#ReadingWomen

Yesterday was Interntional Women's Day! YAAAAY! A whole day just for us women! What an achievement! Emmeline Pankhurst would have loved this! This is what we're fighting for!

If we're only allowed 24 hours to freely (and sometimes not even then) express the achievements of the fantastic women and men who have paved the way for women's rights, then we still have a long way to go, kids. 

Tonight, there were speeches from Madeline Davies, Grace Ioppolo and Karin Lesnik-Oberstein for the IWD debate held at the University, and these are the people you need gunning the way for women. We laughed, we gasped, we shared stories and, most importantly, we used our voices. 

Grace Ioppolo, who is my American Literature seminar leader, called herself a 'trouble maker' - initially because the people around her did. But YAY for trouble makers. YAY for people who stand up and call people out on their misogynistic bullshit (And we should do that for homophobic and racist bullshit too). These people are the ones who get stuff done. We need more trouble makers.

A fantastic example on calling someone out is the Lebanese TV Presenter Cuts Interview Short with Islamic Scholar . She was doing her job, he reduced her to her gender, she wasn't taking it.
This is what we need to see in the world, not just in the Middle East but in every single country on this planet. Inequality is a hindrance and countries will not progress without it. Iceland LITERALLY COULD NOT COPE in 1975 when 90% of it's female population just said "nope" - here's the link to a great article.

The idea of 'bossiness' wasn't something that came up in the debate today but its one I've been thinking about for a while. Why are girls called bossy when they dictate situations or ask for things or tell the people around them what they want from them? This isn't the case with boys, as far as I am aware. They show "leadership skills". Well, fuuuuuccckkkkkk you, women can be leaders. WOMEN ARE LEADERS. Harvard University has a female President, Germany has a female Chancellor, Brazil has a female President, Argentina has a female President, there's a female Administrator in the U.N Development Programme. And do you know what the worst thing about this list is? "Female". 

Drew Giplin Faust is THE President of Harvard University, she is not the FEMALE President of Harvard University because using her gender in her title suggests, to me, that there is a male President too. Which there isn't. Because Faust can bloody well do it on her own.

Other points raised were the issue of the 'Western Feminist' -  this doesn't include women from the Middle East or Africa. So does it include women of colour? Transgender women? Irish women, who, even though they are geographically in the West, don't even have access to abortion? Feminism is about equal rights for women and that should include women from all walks of life. It's not about us against them, its about us being HEARD by them. We'll always be different, sure, but women are all equal in being unequal.

A fabulous point Maddie raised was how subtle sexism is now. Call it out. Make people embarrassed by their comments. Even if they didn't mean it and when they say "man up" or "don't be such a girl" that they DIDN'T MEAN IT LIKE THAT!!?!?!?!?!??!?!!??!?!?!!?!??! Whatever their intention, those phrases should not be thrown around. They carry messages: act your gender/do what the other people of your gender do. Your calling them out may very well be the education they need to stop saying things like that, to stand up for women's rights or any rights of an oppressed group. Your calling them out is just as significant in the fight for gender equality as it is knocking on David Cameron's door demanding equal pay. Baby steps are still steps.

Another thing I would like to raise is the question a girl at the debate asked and consequently sparked the debate on language: How do women claim back the word "woman" so that it no longer carries negative connotations, so we no longer are the punchline of sexist jokes? Same with feminist? I guess this goes onto another point: how do we get them to listen? (whoever "they" are?)
Baby steps and social media. Tweet about it, blog about it, write a status about it, write it on your forehead, take a selfie and Instagram it. Get the message out there; a message that says "All I want is to be treated as a human being, regardless of my gender" - or something similar.

It's 2015, people have been fighting for women's rights for well over a 100 years. Why must it take longer than a century? Why must progressive social reform take so long? How can people even think that feminism doesn't apply to them? Why does the world think it can function without women? Or get away with paying them less? Systematically oppressing them?
It's something I will never understand but always fight for.

Being a woman was not something I chose. But wishing I was a man is the easy way out.
I'll keep calling you out on your sexist bullshit. I'll keep voting for people who have women's rights at the heart of their manifesto (or at least the existence of it). I'll keep promoting women and their achievements. I'll keep celebrating mine and other's womanhood. I'll keep educating people on women's rights and feminist. I'll always be a trouble maker.