I am a feminist. But contrary to the negative and unrepresentative stereotype I don't hate men and, to be honest, if women actively choose to stay home, not work and raise kids or whatever good for them, all I have a problem with are the statistics:
UK:
- On average female managers are paid £10,000 less per annum then male colleagues doing identical jobs. (http://www.myfinances.co.uk/pensions/2011/08/31/cmi-report-reveals-gender-pay-gap-will-take-98-years-to-equa)
- The second highest reported crime in the UK is domestic abuse, accounting for 25% of all reports. On average a woman will be beaten 32 times before she seeks help. On average women approach between 5-12 agencies for help before receiving an appropriate and sympathetic response. (http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/cs/Satellite?c=Page&childpagename=Equalities%2FPageLayout&cid=1223092717880&pagename=BCC%2FCommon%2FWrapper%2FWrapper)
Around the world:
- Female genital mutilation is practised in Africa, the Middle East and parts of Asia. Worldwide an estimated 135million girls experience genital cutting. Predominantly it is not a religious but a cultural practice to sublimate female sexuality. Girls generally undergo the procedure between the age of 7-12. Many develop uncontrollable bleeding and some do not survive. It is often women who perform the procedures and perpetuate the cycle. http://www.dosomething.org/tipsandtools/11-facts-about-female-genital-mutilation
- .Gender-based violence is one of the biggest causes of injury and death to women across the world causing more deaths and disability among women aged 15 to 44 than cancer, malaria, traffic accident, and war.
- In China and India parents often use sex determination tests to find out if their foetus is a girl. Of 8,000 fetuses aborted at one Bombay clinic, 7,999 were female. There is also rising concern about mass infanticide of new born and baby girls across the two nations. (http://www.dosomething.org/tipsandtools/11-poignant-facts-about-women-around-world )
(For a particularly harrowing description of how apparently common the murder of newborn baby girls is in modern rural China, and some to the point facts check out: http://www.economist.com/node/15636231?story_id=15636231)
Many people think Women's Rights is a dead and irrelevant issue. Plenty also assume that to be a feminist is to be a man-hating, boot wearing, bra burning nutter. Dominika and I plan on doing everything we can to change these two entirely erroneous assumptions, starting with students at the University of Birmingham.
Our Plan:
We are going to start by organising a week of events surrounding International Women’s Day on the 8th March 2012. Each day we will be raising money for different charities (to be decided in a meeting with interested groups) and highlighting a different issue. We will also be inviting in external organisations and charities to provide workshops and information on issues relevant to that particular day's theme. We also want to work with University of Birmingham societies to put on an array of student friendly events and get as many different sections of uni society involved as possible. We'd love to work with as many different groups as possible, men, women, transgender and everyone inbetween, I know it's not only women who think arbitrary discrimination based on gender is wrong.
We also plan on reserving International Women's Day (8th March) itself for celebrating just how far we have come down the road to securing gender equality and raising awareness of the amazing work individual women and women's organisations do world wide.
It will be University of Birmingham based this coming year but we are already starting to forge contacts with women’s groups across Birmingham to bring in outside speakers and find local charities to fundraise for. We want to make International Women’s Week an annual event and to, eventually, help extend it to a Birmingham wide event by working with existing groups with similar aims.
What do societies have to do to get involved?
We will ask all interested groups to fundraise a small amount (amount to be determined later) each in preparation for International Women's Week then donate at least 50% of the profits from their individual events to their selected charity.
Why would societies get involved?
If the facts aren't enough to tempt you to help create change this might: the amount per group raised in advance will go towards printing brochures for the week containing a listing of 'International Women's Week' associated events combined with selected short facts and statistics about gender discrimination. We plan on handing out these brochures in the weeks prior to the event, promoting it online and running an info stall and bake sale outside the library every day of International Women's Week. In short it's excellent publicity for the society and event in question and since only 50% of the profits are required to go to the selected charities the society will earn some money too.
We want to get as many societies involved as possible. So I'm starting recruiting and advertising as soon as term starts. If you're a University of Birmingham society council member you will probably hear from me via email or at guild forums in a month or so but if you're interested and you'd like to contact me before then comment on this post and I'll send you my email address :)
Contrary to what too many believe gender inequality is still an issue. The world needs modern feminists. In this mass information age ignorance is no excuse. And you don’t even have to be a woman to think that getting paid 10grand less than a colleague simply for having a pair of tits, or the systematic destruction of babies purely for having the audacity to be born a particular gender is wrong.
I believe fighting gender discrimination world wide is an important issue. I hope that, even if you'd never thought about it before, after reading this you do too.
H.B.
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