Three reasons why we still need International Women’s Day and why being a feminist has nothing to do with who gets to pay dinner.
- Home: Jane Austen, novelist, feminist and true icon was only commemorated with a £10 note in 2017: 200 years after her death. Films, series and endless books have been inspired by her works yet it took 200 years to pay respect to her life and career.
- Internationally: currently in Afghanistan a woman cannot study and, ultimately, decide to become a doctor if she wants to. At the same time, if she needs medical attention, she cannot be seen by a male doctor. This is not only ridiculous but life-threating. Are women’s lives that expendable?
- Everywhere: According to the UN, “most recent estimates suggest that women earn on average 16% less than their male counterparts globally”, this percentage is far greater in many places. According for the Office for National Statistics (ONS), “median hourly pay for full-time employees was 8.3% less for women than for men in April 2022” in the UK.
So if you are not a feminist in 2023, what are you even doing?
