Why we need International Women's Day
There are so many reasons why we need International Women's Day. Here are just a few reasons why this day is so important.
Pay gap:
Between 1997 and 2015 the pay gap remained the same. As wages appeared to rise the gap stayed the same between men and women. Last year it was reported that the gap was so wide that from 9 November until the end of 2015 women were effectively working for free! Exact details are hard to put here because there are so many different sources, but the facts in the articles linked above speak for themselves.
Rape statistics:
Around 85,000 women and 12,000 men are raped in England and Wales every year! That is shocking statistics. The sad fact is that many victims of rape will know their attacker and they are often not strangers. Victim blaming means that many people worry about the reaction of others should they come forward and many more rapes are not reported. Yes it would appear that more women than men are raped and that is very likely the case. Women are more likely to report an attack than men are but still the figures suggest that way more women are attacked than men. Actually only around 15% of victims report attacks to the police (this includes any form of sexual violence).
1-5 women, aged 16 - 59, have experienced some sort of sexual violence since the age of 16. 31% of women aged 18 - 24 report having experienced sexual violence as a child.
Victim blaming is still a huge deal and this will be looked at in a minute with a specific case. An Amnesty report in 2005 showed that 1/3 of people believed that if a woman was flirtatious then she was to blame or partially to blame for a rape attack.
Only 5.7% of rape cases end in conviction and this is still the lowest conviction rate of any crime.
Loads more information and help in the UK can be found at the Rape Crisis website.
Adam Johnson case:
Recently a Premier League/England footballer admitted sexual assault charges on a 15 year old girl. At the time of writing he is awaiting sentencing. The reason I am mentioning this case is the abuse the girl has received since coming forward.
As is the law the girl in question cannot be named for her own protection. She was still subjected to abuse from the fans on the terraces and she was the victim of online abuse from trolls and generally evil human beings. The girl in question was accused of making the whole thing up or of being a 'slut' and many claimed she was trying to ruin a man's career. They were all missing the point that any sexual activity with a minor (anyone under the age of 16) is illegal and should never have taken place! He clearly abused his position as a famous footballer to do something sickening and he is rightfully paying the price. The evidence suggests that he groomed her over a period of time. She was just a normal 15 year old girl who had an obsession with a footballer. I remember being a 15 year old girl and I had my obsessions with actors or band members (hell, I still do as a 29 year old woman, show me a woman who doesn't) and you can never blame her in this instance. He knew her age and knew what he was doing was wrong and he is to blame.
The other thing that is sick about all this is the likes of human toilet mouth Katy Hopkins. I would recommend you read her column in the Mail on Sunday but I don't want to promote her so I won't link to it. Just Google her if you are that interested. Anyway, this poor excuse for a human being said that the victim was to blame and was clearly a slut. Nice way to stand up for other women and victims of abuse there Katy. I really hope it never happens to you or anyone you know. I will leave this here instead.
That's the comments and the original headline.
Because catcalling is a thing:
Women and girls are catcalled everyday and this needs to stop. There are so many reported cases of women and girls experiencing this. The worst in my eyes is the sexualisation of school girls as they often get that when walking in their school uniforms. The other thing commonly reported is that when women don't respond to the catcalling they are often abused with foul language and name calling. What? That woman trying to make her way to work didn't like your comment of 'nice tits'? Surprise, surprise. So why did you just call her a bitch?
Emphasis on women's bodies:
It is 2016 and we still judge a woman by her body. Is she too fat? Is she too thin? Is that cellulite? Are her boobs sagging? What does that matter? If she has a brain or a talent then let her go about her business without judging her.
One of my favourite historians is Mary Beard. I love her. She presents history on the TV in such an interesting way and she is really enthusiastic for her subject. When she first appeared the only comments were about her appearance. This woman is an expert in her field and she doesn't give a shit about her appearance because that is not important. There were complaints that she dressed dour, didn't wear make-up and didn't dye her hair. OMG! An intelligent woman who places more emphasis on her work than her looks? Too terrifying!
Recently Emma Watson announced she was taking a break from acting to concentrate on her work in her feminist role. She even went off to interview another feminist. The comments? Well, they were about her hair and dress sense when she conducted the interview. There was very little about the actual content of the talk.
This could go on forever, but we live in a society that places too much emphasis on this. There is airbrushing in the magazines we read and nothing is real. Everyone seems to have fake boobs and fake lashes and fake everything! No wonder rates of body dismorphia and diseases like bulimia and anorexia are so high.
Because in 2016 women are still denied an education:
There are some areas in the world where women are not allowed an education. They are not allowed to learn to read or write. This is because the men who can worry they will lose control over the women if they become educated as well.
It was only a couple of years ago that a young woman came to the UK fleeing because she had dared to stand up for the rights of women to be educated. I will leave the last words to her:
"Extremists have shown what frightens them most: A girl with a book." - Malala Yousafzai
Women are denied the right to abortion:
The reasons for abortion could be anything from rape to severe disability for the child or a life threatening situation for the mother. There are still many countries around the world that ban abortion and women are treated as criminals for wanting it. The rights of the unborn child are given higher status than that of the woman carrying it. That seems backwards to me, why are we not preserving the life, health and wellbeing of the woman?
The worst is that there is a case of this close to home. Every year many women come over to England, Wales and Scotland from Ireland for abortions on the NHS because they are not entitled to them in their home country. This is a country I can visit by plane in less than an hour.
The other big case in the news lately is the one of Brazil. Abortion is banned there and they have an epidemic of the Zika virus (causes babies to have growth issues with their skulls and is spread by mosquitos). This means babies will be born with a life long condition and, if a woman conceives and is concerned she can do nothing about it which could leave her bringing up a disabled child which she cannot afford to do.
Women are not allowed to drive:
There is no law on this in Saudi Arabia as such but rather there is a fatwa which says that women cannot drive. How stupid is that? Really?! So that basically leaves them at the mercy of their male family members to get them about and to transport kids to school and go shopping and all sorts. What is the threat really?
The UK Government is not repsentative:
There was an election on 7 May 2015 and of 650 elected representatives only 191 are female. That's 29.4% of all the people representing the whole of Britain in government. Nice.
Neither are businesses:
The 5 year summary of the plan to get more women on to executive boards in business shows that of the FTSE 100 companies there is now 26.1% women on boards and 19.6% on FTSE 250 companies. The good news is that there are no all male boards now. There is still a lot of work to go to get this up to 50% though which would be the ideal. You can read more about this here: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/482059/BIS-15-585-women-on-boards-davies-review-5-year-summary-october-2015.pdf
For more information on International Women's Day you can go here: http://www.internationalwomensday.com/
Oh, and before anyone kicks off as I have seen on twitter, there is an International Men's Day, it is 19 November. Now stop your whining and find out something about that too: http://www.internationalmensday.com/
Pay gap:
Between 1997 and 2015 the pay gap remained the same. As wages appeared to rise the gap stayed the same between men and women. Last year it was reported that the gap was so wide that from 9 November until the end of 2015 women were effectively working for free! Exact details are hard to put here because there are so many different sources, but the facts in the articles linked above speak for themselves.
Rape statistics:
Around 85,000 women and 12,000 men are raped in England and Wales every year! That is shocking statistics. The sad fact is that many victims of rape will know their attacker and they are often not strangers. Victim blaming means that many people worry about the reaction of others should they come forward and many more rapes are not reported. Yes it would appear that more women than men are raped and that is very likely the case. Women are more likely to report an attack than men are but still the figures suggest that way more women are attacked than men. Actually only around 15% of victims report attacks to the police (this includes any form of sexual violence).
1-5 women, aged 16 - 59, have experienced some sort of sexual violence since the age of 16. 31% of women aged 18 - 24 report having experienced sexual violence as a child.
Victim blaming is still a huge deal and this will be looked at in a minute with a specific case. An Amnesty report in 2005 showed that 1/3 of people believed that if a woman was flirtatious then she was to blame or partially to blame for a rape attack.
Only 5.7% of rape cases end in conviction and this is still the lowest conviction rate of any crime.
Loads more information and help in the UK can be found at the Rape Crisis website.
Adam Johnson case:
Recently a Premier League/England footballer admitted sexual assault charges on a 15 year old girl. At the time of writing he is awaiting sentencing. The reason I am mentioning this case is the abuse the girl has received since coming forward.
As is the law the girl in question cannot be named for her own protection. She was still subjected to abuse from the fans on the terraces and she was the victim of online abuse from trolls and generally evil human beings. The girl in question was accused of making the whole thing up or of being a 'slut' and many claimed she was trying to ruin a man's career. They were all missing the point that any sexual activity with a minor (anyone under the age of 16) is illegal and should never have taken place! He clearly abused his position as a famous footballer to do something sickening and he is rightfully paying the price. The evidence suggests that he groomed her over a period of time. She was just a normal 15 year old girl who had an obsession with a footballer. I remember being a 15 year old girl and I had my obsessions with actors or band members (hell, I still do as a 29 year old woman, show me a woman who doesn't) and you can never blame her in this instance. He knew her age and knew what he was doing was wrong and he is to blame.
The other thing that is sick about all this is the likes of human toilet mouth Katy Hopkins. I would recommend you read her column in the Mail on Sunday but I don't want to promote her so I won't link to it. Just Google her if you are that interested. Anyway, this poor excuse for a human being said that the victim was to blame and was clearly a slut. Nice way to stand up for other women and victims of abuse there Katy. I really hope it never happens to you or anyone you know. I will leave this here instead.
Lady Gaga - Until It Happens To You
The Daily Mail:
Speaking of the Daily Mail (or Daily Fail as my friends and family call it) they have a thing universally known as the 'side bar of shame'. Here is a look at some of today's stories (sadly I had to log on to their website to get this).
The 'side bar of shame' is a daily dose of looking too closely and judging women's bodies and their sexual relationships. This is, for some reason, one of the most read online news sites in the world! If the stories don't make you angry then read the comments on the stories.
Because catcalling is a thing:
Women and girls are catcalled everyday and this needs to stop. There are so many reported cases of women and girls experiencing this. The worst in my eyes is the sexualisation of school girls as they often get that when walking in their school uniforms. The other thing commonly reported is that when women don't respond to the catcalling they are often abused with foul language and name calling. What? That woman trying to make her way to work didn't like your comment of 'nice tits'? Surprise, surprise. So why did you just call her a bitch?
Emphasis on women's bodies:
It is 2016 and we still judge a woman by her body. Is she too fat? Is she too thin? Is that cellulite? Are her boobs sagging? What does that matter? If she has a brain or a talent then let her go about her business without judging her.
One of my favourite historians is Mary Beard. I love her. She presents history on the TV in such an interesting way and she is really enthusiastic for her subject. When she first appeared the only comments were about her appearance. This woman is an expert in her field and she doesn't give a shit about her appearance because that is not important. There were complaints that she dressed dour, didn't wear make-up and didn't dye her hair. OMG! An intelligent woman who places more emphasis on her work than her looks? Too terrifying!
Recently Emma Watson announced she was taking a break from acting to concentrate on her work in her feminist role. She even went off to interview another feminist. The comments? Well, they were about her hair and dress sense when she conducted the interview. There was very little about the actual content of the talk.
This could go on forever, but we live in a society that places too much emphasis on this. There is airbrushing in the magazines we read and nothing is real. Everyone seems to have fake boobs and fake lashes and fake everything! No wonder rates of body dismorphia and diseases like bulimia and anorexia are so high.
Because in 2016 women are still denied an education:
There are some areas in the world where women are not allowed an education. They are not allowed to learn to read or write. This is because the men who can worry they will lose control over the women if they become educated as well.
It was only a couple of years ago that a young woman came to the UK fleeing because she had dared to stand up for the rights of women to be educated. I will leave the last words to her:
"Extremists have shown what frightens them most: A girl with a book." - Malala Yousafzai
Women are denied the right to abortion:
The reasons for abortion could be anything from rape to severe disability for the child or a life threatening situation for the mother. There are still many countries around the world that ban abortion and women are treated as criminals for wanting it. The rights of the unborn child are given higher status than that of the woman carrying it. That seems backwards to me, why are we not preserving the life, health and wellbeing of the woman?
The worst is that there is a case of this close to home. Every year many women come over to England, Wales and Scotland from Ireland for abortions on the NHS because they are not entitled to them in their home country. This is a country I can visit by plane in less than an hour.
The other big case in the news lately is the one of Brazil. Abortion is banned there and they have an epidemic of the Zika virus (causes babies to have growth issues with their skulls and is spread by mosquitos). This means babies will be born with a life long condition and, if a woman conceives and is concerned she can do nothing about it which could leave her bringing up a disabled child which she cannot afford to do.
Women are not allowed to drive:
There is no law on this in Saudi Arabia as such but rather there is a fatwa which says that women cannot drive. How stupid is that? Really?! So that basically leaves them at the mercy of their male family members to get them about and to transport kids to school and go shopping and all sorts. What is the threat really?
The UK Government is not repsentative:
There was an election on 7 May 2015 and of 650 elected representatives only 191 are female. That's 29.4% of all the people representing the whole of Britain in government. Nice.
Neither are businesses:
The 5 year summary of the plan to get more women on to executive boards in business shows that of the FTSE 100 companies there is now 26.1% women on boards and 19.6% on FTSE 250 companies. The good news is that there are no all male boards now. There is still a lot of work to go to get this up to 50% though which would be the ideal. You can read more about this here: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/482059/BIS-15-585-women-on-boards-davies-review-5-year-summary-october-2015.pdf
For more information on International Women's Day you can go here: http://www.internationalwomensday.com/
Oh, and before anyone kicks off as I have seen on twitter, there is an International Men's Day, it is 19 November. Now stop your whining and find out something about that too: http://www.internationalmensday.com/
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