To be bored of International Women’s Day?

[Athenaena]

I suspect the answer will be a resounding yes.

I totally appreciate women have overcome suppression etc and I’m absolutely proud and immensely grateful for the sacrifices my fellow women have made in the past to allow myself and others to be where we are today, but I just feel bored by all the constant ‘Who run the world, girls’ ‘Shoutout to all my fellow queens’ etc posts that I’ve been bombarded with on various social media platforms this morning.

Why do we need a ‘special day’? It just feels a bit patronising and unnecessary, added to that, some of the women sharing this stuff are some of the cattiest, misogynistic women I know. They’re okay to empower other women today when it’s popular.

All in all I just find it totally unnecessary. Yay, we’re women aren’t we great, woohoo

Too much talk about the inequality issues, and not enough about solutions. I'm listening to an IWD lecture now and there's so little about what actual actions we can take.

We have come a long way but we still have a long way to go.

Without learning about the history we can’t learn lessons for the future

Fuck yes, meaningless drivel about ‘fierce women’. Just cos you’ve got tits and a fanny doesn’t mean you’re special.

In my day nobody had heard of International Women’s Day, it was something East Europeans celebrated with flowers and chocolate like Mother’s Day except for all women.

Women still have a huge fight ahead in the world. We are not there yet.

Why do we need a ‘special day’?

50,000 women killed globally in 2018 by male intimate partner or family member.
Women are still under paid.
DV is on the rise.
Sexual assault and rape is also increasing.

The day is to ensure the atrocities females suffer at the hands of males are not forgotten.
The day is to highlight just how amazing women are and can be when we are not being murdered, raped and oppressed.

The issues of ill-treatment and lack of equality towards women need to be highlighted and if IWD can do that, so much the better.

Given the misogynist leading our country and those who want to erase women's safety under the banner of self-ID, I would think the need for IWD is as much as ever.

Doesn't preclude the focus and events changing, of course.

@Cautionsharpblade

Fuck yes, meaningless drivel about ‘fierce women’. Just cos you’ve got tits and a fanny doesn’t mean you’re special.

In my day nobody had heard of International Women’s Day, it was something East Europeans celebrated with flowers and chocolate like Mother’s Day except for all women.

It’s because we have tits and fannies that we are not equal to men. The majority of housework, home admin, childcare still falls to women.

I still think we have a huge way to go. Women are still underpaid, underrepresented in positions of authority and the general infrastructure of life is set up in a way which benefits men. There are still many countries in the world where women lack basic rights such as the right to be educated. Violence against women is still endemic. I don't think we have anything to be complacent about.

That said, I do think this is largely an exercise in bandwagon jumping and an opportunity for companies to promote themselves.

My view is that by all means celebrate IWD but do it properly, think about walking the walk and not just talking the talk. Swapping memes about girl power or using it to promote your brand on Instagram isn't enough.

Your friends are not understanding what it is about with their “shout out to my queens” etc

Yes it’s about celebrating women but mainly about addressing the genuine issues we face.

Just as international men’s day is about addressing the real issues that face them, such as mental health.

YABU.

We most certainly do need it. But it should be an opportunity to let women speak out about issues affecting them and galvanise support for action.

I don’t need another stupid meme sent to my phone or a male colleague wishing me ‘happy wimmins day’ with a head tilt.

Me too, OP. So much drivel about iwd on sm that the whole thing has become nauseating.

Where I live, Mother's Day isn't really celebrated but Women's Day is - eg, my kids will bring me a card they made in school for Women's Day but not for Mother's Day. And if you go out for coffee on Women's Day (sadly not possible this year) you get a heart shaped cookie/chocolate (if you're female). I like it, it feels more inclusive and less commercial than Mother's Day.

But how on earth does people sharing posts saying ‘Happy International Women’s Day.’ ‘Who run the world, GIRLS’ help the fact that the majority of housework, childcare etc is still done by women? What difference will it make?

Some of the people who have posted these things today on my feeds are housewives, SAHM’s who WANTED to put their careers on hold to bring up their children.

Growing up in the 80’s, my mum and the majority of my friend’s mum’s were housewives. Now, I can’t think of a single friend of mine that has children that is a housewife. They’ve all had a year’s maternity but have all gone back either full/ part time after that. I appreciate this won’t be the case for all women but it’s fairly standard now in 2021, when it certainly wasn’t in the 80’s, things have improved greatly in that respect.

There is so much inequality, but there is a frustrating lack of actions, or guidance for action.

I was shot down in a meeting last Women's Day by suggesting if men had equal parental leave rights, it would help women with workplace equality. Apparently that would be "giving something to the men"...

I think the problem is that a lot of people or companies trying to sell stuff are treating it purely as day to celebrate women, rather than a day to draw attention to issues of inequality and what needs to be done to solve them.

There are a lot using it for raising awareness though, and trying to achieve something, so it would be a loss without it.

Athenaena

Not all women in the world have the choice to take mat leave/stay at home/return to work.

Its INTERNATIONAL womens day.
Just because things have improved in some countries does that mean we just stop campaigning for womens rights/safety/equality altogether?

YANBU
It's patronising and undermines what the actual issue is. Not least because it brings out all the idiots who use it to sell their shit, or make a show of themselves or make a point of being female.

Equality means equal rights, equal pay, equal respect.

All this #GirlBoss, "YASS QUEEN!" shit makes us all look ridiculous - like children playing grown ups.

It's not really just about people not being housewives anymore though is it?

There's a lot of work to be done for women to be treated and accepted as equal as men - particularly internationally.

Calling each other "Queens" and making a show of ourselves is not how we do it.

Women's day - like so many other events - has been commercialised and twisted into something entirely different.

I think social media has trivialised it and the focus isn't about the real issues women face but narcissistic posts about how they're fierce etc.

I'm glad that you feel that women have 'overcome suppression' etc but if you think that women are treated equally and fairly in life I'm afraid you are mistaken. I must admit that I used to think that and had dismissed the situation when a more junior male colleague being paid more than me for the same job as just bad luck. Being talked down to and ignored by male colleagues, par for the course - I just need to speak up. Being followed to my room late at night in hotels when on business trips - well, you know....

Friends who run their own small businesses think twice about employing women in their late 20s/early 30s because of the business challenges of maternity provision (obviously they don't think that women should find it harder to get a job because they might have a baby but when it affects the business, it has to be taken into account).

Then I opened my eyes and discovered the huge and persistent sex pay gap, the disproportionate effect of Covid on women's jobs because of the type of employment women are more likely to have, the large gap in pension payments between men and women - I didn't realise - women get less state pension than men!

I also have realised that achieving equality and fairness are becoming even less likely because there are many organisations that are determined to dismantle safeguarding and legal protections for women in the name of 'inclusion' for people who were not born women.

So no, I am not bored of the idea of International Women's Day - it is an important vehicle to highlight the violence suffered by women and girls in this country and around the world. FGM, access to abortion, being imprisoned with rapists, forced marriage, domestic violence (all happening here in the UK).

YANBU. It trivialises it and hinders progress. You don't get equality through an infantile "girl power" post on social media. You get equality through give and take - cede power where women have it in return for power where they currently don't, e.g. Maxellious' suggestion above.

I think it needs more focus on action. I'm already over every company I follow on Instagram posting pictures of the women that work for them and saying they're celebrating them. Yeah that's great but how many of them are senior management, are they allowed to work flexibly, what's your maternity policy? And if you're that bothered, what are you doing to help women who really do need help to escape suppression and have a voice?

Saying 'yay we love women' really loses the actual point of the day.

Im happy enough for it to exist, but I don't need to be wished a 'happy womens day' by anyone...