Celebrating Storytelling That Breaks the Bias This Women’s History Month

It was a global affair as Audible celebrated Women’s History Month with events that amplified female creators and explored ways to empower women in the workforce, and with sessions promoting employee wellness. Communities around the world joined us for panels related to this year’s International Women's Day (IWD) theme, “Break the Bias,” and helped us shine a light on content exploring intersectional experiences.

This year Audible sponsored The Women’s Prize for Fiction (WPFF), the UK’s most prestigious annual book award, to celebrate and honor female writers. Women@Audible’s UK chapter hosted a panel with WPFF interim chair Anna Rafferty, and WPFF founder and director, novelist Kate Mosse, as well as novelists Dorothy Koomson and Madeline Miller. They discussed the importance of the prize in elevating women’s stories and voices, the challenges faced by women writers and how those have evolved over the last decade, and the importance of diversity within the literary world. A number of public events promoted new original content centering stories of women of color. Women@Audible and fellow employee-led impact group UNIDOS collaborated with We All Grow Latina, a community of creators and entrepreneurs, to celebrate the release of the Audible Original series Punk in Translation: Latinx Origins with a virtual conversation with Latin Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter and host of the series Ceci Bastida and lead producer Núria Puntonet.

For the powerful Audible Original Finding Tamika, creator and actor/activist Erika Alexander will appear with her co-producers Charlamagne tha God and Kevin Hart for an Audible Live on March 31. She also spoke with MSNBC’s Joy Reid at 92Y about the series, which explores the case of a missing young Black woman and how it led to a rallying cry to expose a system that ignores missing girls and women of color. Read our interview with Erika Alexander here.

Audible Editors highlighted stories by both legendary women and emerging voices in a collection introduced with this powerful missive: “At a time when it feels as though our rights are constantly being questioned, let us look to the women who came before us for inspiration in our continued efforts to be heard. At a time when we mourn the loss of voices who shaped generations—bell hooks, Joan Didion, Anne Rice, Cicely Tyson—let us look to new voices who speak our truths.” Explore the collection here.

In Newark, a widely attended round-table discussion hosted by the US chapter of Women@Audible and led by our pop culture programming lead, Maggie Murphy, explored the ways Audible breaks bias through the content we produce and promote, as well as through our programs like the “Next Chapter” Returnship Program and the Indigenous Writers Circle.

And in Australia, Karen Yates, Audible’s director of content for our service there, chatted with Clare Bowditch about bias in the industry of publishing, music, and beyond. Bowditch is a beloved award-winning musician, actor, and writer, and one of Australia’s most respected and in-demand public speakers. The talk covered the importance of community and connecting with vulnerability and authenticity, as well as the role internalized bias plays in the critical self-talk that can hold women back.

Throughout the month, employees across the globe were encouraged to take time out to focus on their mental and physical well-being with yoga, movement, and meditation sessions hosted by Women@Audible, both virtually and in person in our Newark hub. Employees from across the country also shared on the Audible Blog key moments in their lives when they took charge in a challenging situation, and the listen that inspired them, while in a series of videos, like this one, employees opened up about challenges they’ve faced as women and the ways our workplace supports a culture of belonging that empowers them.