International Women’s Day has been celebrated since the early 1900s to honor the achievements of women in social, economic, cultural and political arenas. It’s also been used as a day to rally around gender parity. This year, several companies are taking part. Mattel is creating Barbies of inspiring women like Mexican artist Frida Kahlo and U.S. snowboarding champion Chloe Kim. Google is featuring doodles from 12 female artists. And Penguin Books launched a pop-up shop with Waterstones that features exclusively female writers.
So if you happen to be driving by the McDonald’s location in Lynwood, California, and see the golden arches flipped on their head, nope, it’s not a prank. McDonald’s has flipped their M to a W in Lynwood in support of International Women’s Day. They’ve also updated all their social media profiles to the golden W.
More:McDonald’s Is Making Its Biggest Menu Change to Date
“In celebration of women everywhere, and for the first time in our brand history, we flipped our iconic arches for International Women’s Day in honor of the extraordinary accomplishments of women everywhere and especially in our restaurants,” Wendy Lewis, McDonald’s global chief diversity officer, said in a statement.
The Lynwood franchise’s owner, Patricia Williams, flipped her location’s arches in support. Up to 100 different locations will have special crew shirts, hats, bag stuffers and packaging as well.
More:Starbucks Is Charging a Paper Cup Fee at Select Locations
The move is a nice gesture, but we want to see a stronger, less symbolic way to support the women who work for them, particularly for a company that had almost $700 million in net revenue in 2017 (down from over a billion): a living wage, for example, better health care, reliable hours and a stronger response to sexual harassment accusations.
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“From restaurant crew and management to our C-suite of senior leadership, women play invaluable roles at all levels, and together with our independent franchise owners, we’re committed to their success,” Lewis continued.
Hard to imagine a commitment to success at an average of $9.34 an hour. Ah, well. Maybe next year.
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