1. Quote of the Day
There is no shortage of wise words from women. To motivate your team during Women’s History Month, introduce a quote of the day series to share sayings from famous females. For each working day of the month, select an inspiring saying by a notable woman. The speakers could be current celebrities, authors, industry leaders, historical figures, or a combination of these groups. You can use these quotes during meetings and morning huddles, in the signature line or a special section of internal emails, on a community bulletin board, social media, or post in Slack. Feel free to crowdsource quotes from employees as well.
Here is a list of quotes for International Women’s Day.
2. Women’s Day Blackout Bingo
Women’s Day Blackout Bingo is a social game that encourages coworkers to interact and learn more about women who work in different areas of the company.
Each participant receives a randomized Bingo card and must mark off every square on the board by writing the name of a woman who fits the statement. You could also call for shapes like X or diamonds. Players must talk to coworkers and figure out which company women fit the descriptions to fill in the boxes. Participants can turn in completed cards for a prize.
Here are a couple of more guidelines for the game:
- Players cannot use the name of the same female colleague more than once on the card. (Or, more than twice if the company is small.)
- At least half the squares must be women coworkers who work in a different department.
- Players who struggle to fill the squares or are unable to find a fit for a description can use a non-employee female related to the company. For example, a former employee, a founder, a vendor, a client, the immediate relative of a coworker. Up to ¼ the squares of the board can be ladies in these categories.
Here is a template we made for your game:
You can also check out this icebreaker Bingo generator.
3. Book Club
Book Clubs are educational ideas for Women’s History month at work. Reading can help employees understand women’s perspectives and experiences. Books can also help celebrate women and give female professionals support and advice. You can feature fiction, or spotlight nonfiction self-help books or biographies of inspiring women. You could even create an anthology of shorter pieces and hold a series of mini-events throughout the month. You might even invite female authors to give a reading or host a Q&A session.
To host a book club event, choose a work, then select a date to meet up and discuss that read. Be sure to give participants at least a month to complete the reading. Handing out copies of the book, reimbursing the purchase of the work, or providing lunch during the event are also nice touches.
For some starter reading recommendations, here are lists of leadership books for women and business books by women.
4. Guest Speakers
Guest speaker series are excellent employee engagement ideas for Women’s History Month. These events bring women experts in to educate staff about professional topics, women’s issues, and the intersection of these two categories. You can recruit female speakers from within your organization or industry, bring in voices from the surrounding community, partner with speakers who focus on female empowerment, or simply spotlight interesting women with impressive expertise or achievements.
For reference, here is a list of virtual keynote speakers.
5. Lunch and Learns
Lunch and learns are among the best Women’s History Month corporate event ideas. These lectures educate employees on relevant topics during lunch hours, and typically include complimentary snacks or meals.
To book a lunch and learn, secure a room and a speaker, and promote the event to the staff. Be sure to book the talk midday to coincide with lunch hours. To encourage attendance, provide food. Leaving time at the end of the session for Q&A is also a good idea.
These talks can be advice and skill-building seminars for working women, or celebrations of female subjects.
Here are some sample Women’s history month topics for lunch and learns:
- Balancing motherhood and work
- Networking and self-promotion as a female professional
- Mentorship
- Awesome women of the industry
- Being an ally to women
- Women and work across cultures
Here is a guide to doing lunch and learns virtually.
6. International Women’s Day Party
Throwing an International Women’s Day Party is a fun way to celebrate WHM at work. These events give coworkers the chance to gather, socialize, and have fun together, all while honoring a worthy cause. To plan your party, block off a time on March 8th for the team to enjoy the festivities. The best bet is to either schedule the party at lunchtime when employees typically take a break to eat anyway or plan the event for the afternoon when focus is low. The party can include food, speeches, games, and swag. For an extra special approach, use female vendors, and invite local female business owners to connect with the staff.
7. Bring Your Favorite Woman to Work Day
Bring Your Favorite Woman to Work Day is an inclusive event that encourages employees to involve family and friends in the fun. For this occasion, allow each employee to bring one female guest. Those plus ones could be a daughter, a wife or girlfriend, a best friend, a professional contact, or any woman the team member admires. Be sure to arrange special activities like games, goodie bags, tours of the office, and social time to entertain the guests.
Pro tip: Guest count can be flexible if you can accommodate. For instance, a team member may have several daughters. It is ok to allow for more than one plus one per employee, however be sure that attendees RSVP with the number of guests to get an accurate headcount!
8. Bulletin Board
Office bulletin boards offer opportunities for low-touch Women’s History Month programs. You can use the boards to educate staff and encourage employees to interact. There are many creative ways to use this space for Women’s Month programming.
Here are a few examples:
- Invite employees to post pictures of women who have impacted their lives
- Spotlight remarkable women within the company or industry
- List categories like “athlete,” “musician,” “mom,” etc, and have team members sign their names under the titles that apply. Staff can appreciate the richness of female coworkers’ identities
- Post a giant crossword puzzle, word search, word scramble, or trivia challenge that teammates can solve together
- Encourage teammates to write notes of thanks and praise for women colleagues
Check out more office bulletin board ideas.
9. Ladies’ Lunch
Ladies’ lunches are team building socials that revolve around sharing a meal. Although the focus of the lunch is to celebrate and appreciate women, the outing can involve teammates of all genders. To organize the lunch, take the team out for a midday meal. Be sure to announce the lunch at least a week or two in advance so that team members can be available at the chosen time. Then, either order catering into the office or make a reservation at a restaurant and dine out as a group. During lunch, you can shout out the hard work of female teammates and honor women in general through thoughtful talking topics.
10. Employee Resource Groups
Employee resource groups are staff-led committees that tend to focus on particular identities. Because females make up a significant portion of the workforce, forming women-centric employee resource groups within organizations makes sense. If your company does not yet have a women’s ERG, then Women’s History Month is an excellent time to launch one. If a women’s ERG already exists, then the group can be your greatest asset in planning Women’s History Month programming. In addition, the group can help you plan and shape events for WHM and beyond.
Check out this guide to employee resource groups.
11. Awards
Awards are direct methods of recognizing and appreciating women at work. For example, you can create a special awards ceremony or series to celebrate female employees. To run these awards, come up with categories. For example, “female leader of the year,” “woman to watch,” “women supporting other women,” and “master mentor.” You can also base the awards on company values and recognize women who exemplify these ideals.
To choose honorees, share the categories with the staff and collect nominations. Once the deadline for submissions closes, allow employees to vote on the nominees or ask judges to review the recommendations. Lastly, honor the winners by giving recipients plaques, certificates, trophies, prizes, and copies of coworker’s words of praise. Be sure to also recognize the recipients companywide by hosting a ceremony or announcing the winners in a company memo, email, or webpage.
For similar ideas, check out these guides to online award shows and employee of the month programs.
12. Care Packages
One of the most impactful ideas for Women’s History month at work is to curate care packages composed of goodies from women-owned businesses. This gesture supports female entrepreneurs directly while also treating employees.
You can fill the packages with snacks, gourmet foods and sauces, cocktail kits, craft kits or coloring pages, candles, mugs, water bottles, stationery, and wall art. Feel free to tailor the content to fit employees’ interests. For best results, include information about each business and direct employees to the companies’ websites, online stores, and social media pages.
For inspiration, check out this list of employee gift ideas.
13. Thank You Notes
Thank You Notes are one of the best Women’s History Month activities for the office. This idea encourages team members to express personal gratitude for women. Both male and female employees can jot personal notes of thanks to women who greatly impacted their lives, such as mothers, mentors, friends, teachers, and managers.
To set up this activity, set up a station with cards and pens and give employees time to compose messages.
14. Fundraisers and Charity Events
One of the most meaningful ways to celebrate Women’s History Month in the office is to support women’s philanthropy. Charity-based WHM ideas support organizations that work to empower women. There are several ways to give back to the community and support women. For example, you could hold a fundraiser and donate the proceeds to a woman’s group, or the employer could offer to match staff donations to a women’s philanthropy. At Team Building, we play Women’s History Month Trivia, and the winning team gets to choose the charity recipient of the donation. Staff could also volunteer with a women’s organization.
Check out this list of ways to fundraise virtually for more ideas.
15. Special Spotlights
Special company spotlights are a way to draw attention to amazing women during Women’s History Month. These profiles can focus on employees, historical trailblazers, contemporary female heroes, or lesser-known women who deserve a round of applause. To create the highlight, either research or interview the subject, and write a short profile to share along with a photo or graphic. Methods of spotlighting these subjects include social media posts, blogs, web pages, announcements in Slack threads, company emails, bulletin boards, and meeting presentations.
16. Women’s Day Trivia
Women’s Day Trivia is one of the most fun Women’s History Month office games. These quiz competitions test team knowledge on famous females and women’s history and may teach employees new facts about fascinating women. The challenges promote camaraderie and team bonding and spark fun and friendly rivalry within the office.
To prepare a Women’s Day trivia game, find or create a series of questions about women. There are many ways to facilitate the competition, for instance, playing pub-style at a local bar, facing off in team Jeopardy, filling out a form, or answering via Kahoot! The team that answers the most questions correctly wins the game and receives a prize.
Here is a guide to doing trivia remotely and a list of sample trivia questions.
17. Costume Contests
Costume contests are playful ways to honor fabulous females. For this challenge, teammates can dress up as inspiring women. Participants can either arrive at the office in costume, reveal the outfit during a Zoom call, or snap a photo while dressed up as the badass lady and upload the shot to a shared photo album. The staff can vote on the best costume, and the winner receives a prize.
Here is a guide to doing costume contests remotely.
18. Storytime
Storytime is an activity that engages future female leaders and current employees. One way to champion women’s achievements during Women’s History Month is to host a storytime in the office. For this event, parents can bring their daughters into the office, or tune in to a livestream. A host will read a story or series of stories about incredible women.
This event is meant for children, however you can create a similar version for teenagers or adults in the form of a women’s writing workshop where attendees craft and share their own stories.
19. Movie Nights
Movie nights are one of the most straightforward Women’s History Month corporate event ideas. The company can screen films that focus on women to celebrate the holiday. These flicks can be documentaries or pure entertainment. The film’s theme should be female achievement, ability, or the battle against adversity.
You can hold one movie night at some point during the month or set up a movie series and screen a different film each week. These events give employees a chance to gather and bond while relaxing, and can spark meaningful dialogues.
To set up a movie night, screen a film on a screen by using a projector or AV hookup, or use a syncing software to stream the movie virtually. Perhaps consider renting out a local theater to play the chosen film privately for employees for a more memorable movie experience.
20. Woman of the Week
Woman of the Week is an ongoing shoutout highlighting worthy women in the workforce. The spotlight can be an employee or member of the organization, an industry leader, a historical figure, or simply an extraordinary lady who deserves recognition. To prepare the activity, select a different woman to feature each week during March. You can encourage employees to submit nominations and ideas and choose the most interesting or popular options to recognize. Each week, on a set day, share a profile of the chosen women in a company email, social media post, or blog post.
21. Networking Events
One way to empower women in business is to host women-centric networking events. These events can be a way for employees to connect with fellow female professionals and to accelerate professional development. Common networking event ideas include happy hours, conferences, career fairs, lectures, speed networking, Zoom meetings, and breakfasts or lunches, however you can also plan more creative and adventurous outings like rage room or escape room meetups, hikes, or graffiti workshops.
22. Office Art Gallery
One subtle way to celebrate Women’s History Month in the office is to turn the space into an art gallery celebrating women’s artists. You can invite local female artists to display their work in your lobby, hallways, and special exhibits within the office. Be sure to share information about the artists near the pieces and in internal emails. These displays can be purely for the sake of appreciation, or you can allow artists to sell the pieces to interested staff or visitors. If working with independent artists is beyond your bandwidth, then you can display posters and prints of art from famous female artists such as Freida Kahlo or Georgia O’Keeffe.
The virtual equivalent of this activity is to make or display thematic virtual backgrounds for employees to use on Zoom for the duration of the month.
Final Thoughts
Women’s History Month is an opportunity to celebrate and validate the women within your workforce and create meaningful change within the office environment. Rather than being a time to single out women, the month is a chance for all employees to come together and appreciate women’s contributions to the world together. In addition, the holiday is a time to learn, express gratitude, and forge stronger relationships with females in the office and beyond. Planning meaningful programming during this time can mean a great deal to employees and can help to create more inclusive workplaces for the future.
Next, check out these lists of virtual inclusion and diversity activities and office Easter activities.
We also have a list of ideas for National Disability in Employment Awareness Month.
Angela Robinson