International Women’s Day: ‘choosing to challenge’ and the fight for gender equality

For this year’s International Women’s Day, the theme is #ChooseToChallenge. Leading female attorneys share their thoughts with WIPR about what the campaign theme means to them, the issues affecting women in IP and their efforts to tackle them.

Anita Shaw, IP law counsel,  IBM

“I love this year’s theme: it’s so powerful. I’m going to pledge to continue to challenge myself and others, and ask what more could we collectively be doing to achieve greater equality for women and other minorities, particularly given the impact of the pandemic.

“For myself, I want to continue my learning journey and to use my voice to raise awareness and visibility of any issues. For others, including my family, friends and colleagues, I will strive to continue to create safe forums for discussion and debate. As we are still remote from each other, it is even more important to keep the conversation alive in order to retain momentum and crucially, in order to continue progression.”

Regan Smith, general counsel and associate register of copyrights,  US Copyright Office