International Women’s Day recognises and celebrates women and their ongoing achievements in all areas political, economic, social and cultural around the world. The idea to dedicate a single day to push for change and gender equality was initiated in 1908 when 15,000 women marched through the streets of New York City demanding better pay and less work, and voting rights. By 1910, 8 March was the date marked by America’s socialist movement and adopted by communist countries. Today it brings together governments, organisations, corporations and charities by way of various events.
2017 presented a game changer.
The fight for women’s rights dominated the news and in turn launched a new era of activism. In their report Raising Voices (February 2017) authors, L Michau and J Kemitare say, “social media is ushering in a new era of mobilizing for social change; it is a promising tool for spreading feminist discourse.” And, there is ample evidence to prove it.
On 21-22 January 2017 the Women’s March took place. Proclaimed as a ‘counter-inauguration’ to Donald Trump’s presidency, the first protest was the Women’s March on Washington and was streamed live on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. A further 4 million people protested in 200 cities across America and over 5 million worldwide. Trump meant to many all of the undoing of decades long hard work by women. Most of the rallies were aimed at Trump and his administration and fought for human / women’s rights, LGBTQ rights, racial equality… the list goes on. It was the largest single day protest in U.S. history.
In October 2017 a major Hollywood scandal broke the net (this was no doubt linked to the past months of investigation and accusations against Trump and his womanising ways). The New York Times reported that dozens of women accused American film producer Harvey Weinstein of historic sexual abuse over three decades. The scandal led to the ousting of other powerful men who had in any way exploited women, the intention “to raise awareness of the pervasiveness of sexual abuse and assault in our society.” The Me Too campaign came about after its initiators encouraged all women to share their own experiences with harassment to “give people a sense of the magnitude of the problem.” #MeToo went viral and the phrase was posted online millions of times. Time magazine named the #MeToo ‘silence breakers’ as its 2017 Person of the Year.
The Time’s Up movement launched on 1 January 2018 in response to the ‘#MeToo effect’. In November 2017 the National Farmworkers Women’s Alliance – Alianza Nacional de Campesinas wrote a letter that Time published. The letter described experiences of sexual abuse amoung female farmworkers in the United States, it stated that it was written on behalf of 700,000 women. Hollywood celebrities set up #TimesUp to call out sexual harassment in all workplaces. A legal defence fund of over $20 million with 200 volunteer lawyers is in place to help working-class women in low-income industries across America. Celebrities on the red carpet for the 75th Golden Globe Awards and the 2018 BAFTA’s wore black and stood together in solidarity to support the campaign.
This week, reports surrounding the country’s top law firm Russell McVeagh hit headlines. Allegations about sexual misconduct were made about male employees and their female intern students. Former litigation lawyer Olivia Wensley, who says sexual harassment in law firms is the norm and described the environment as being ‘like a frat house’, wrote an article on LinkedIn all about it. What is most shocking, Wensley claims, is that she knew about several young women who had given up a career in law after encountering inappropriate behaviour in the workplace. If this is true, then we’re in a pretty dire situation. I don’t know too much about law but I have worked in the media and advertising industries here and abroad and know that a lot of the same stuff happens.
Olivia Wensley questions SEXUAL HARRASMENT IS THE INDUSTRY NORM – Why aren’t we talking about it?
Her insight makes for a great read: linkedin.com/pulse/we-need-talk-laws-dirty-little-secret-olivia-wensley
It’s obvious that the tireless campaign and fight for women’s rights continues and International Women’s Day is a reminder of that. We must make it an ongoing priority to make all women feel safe and empowered. It was such a proud moment when New Zealanders voted Jacinda Ardern as their Prime Minister last year, my praise for her and the good she does would probably take up a whole thesis. She is an excellent example of strong women in leadership and it is so cool that we, this little country at the bottom of the world, can call ourselves progressive.
nytimes.com made a short but straight to the point piece about why we still need the Women’s Movement.
Happy #IWD2018 #PressforProgress Xx