International Women’s Day – 8 March 2019 All 40 LDIA members proudly celebrated the INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’s DAY by organizing various events in their respective offices. Clifford Chance invited two midwives from Brussels-based charity Aquarelle to introduce the work of their organisation. Baker McKenzie is proud of supporting this year’s IWD campaign #BalanceForBetter! DLA is committed to building a diverse and inclusive workplace. DLA started the IWD with a healthy breakfast. WSGR organized an interesting debate about feminism and how to stand up for our values, around coffee and donuts. Van Bael & Bellis organized a marvelous breakfast. and a little competition around a mystery picture. Freshfields held a panel event in the context of the IWD: “Innovative ways to improve diversity”, inspired by this year’s theme of “Think Equal, Build Smart, Innovate for Change”. Shearman organized a lunch and quiz. All ladies wore mimosa flower corsages. At NautaDutilh, a slideshow with striking events concerning women’s rights played all day long in the reception hall. Furthermore, all women were invited to make noise at 2 pm to make their female voice heard. Steptoe celebrated IWD with an educational and interactive quiz on history, pioneer women, and women’s rights. Altius organized a delicious ‘Wall of women!’ breakfast. Stibbe Women’s Day event. Lydian Women’s Day event at Kanal museum. Crowell & Moring organized an informal after work Cr♀well Café to celebrate strong women. Liedekerke members participated in an interactive workshop on “Creating a Culture of Inclusion with Balanced Leadership”. “Thank you Danielle Moens for the fun and enriching workshop!” Simont Braun organised a drink and a quiz around women’s achievements across centuries. Osborne Clarke organised a breakfast meeting where they gave an update on their LDIA membership and what it means in practice. They also showed a video “Work-life balance: balancing time or balancing identity?”. In addition, they talked about gender bias and people were encouraged to take Harvard test on implicit associations gender-career. Eubelius made a video for IWD. To view video, copy following link https://vimeo.com/322180959 MoFo Brussels team celebrated IWD with a fun & informative lunch quiz. Skadden Brussels celebrated IWD with a challenging round of Women in History trivia. The winner received a copy of Michelle Obama’s “Becoming”. Strelia gave to all women a shopping bag with an inspirational message. In their endeavor to forge a more gender-balanced office, Strelia also organised a breakfast for all team members (women and men) and invited “Amozone”, a Belgian feminist, membership organisation committed to achieving gender equality. They presented their organisation and gave some ideas on how to achieve gender equality in the legal sector. Loyens & Loeff invited Isabella Lenarduzzi (JUMP) to talk about the power of inclusive organizations. For the occasion a group of co-workers also organized a ‘dessert-sale’ and donated the collected amount (times two) to the European Association Against Violence against Woman@Work. Baker Botts celebrated IWD with a short quiz ‘Guess who I am’? Herbert Smith Feehills Brussels partner Kyriakos Fountoukakos brought members of the office together for an evening of entertainment with female flamenco star Rafaela Carrasco at the city’s Centre for Fine Arts. The all-female performance, which Rafaela choreographed, reflected the works of four Spanish and Latin American women who lived during the 16th and 17th centuries – and whose struggles are still highly relevant today. Kyriakos said: “It was a great opportunity to come together as a team, celebrate IWD and the achievements of women all over the world.” Mayer Brown distributed pots of flowers to all the ladies with a sticker: «You glow girl». IWD 2019 @ Cleary: A discussion on Gender Equality lead by Karen Vandekerckhove, Head of Unit, Gender Equality, DG Justice & Consumers at the European Commission. The HOYNG ROKH MONEGIER team discussed the impact of gender bias and went to the movies to see “On the basis of sex”, Supreme Court Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s biopic and more specifically her fight against discrimination on the basis of gender. Laga organized: – a breakfast session regarding balance for better best practices about gender inclusive teams en gender balanced leadership with 3 guests: Caroline Pauwels, VUB rector, Ann Caluwaerts, chief corporate affairs, Telenet and Hassan Al Hilou, strategy diversity advisor. – a lunch listening session by Laga Talent partner (Tim Baart) together with a delegation of female lawyers. To celebrate IWD, Fieldfisher recently launched a Belgian Chapter of the Diversity and inclusiveness Group within Fieldfisher. Fieldfisher Belgium is proud to be the first international Fieldfisher group to launch. At their first meeting, to which the entire office was invited, they agreed the mission of the group and held a brain storm about what can be improved and which actions can be taken to honour Fieldfisher’s strong commitment to build a diverse and inclusive workplace. The group committed to quarterly meetings in Brussels to help progress the group. On 8 March 2019, the D&I Committee of Ashurst’s Brussels Office organised a coffee morning in celebration of IWD. All attendees were able to enjoy an assortment of croissants and pastries, with coffee and hibiscus flower juice- these delicacies were directly sourced from social enterprises founded by women in Belgium and Africa, and more particularly Congo and Senegal. In addition, a selection of short films documenting the history of women’s rights was shown, featuring women’s rights advocates and champions in France, England, Iceland, India, Iran, Japan, Nigeria, Pakistan, Russia, and Saudi Arabia.