Inspire Inclusion

Happy International Women's Day to all the wonderful women out there

The theme of this year's celebration is 'Inspire Inclusion', so let's all strive to do that by continuing to be positive examples of how each and every one of us can make meaningful contributions to this vibrant community!

Today should serve as a reminder that it doesn't matter who you are - age, race, religion, physical appearance, sexual orientation - none of that should be a barrier to you getting involved because we can all contribute in our own way.

Seeing all the fantastic content that my favourite female creators regularly post certainly inspires me to continually try to up my game and create the best possible content to share with you. And I hope that I can provide you with some inspiration in return to pursue whatever activities and accomplishments that you set your sights on.

I believe in you all and, together, we can achieve anything!

Embrace Equity

International Women's Day (IWD) has its roots in the early 20th century, specifically in 1908, when 15,000 women marched through New York City demanding the right to vote, better pay, and shorter working hours. The following year, on March 19th, the Socialist Party of America designated the day as National Woman's Day.

Then, in 1910, the International Socialist Woman's Conference was held in Copenhagen, where German socialist Clara Zetkin proposed that an International Women's Day be established to promote equal rights and suffrage for women. That led to the first International Women's Day being celebrated on March 19, 1911, across Austria, Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland. Over one million people participated in rallies to demand women's rights to work, vote, and hold public office.

Since then, the significance of International Women's Day has evolved and expanded. Originally focused on suffrage and political rights, the day now also focuses on economic and social rights, such as equal pay and an end to discrimination and violence against women.

In more recent years, a specific theme has been applied to International Women's Day. For instance, last year I wrote about how 2022's theme was #BreakTheBias. For 2023, the theme is #EmbraceEquity.

Embracing equity is a crucial component of International Women's Day because it acknowledges that women and other marginalized groups face unique challenges and barriers that must be addressed in order to achieve true gender equity. Equity focuses on creating a fair and just society where everyone has access to the resources and opportunities they need to thrive, regardless of their background or identity.

In the context of IWD, embracing equity means recognizing that different groups of women face different levels of discrimination and oppression based on factors such as race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, and ability. It also means taking into account the specific needs and experiences of these groups when advocating for women's rights and empowerment.

By embracing equity, IWD recognizes the complex ways in which different forms of oppression intersect and compound one another. This approach acknowledges that fighting for women's rights cannot be separated from fighting against other forms of injustice, such as racism, ableism, or homophobia.

There are many ways to celebrate International Women's Day (IWD) and promote gender equity. Here are a few examples:

• Wear purple: The colour purple is often associated with IWD, and people around the world wear purple on this day to show their support for women's rights.
• Use social media: Share information, facts, and inspiration about International Women's Day using the hashtags #IWD2023 #EmbraceEquity.
• Educate yourself: Learn about the history of IWD and the ongoing struggle for gender equity. Read books, watch documentaries, and follow social media accounts that focus on women's issues.
• Amplify women's voices: Listen to and share the stories and perspectives of women in your community and around the world. Support and promote women-led businesses and organizations.
• Take action: Use IWD as an opportunity to take action for gender equity. This can include volunteering for a women's rights organization, participating in a local event, or starting a conversation with friends and family about gender equity.
• Show appreciation: Thank the important women in your life and acknowledge their contributions. You can also honour the women who inspire you by sending them messages of support or making donations to organizations that support women.

These are just a few examples, but there are many other ways to celebrate and support International Women's Day in 2023. The most important thing is to use this day as an opportunity to raise awareness about gender equity and to take action to promote it.

Break The Bias

We have to travel all the way back in time to the early 1900s to find the origins of International Women's Day. Although originally held in February, and then on a few different dates in March, in 1913 March 8 was enshrined as International Women's Day and that date has remained unchanged ever since.

It all started in 1909 in New York, when a suffragist demanded better working terms for thousands of female workers who went on strike over gender inequality. The one year anniversary of that strike was then formally declared America's first Nation Women's Day in honour of those women.

Shortly after this, over in German, the idea of an International Women's Day was proposed in a bid to encourage women from every country to have a day where they could push for better equality. A conference of over 100 women from 17 different countries made it official and International Women's Day was officially celebrated for the first time in 1911 by German and some of its neighbours.

From there it grew and is now recognised in 100 countries around the world!

So let's get into what International Women's Day mean today. 

Fundamentally, it still stands for the same thing; trying to eliminate gender inequalities that still exist over century later. The pay gap still exists between men and women, there are no enough women given prominent leadership position and violence against women happens daily.

Indeed in a post-Covid world, research suggests that we have moved in the wrong direction due to demands of lockdown pushing women more towards the old-fashioned homemaker role and the gender gap is now wider than it was a few years ago.

International Women's Day is there to shine a light on these things and give women a platform to try to drive change. It is a global day for celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating women's equality.

That is why the theme of this year's International Women's Day is #BreakTheBias where we should all challenge ourselves and others to break both the conscious and unconscious bias and stereotypes that hold women back in the workplace, in communities and in education.

As part of #BreakTheBias, men and women around the world are encouraged to share photos of themselves in the #BreakTheBias pose, showing that they are rejecting outdated thinking that stops us all from moving forwards as a society. Cross your arms to show solidarity with them!

You can also show your support for IWD 2022 by wearing purple, green and white; purple for justice and dignity, green for hope and white for purity. 

It should be said that the inclusion of white for purity is certainly a controversial choice. When these 3 colours were chosen over a hundred years ago, the view of how a woman should behave is very different to how it is today and it is a legacy of outdated thinking and old-fashioned attitudes unfortunate. 

Perhaps International Women's Day should take it's own advice and break free from the past by ditching that colour and replace it with something that better represents what women can offer the world today.