International Women’s Day
2023, it is 113 years since the first International women’s day was formally recognised. Over that time much has changed but the close bonds woman share endures and is certainly worth celebrating. Today I had the privilege of sharing my morning in the company of several other woman to make a day of inspiration. I am certainly standing on the shoulders of the millions of women who walked before me, who cleared the path, raised waves and their voices demanding attention for their concerns. As a white British women in the twenty first century I don’t have much to complain about. As I said today, the rules based system we all operate it can seem designed to lock women out. It is designed to do just that, it is a historic system, a scaffold build by men for men, but rather than fight the rules I have always chosen to ignore them. To do things my way, to refuse to acknowledge invisible barriers in place for so long women have been conditioned to self-regulate, to set our own ambitions low, to be thankful what the smallest quarter given; to accept it is a man’s world.
We measure progress in terms of how far we have come, often ignoring the reality that while we have progressed the path has been extended so we, in reality, remain out of touch of so much that should be our natural birthright. So although I will continue to raise my voice against the injustices that maintain the inequality in our society and world, will not shy away from confronting views that maintain those inequalities; I will continue to ignore the rules, to be underwhelmed in the face of ineptitude, wherever I encounter it and continue to believe the only way to beat them is to ignore them, to disrespect the systems they rely upon to maintain their advantages and to never allow my power and hard work to be the subject of others unsolicited opinions.
Happy International Women’s Day to the many wonderful, powerful, compassionate and awesome women across our beautiful planet.
When I got back to the office after my lovely morning…a male colleague asked ‘well have you been slagging us off then?’. I think my fits of laughter was sufficient answer. As if we would waste the opportunity to be positive, being negative!
