Today, on International Women’s Day, I’d like to wear a badge saying “feminist”. Because I am one. No apologies. No qualifications. No disclaimers. I just am. I’ve written about feminism before here and here. My thoughts are pretty well documented and they haven’t changed.
Yesterday, the Minister For the Status of Women, Kate Ellis, tweeted a link to this article by HR professional, Ellison Bloomfeld. I liked it so much, I asked if we could re-publish it here on Mamamia.
Ellison Bloomfeld writes:
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“A few years ago I was in a class at uni and the tutor asked the group, “who here would say, ‘I am a feminist'”, of 25 women, not one said yes. I was a bit disturbed by it at the time, I went out and bought Virginia Haussegger’s book ‘Wonder Woman: The Myth of Having It All’ and I got all revolutionary. And then I forgot about it for a while… but back to the point of this blog post.
On Tuesday 8 March it’s International Women’s Day, it’s the centenary of the event, but I don’t think that many people of my age group really get the day. In 1965 women weren’t allowed to drink in public bars in QLD by comparison women today have far better rights. But are we equal?
Women do 2/3 of the world’s work, produce 1/2 of the world’s food, yet earn just 10% of the world’s income and own 1% of the world’s property. In both developing and developed countries women suffer rape, sexual abuse and domestic violence. On the lesser end of the scale in the workforce we are paid less, battle the glass ceiling and many deal with the guilt of balancing work and family responsibilities.
I could rant about it, but this video on the International Women’s Day website sums it up pretty well;
[youtube b0TgGb8f-SE 640 390]
What struck me the most in this video is a statement from Eva Cox,
The message to young women is, you might think you’re equal – but mate you’re not, you earn less; you earn less per hour; you earn less over your lifetime; you do a heap of unpaid work because someone’s gotta do it
You don’t run things – you don’t decide things – so don’t have the illusion you’ve got choice.”
Do you consider yourself a feminist and what does the word mean to you?
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