International Women’s Day: Multiplying power by giving back to the project profession

The theme of International Women’s Day 2026 is ‘Give to Gain’, which emphasises the importance of reciprocity and support. Everyone benefits when people and organisations give generously, but International Women’s Day is an important opportunity to focus on the advancement of women in the project profession and how a more inclusive world is being created.

Here, project management student and APM Volunteer, Nithiyasri Ganapathy (pictured, left), shares her views on why and how female project professionals are sharing their time and knowledge to support others.

The skills gap is an important issue affecting the project profession. How do you think skills can be enhanced for the benefit of female practitioners and leaders?

“I truly believe that if we're going to close the skills gap for women in project management work, it's not going to be through pay increases or awareness campaigns, it's going to have to be through structural change. Research from APM reveals that barriers to progression still exist so it’s important for employers to have equitable hiring, transparent promotion pathways and inclusive leadership practices embedded. Partnerships with universities and regional authorities are also critical to build early pipelines into the profession.

“Finally, we have to value the behavioural and leadership competencies as well as technical expertise. Projects are successful through communication and the ability to adapt and influence, so recognising these skills enables both performance excellence and better representation of females in leadership.”

Are there any skills that you feel are especially important for women to develop in project/programme management roles? If so, which skill(s) and why?

“I don't think women need different core competencies to men. APM frameworks are gender neutral. However, in reality, some of the skills are extremely powerful. Strategic influence and executive presence are important because in programmes authority is often political. Good commercial and financial skills are an asset to credibility at senior levels. Political intelligence, informal power dynamics understanding is helpful in navigating complex governance environments Finally, well-disciplined boundary setting has scope, budget and wellbeing protection. These aren't "female skills" they are leadership multipliers. Mastering them assures that capability is not just there, but that it is visible, respected and decisive in high-stake environments.”

Nearly two-thirds of women (61%) say that work on their main project has negatively affected their mental health. Do you see any positive examples of how women's mental wellbeing is being supported in the workplace?

“Yes, I do see positive changes. As an APM Student Volunteer, I can see that we do more and more to promote wellbeing conversations in the project environment. Many organisations have introduced mental health first aiders, flexible working models and psychologically safe reporting structures. Some employers also are training line managers to recognise the signals of burnout early, which is important in high-pressure delivery situations.

“However, more can be done. Employers are required to redesign workloads. Realistic scheduling, appropriate resource allocation and clear escalation paths help to reduce chronic stress. Female managers in particular can provide role-modelling in terms of boundary-setting and normalising vulnerability and actively sponsor balanced cultures of performance. Structural prevention is the better than reactive support. Women are often burdened with a lot of emotional and relational labour at work. If organisations do not account for this invisible workload, burnout is predictable. True support should be handled as proactive design. It means developing project systems that do not require constant overextension as the pre-requisite for success. That’s not a "wellness initiative", it’s disciplined and shows a mature project governance.”

The theme of International Women's Day 2026 is 'Give to Gain'. In your experience, what are the benefits to businesses and individuals of senior colleagues sharing their time or knowledge with junior colleagues?

“My Master’s in project management made me understand something very early on; it’s not the absence of frameworks that leads to project failures but rather lapses in judgement. Experience is experience of judgment. That’s why ‘Give to Gain’ is effective. Knowledge transfer isn’t the only benefit when senior professionals give their time; it’s more that they’re accelerating the learning curve of another individual. This is strategic to businesses. It ensures the ability to deliver, minimises the governance-related risk, and enhances succession pipelines and institutional memory. It converts personal genius to organisational strength. That is competitive advantage. It also lessens isolation among people – particularly junior professionals working under the high-pressure jobs. It develops executive presence, decision confidence, and political awareness, which you can never read on a textbook.

“I would actually enjoy operating in such conditions as those created by the Association of Project Management, especially communities such as the Women in Project Management Interest Network where knowledge-sharing is not casual; places where senior managers are actively open-door, failure is shared as learning, and ambition is nurtured, which I think is valuable because, to an early career individual like me, that would provide me with a sense of what a good project manager would do.

“Leaders don’t lose power when they open the door for others. They multiply it. That’s what ‘Give to Gain’ really means.”

You may also be interested in…

APM Women in Project Management Interest Network

Register your interest for the APM Women in Project Management Conference 2026