Gender Visibility Days: Empowerment or Routine Ritual

International Women’s Day (IWD), established by the United Nations in 1977 and rooted in twentieth-century labor movements, serves two interconnected functions: celebrating women’s achievements and acknowledging persistent gender inequalities across political, economic, cultural, and social systems. Empirical evidence from organizations including the World Economic Forum demonstrates that gender remains a significant axis of inequality globally. Contemporary challenges include climate crises, erosion of reproductive rights, reduced aid to developing regions, and rollbacks of diversity, equity, and inclusion policies. Concurrently, conceptualizations of gender categories, especially the category woman, have been challenged. Related observances, such as the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, highlight how particular disciplines organize dedicated awareness days to address the under representation of women. These developments raise important questions about the continued relevance, scope, and effectiveness of single-day commemorations in advancing substantive gender equality across diverse global contexts.This Research Topic welcomes contributions that examine the evolving role and impact of gender-focused observances across different geographical, disciplinary, and institutional contexts. We seek to understand whether these commemorative frameworks effectively advance equality or function primarily as symbolic recognition with limited structural impact. We welcome inter and multidisciplinary submissions to address interconnected problems. Firstly, the gap between celebrating achievements and addressing systemic inequalities remains contested across multiple dimensions. Secondly, IWD operates differently across regions, disciplines, and sectors, yet comparative analyses remain limited. Thirdly, the relationship between dedicated awareness days and substantive policy change requires investigation. Finally, disciplinary divergence in gender-focused observances (such as Women in Science Day) raises questions about intellectual and political boundaries rather than collaboration in addressing gender issues.Contributors are invited to explore these dimensions through empirical research, theoretical analysis, and comparative studies. We welcome interdisciplinary submissions examining how different fields conceptualize, implement, and evaluate the effectiveness of gender-focused practices and events in advancing equality, policy change, and structural transformation. Recent developments in gender studies, including expanded understandings of gender categories, provide valuable frameworks for this analysis.This Research Topic welcomes manuscripts addressing the following themes:• Whether gender-focused observances advance gender equality or remain primarily symbolic across different regions and sectors.• How different academic and professional disciplines approach gender-focused days, the implications of disciplinary separation versus interdisciplinary collaboration.• The role of gender-focused observances in business, academic, policy, and NGO contexts; how institutional adoption differs from and aligns with grassroots activism.• Analysis of UN theme selection, promotion strategies, and their resonance across global contexts.• How gender inequalities intersect with other axes of power differently across the world; applicability and relevance of global frameworks in diverse contexts.• How evolving theoretical approaches to gender (e.g., beyond binary categories) reshape policies, rituals and activism.We invite original research articles, literature reviews, comparative analyses, and critical perspectives. Submissions should employ rigorous empirical or theoretical methods and engage with recent evidence on gender inequality globally. Topic editors: Kath Woodward Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/78440/gender-visibility-days-empowerment-or-routine-ritual