International Women’s Day
International women’s day is celebrated on the 8th March each year, and this year celebrating 119 years since the first IWD was annually held. It is said to aspire to eliminate all discrimination against women in society today, and it's a day when we celebrate the amazing social, cultural, economic and political achievements of women, while also campaigning for greater progress towards gender equality. That is why we felt that it is important that we interview the public’s opinion on such a controversial day in history.
Firstly, it is important that we recognise that women have been fighting for their rights for centuries and are still being discriminated against in today’s society, however, some people may feel that women and feminists are praising their achievements too much, which is mainly found in the free, equal and civil countries such as Britain, U.S.A, and France. Unfortunately however, gender discrimination also plays a huge role in politics in today’s society, with many female MPs facing and dealing with a lot of discrimination daily. In fact a recent story that has come across recently is the hate and discrimination that former British MP Luciana Berger has experienced as a woman in the House of Commons. She described her time as serving as a Labour MP as being “hateful, and anti-semitic” however, as an inspirational and independent young woman, she was not afraid of speaking out about this, tweeting things like:
and showing herself at many interviews which would in turn help spread the news of the uncivil hate that she and many other women of great importance have received. She took a great, positive approach to answering all of the press’ questions and also happily took on the challenge of a strong powerful interview from famous newsmedia like The Guardian and The Times.
Another recent story that has come across the media is the statue of “fearless Girl”, which is a bronze statue of a young girl with her hands on her hips which was made by U.S. artist Kristen Visbal. It was installed in support of International Women’s Day on Friday and aims at bringing more gender diversity to the central city of London. The statue is placed in Paternoster square near St Paul’s cathedral, and in fact has already had an immense impact on the general public of London because businesses are said to have taken inspiration from this piece and taken action to install more female directors (in fact over 300 companies have responded to its call!) * Furthermore, it has brought the impactful campaign to the possibly unaware public of London by having this exact replica of the original statue which was previously unveiled two years ago.
However there are some alternative views on International Women’s Day, and not all what you may think. Even though many people think it is a great idea, there are few who think it is more harmful than not. By celebrating International Women’s Day, you may be accidentally condoning being gender biased towards females. Many people who say they are a feminist strive to make themselves better than men, but that is not what femininity is about. Femininity is about females and males being equal and by celebrating women only, you are saying it’s ok to be sexist as long as it’s aimed at men. Anyone can be a feminist, according to Emma Watson, “If you stand for equality, then you’re a feminist. Sorry to tell you.” This is why there are people, such as Mrs. Evans at St. Edmund Arrowsmith Catholic High School, who believe it’s ok to celebrate women’s day as long as there are days for men, straight people, gay people, black and white people. As long as everyone is celebrated for being themselves, it is fine as long as everyone treats everyone as equals.
After talking to many different people and hearing many different opinions, we think that it is incredibly important to celebrate not only women’s day but a day for everyone out there. Women have been treated as second class for centuries, but now we’re finally making some progress. Women can have equal pay and equal rights. We think it is important to celebrate all the women who have fought and died so that young women today can have a life equal to a male’s life. However in some countries women still aren’t treated as equals. That’s why this day is so important to try and show that women can do everything men can and should be treated with the same dignity as men.
Emma Watson at the HeForShe campaign/convention 2014 about her views on feminism.
To further analyse the role of women in society today and how much has or hasn’t changed, we have decided to reach out to young pupils and teachers and ask them about their views and opinions on this topic. Here is how the interview went:
Mrs Baylis- I was aware of International Women’s Day. I think it is a great initiative and it is a good idea to promote women is society. I unfortunately was discriminated against in the workplace for I am a mum and some men didn’t take me seriously when I took the job I was offered. For young women and men who are discriminated against, all I can say is stand up for yourself and for what you believe in. I think we should have equal rights and that young children should be taught that for its important for people to be educated at a young age so that they won’t even question whether women should be equal when they’re older. Anyone can be a feminist, whether they are male or female. When I was younger, my dad was an inspirational women for me and I wanted to be just like him. I hope that I can inspire pupils regardless whether male or female and that it is important to show young girls, what its like to be a woman.
Mrs Evans- Yes, I was aware of International Women’s Day. I have no problem with it because in some areas of the world women are being oppressed however I think everyone should be given a day about them whether they’re black, white, straight, gay or anything else. I have only ever experienced trivial discrimination for example a mechanic would ignore me and talk to my husband because he assumed I had no idea about cars, but other than that I have not experienced it. If I had experienced discrimination I would stand up for myself because it’s not fair that someone would be treated differently because of gender. Social media talk about this a lot I think but mainstream media can still be quite gender biased. I know parliament are still sometimes sexist even though they have a female prime minister. I remember when David Cameron was prime minister he said, “Calm down, dear” when a woman stood up to his opinions, which angered me because he wouldn’t want that for himself. I never really had a role model but I always admired my Nana because she always vocalised her opinions even when people didn’t agree with her. I don’t try and be a good female role model, I try to be a good teacher and even though we should treat women as equal we should treat women as equal we shouldn’t go too far and treat them better than everyone else.
Mr Reardon- I didn’t know about International Women’s Day, however I think it is important to recognise the contributions that women have made to society over the past hundreds of years. I personally think that women’s achievements have been overlooked that’s why I think we should celebrate women. Male and Female are both made in the image of God so from a religious point of view, we are complete equals. I disagree with the fact that women are still paid less in certain instances and that the media need to highlight that. I have always admired Malala because of her beliefs and everything/everyone she stand for. Everything she does for girls to get a good education is inspiring and extremely important.
Y9 student- “perfect”. “Good to promote women and their jobs”.
Y8 students-“Yes, it’s important because women used to not have a vote. It’s good to celebrate their rights.”
After talking to many different people and hearing many different opinions, we think that it is incredibly important to celebrate not only women’s day but a day for everyone out there. Women have been treated as second class for centuries, but now we’re finally making some progress. Women can have equal pay and equal rights. We think it is important to celebrate all the women who have fought and died so that young women today can have a life equal to a male’s life. However in some countries women still aren’t treated as equals. That’s why this day is so important to try and show that women can do everything men can and should be treated with the same dignity as men.
By : Olga and Lucy, year 9
