Not Just Another International Women’s Day

If you see purple, green, and white colours around town today, this is because this day, March 8th, 2024, is the annual International Women’s Day (IWD), and there is a lot for us all to pause and think about. You may receive an email about IWD today from human resources. Maybe you hear IWD mentioned on the radio, or see it written on a chalkboard or a badge pinned to someone’s shirt. You might not think much of it, or may roll your eyes and see it as an arbitrary day. Perhaps you think the gap is closed because you know women who make more money than men, and from what you can see, we live in a progressive society that is alert to prejudice and discrimination.

The reality of Gender Inequality

The reality, unfortunately, is that IWD is still painfully relevant. It was only last week that the Workplace Gender Equality Agency released data on the state of the Australian workforce, emphasising the ongoing challenges women are subjected to, which are at the core of the IWD cause. The data shows that on average, men in this country still make 21.7% more money than women. This equates to over $26 000 less a year.

Another ongoing challenge is the widespread violence against women across the world. The statistics are bleak, so I won’t share too many of them here (and please skip to the next paragraph if you’d rather avoid them). To give some perspective however, the United Nations reported 89,000 women and girls globally were killed intentionally in 2022. This is the highest number recorded in the past two decades. In Australia, two in every five women have experienced violence since 15 years of age. Additionally, intimate partner violence is the greatest cause of death and disability in women aged 25 to 44. These statistics reflect a terrible ongoing gendered problem in our very modern ‘progressive’ society, not just here in Australia but all over the world.

This year IWD is about ‘Inspiring Inclusion’.

The colours of International Women’s Day are not random. They are adopted from the 1908 UK Women’s Social and Political Union. Purple symbolises justice, dignity, and loyalty to the cause. Green symbolises hope for change. And white represents purity. IWD is not organisation, country, culture, language, gender, or group-specific. There is no single government, non-profit organisation, corporation, charity, institution, activist group, or media outlet behind IWD. Instead, you can think of it as a collaborative community project that transcends time zones, borders, ethnicities, and cultures. At its core, IWD has a vision for gender equality that will benefit all humanity.

Each year, the campaign takes a different theme, and 2024 is about Inspiring Inclusion. Inclusion speaks not just about inclusion of women but all of us: men, women, non-binary. It includes the young, busy, tired, and elderly, and invites us to pause and consider our role in an inclusive community. Inspire Inclusion asks us to each comprehend the importance of women’s wellbeing, equality, and empowerment, and how it impacts you and the people in your life.

IWD offers a space to discuss the ongoing impact of gender inequality

Collective and universal recognition of IWD has positive implications for women’s wellbeing. The day celebrates the progress that has been made, as well as validates the ongoing challenges and barriers to enjoying gender equality. Importantly, this day prompts essential discussion about the causes, experiences, and consequences of women’s mental health. This is psychologically significant because it offers a space to discuss the ongoing impact of gender inequality.

Empirical findings reveal women are more vulnerable to many types of mental ill-health, which researchers and clinicians attribute to the several attitudes and expectations our culture possesses towards women in particular. Time and time again, women bear too many disparate responsibilities and are subject to sexism and objectification, gender discrimination, as well as physical and emotional abuse at the advance of strangers and, more commonly, someone they know. Women often end up taking on extra caring-based or organsational responsibilities: invisible, unpaid, and often thankless work. This can include the emotional burden of caring for others, as well as the basic administration that holds a family or workplace together.

The superwomen in our lives are just as vulnerable to mental health issues

We all have superwomen in our lives; our mothers, grandmothers, sisters, aunties, daughters, and granddaughters. Women who appear to have everything held together and who rarely complain in the process. And it’s easy to assume that these superwomen are immune, because look how well they’re holding it together! However, these superwomen are also vulnerable.

Often, it is a woman’s emotional responsibilities and do-it-all attitude that stop her from talking about them. At this moment, I think of a friend of mine who, five years after she recovered from a battle with anorexia, found a mental health care plan in her mother’s name, dated at the time my friend was unwell. This plan detailed a profound level of mental distress and suffering she did not know her stoic mother had or even could experience. To me, this represents a kind of animalistic-mammalian protectiveness and love; to put the wellbeing of your children first, even as you suffer in silence. If you know a superwoman, why not check in with her about how she’s going? Or tell her how proud of her you are?

‘The condition and treatment of women holds the mirror up to a country’

In the words of Italian political and social scientists, the condition and treatment of women holds the mirror up to a country. If you were to distill the cause of IWD, it would be a space in our calendar to support the supporters. IWD promotes engagement by a) celebrating and b) considering the importance of gender equality. IWD wants to celebrate the women in our lives. To shine a light on them, thank them, and pay collective gratitude and appreciation. On a more serious note, this day is to remind us of the ongoing problems across the world. IWD presents an opportunity to highlight and discuss inequality, and how it both visibly and silently affects not just the women in our lives but all of us.

So on this IWD, we are invited us to pause a moment, look in our own mirrors and consider our own attitudes, beliefs, and conduct in how we treat and relate to the women around us. It’s not a woman issue; it’s an everybody issue. We need to put our heads and hearts together, Inspire Inclusion and forge positive change for women worldwide. This isn’t something that should be just for today. It should be now, and it should be every day, in the hope that one-day IWD will be solely a celebration of women rather than a call to action.

 

If you’d like to take action on International Women’s Day, why not start small with sharing your appreciation for a woman in your life? If you’d like to learn more about gendered difficulties in life, why not try ABC’s podcast ‘Ladies, We Need to Talk‘? If you’d like an accessible and fun way to learn about how inequality negatively affects not just women but all of us, why not watch the Barbie movie!