March 8 marks International Women’s Day, a century-old global event, which defines its purpose as “celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women” and bringing a “call to action for accelerating gender parity”. In recent years, however, the PR surrounding the day has veered into full commercial furore. Yes, it spreads the word far and wide, but do we risk diluting the message in a sea of questionably-motived merchandise? And do we reduce the mission and meaning – as relevant now as ever – of a day that has been witness in its time to major trials, ongoing tribulations and long-awaited triumphs?
Here are a few dos and don’ts to bear in mind as IWD comes around again.
DON’T: Offer slogans over solutions
The whole day should be about empowerment, whatever that means and however it manifests to different groups and individuals. So anyone who wants to wear a declaration or an inspirational motif emblazoned across their front, to proffer it on a placard or to shout it from the rooftops or on social media, should be cheered. It gets the message out there, and allows us to feel part of a collective movement and have a voice in a world that doesn’t seem to be listening. While it’s shameful that the most obvious of these statements (“women’s right are human’s rights” being an oft-repeated example) would have to be uttered at all in 2019, there’s no denying that they still need bellowing loud as ever – in the ears of some politicians and policy makers in particular. And if the sales of statement-bearing tops raise money for women-focused causes at the same time – as many brands do around IWD – then all the more important.
There is a lot wrong, though, with companies trying to jump on a feminist-branded bandwagon without making actual, tangible, on-the-ground steps to improving the opportunities and working conditions for their female employees, and pushing for wider change across its industry and community. It’s easy to talk the right talk, but the words are meaningless unless they are also walking the walk. Read on.
DO: Make a meaningful pledge on gender pay parity and professional opportunities for women
Last year confirmed what we’ve all known for ever: the gender pay gap is ridiculous, offensive, dangerous. The UK has one of the worst averages in Europe, standing at 17.9 per cent – which, as the Trades Union Congress (TUC) highlights, means that women effectively work for free for two months of the year in comparison to their male counterparts. Worse still, at the current rate of progress it will take 60 years to close the gap.
Transparency is, of course, only the beginning and not enough to push forward progression. Companies need to be incentivised through effective methods – as apparently equality hasn’t been enough of an incentive – to examine their own pay discrepancies and take action. The alternative is that we all snail pace towards parity for the next six decades. But it doesn’t stop at pay. Improving working conditions (such as flexible working and shared parental leave) and broadening the professional development and opportunities for women should be high on employers’ agendas. Furthermore, raising the value of typically underpaid professions traditionally perceived as “women’s work” would also make much-needed inroads to minimising the national gap.
DON’T: Use gender gimmicks as a publicity stunt
The bandwagon is weighed down further with brands using the day as a hook to promote literally anything – from the cliched to the unrelated – with no change-making motivation or conversation attached to it. Free cocktails for women (a complimentary prosecco goes a measly way to narrowing pay disparity, FYI) or suggesting it might be an opportune moment to book a girls’ holiday is to International Women’s Day what the X Factor final is to Christmas. Riding the coattails, perhaps? A discussion on its gender pay gap, employee rights and guarantees to make effective change might not be as rose-tinted as free rosé, but if organisations want our r-e-s-p-e-c-t then that’s exactly what they should pushing.
DO: Support female entrepreneurs and creatives
IWD is an opportune reminder to celebrate the women you know and admire, but it also serves as an important call to champion female talent on a wider scale and throughout the year. From the authors whose books we should read, to the films to watch, the sportswomen to back and the businesses to buy from, female talent – particularly BAME talent – still often doesn’t get the public platform or recognition it merits, making it all the more vital we support and spotlight it.
DON’T: Ask why there isn’t an International Men’s Day
There is. It’s November 19.
DO: Look into the issues women are facing today and strive for change however you can
Period poverty, FGM, gender-based violence, lack of access to education; just a few of the issues women face across the world today. IWD prompts us to look beyond our own experience of feminism and make space for voices that too often aren’t heard. So, a brief reminder of some staggering statistics:
– Period poverty is a major global problem, but also as a travesty on the home front. Plan International UK estimates that 1 in 10 girls is unable to afford sanitary products, and more than 137,700 children in the UK are reported to have missed school because of it.
– In February 2018, UNICEF estimated that 200 million girls and women alive in the 30 countries where the practice is most concentrated have suffered female genital mutilation.
– Amnesty International approximated last year that 1 in 3 women will experience gender-based violence in her lifetime. Existing in “virtually every culture on earth”, this spans domestic abuse, sexual violence and rape, stalking and harassment, trafficking, FGM, intimidation and harassment at work, in education or in public, forced prostitution, forced marriage and so-called “honour” crimes.
– Across the world, girls encounter more barriers to education than boys. UNICEF stated last year that 10 per cent of primary-school-aged girls are not in school, with a great many more not progressing to secondary level. This percentage is far higher in some countries – a grossly stark figure from the Global Partnership for Education in 2015 reported that women and girls in South Sudan were more likely to die during childbirth than they were to finish primary education.
The numbers – and the ongoing experiences of the real women they represent – are bleak, and a critical reminder of how far there is to go. So while we must use March 8 to celebrate and to champion – both the achievements of individual women and the collective accomplishments being made in the pursuit for equality – too much is at stake to waste the publicity it now garners on gimmicks. Because women’s rights are not just for International Women’s Day (feel free to put that on a T-shirt).
