March 8th is International Women’s Day and Cat Footwear is celebrating women today and every day, especially in work industries, where women tend to be overlooked or ignored all together.

The amount of women in work industries is expected to more than double by 2021. With more and more women entering industries like construction, agriculture, plumbing, and everything in between, our goal is to continue to focus on meeting their footwear needs, while also aligning to what best helps them continue to progress.

At Cat Footwear, we’ve been dedicated to creating work boots specifically for women for 25 years, improving our designs, technology and features every step of the way. Focusing on comfort, style and listening to what our customers have told us, we develop lasts and designs specific to women and their feet, rather than simply shrinking down men’s boots.

We connected with a few women in the work influencer space on their thoughts about International Women’s Day, what it means to them, and women in the workplace. Read on below for their thoughts.

“To me, International Women’s Day is a celebration of how far we’ve come in the construction industry but also a call to action to continue the progress we’ve made. With a more balanced representation of women on the job-site we can truly build a better world.”
– Missy, @missyscherber

“Growing up, my dad always empowered me to use tools and build – he always fought away the people who criticized him for letting me work with him on job sites. He was my voice before I knew I had one, and now I choose to be the voice for women in the same workplace today who feel like they haven’t found theirs yet either. Women can to anything they put their minds to. We are powerful, creative, and determined humans. Never let anyone’s opinion of what you can and can’t do cloud your judgement. Just be who you want to be, the rest will fall into place.”
– Sam, @DIYHuntress

“International Women’s Day is about every human joining together and celebrating what a woman can bring to the table in an effort to balance our contribution to the workforce.

You can’t imagine the shock on someone’s face when they see my space (even the package guy), comment on how lucky my husband is to have such a tricked out wood shop, only to find out its my momcave- NOT- mancave. The stereotype still exists and I intend to be a strong force among many talented woodworking women who are striving daily to squash the norm.

Contributing who I am in the workplace as a woman in a male dominated community pushes me daily to show my four daughters that you can do anything that interests you. Never let anything or anyone intimidate you or make you feel like you can’t do it.”

– Raechal, @desertwoodwrks