Inspiring, encouraging and empowering future generations of young women to tackle any obstacles they may face
#IWD2022 – Two Year 11 girls from @JessPhillips MP’s constituency talk about her work, and the importance of celebrating International Women’s Day
What is International Women’s Day? Well, the literal definition refers to it as a worldwide day of celebration on the 8th March, reflecting the various achievements of women; either culturally, politically, or socially.
However, to us, this day is important because it unites all women of numerous backgrounds to commemorate the hardships and challenges that we have overcome. It further inspires, encourages and empowers the future generation of young women to tackle any obstacles they may face.
On this day, we personally make sure that we are spreading awareness of International Women’s Day via social media. Furthermore, as simple as it may sound, just telling the women in our lives that we are appreciative and grateful for all that they have done is another way we celebrate this day. Whether you are a woman or not, you could adopt one of these ways of celebrating, in order to show admiration towards the women in your life.
Speaking of empowering women, Jess Phillips MP recently visited our school and gave an assembly speaking to all Year 10 and Year 11 girls. Within this assembly, the matter of sexual harassment was addressed. Yet her talk was so much more than just simply speaking about what sexual harassment is, but instead that women are not alone in such matters.
What made Jess Phillips’ visit so important and meaningful to the girls in our school was, how openly this matter was discussed, portraying to us that we should not fear using our voices and speaking up about such a vital issue. Furthermore, she discussed casual sexism within schools, workplaces, and society in general. By doing so, she illustrated that sexism should not be normalised and should instead be challenged.
This has already been done many years ago by the Suffragette movement which enabled women’s voting. However, within recent years, challenging sexism has been done by encouraging women to participate in male dominated careers and activities, such as engineering and leadership roles in sports.
This is vital as media coverage and general awareness through speaking up (like what Jess Phillips did) about such issues helps to inspire young girls, like ourselves, to continue this movement and not let themselves be held back due to outdated, unfair, and irrational stereotypes. Miss Phillips’ ‘heart to heart’ enabled us girls to feel vulnerable and yet comfortable as she constructed a safe environment, which also drew our attention to the importance of International Women’s Day.
One of the ways that Jess Philips has demonstrated how women can take back power after being disregarded and viewed as inferior is by reading out the names in the commons chamber of the women killed in the UK where a man has been charged or convicted.
She has been doing this since 2016 and has provided a way of ensuring that women’s voices are not drowned out in this patriarchal society. This is important because it installs hope, into women of all ages, that despite the daily issues we face, we are not defenceless against them, and we can create change.
From personal experience and hearing Jess Phillips speak out about such affairs, it inspires girls to not stay quiet but instead reach out and confide in those closest to us, securing the belief that we are not alone. Women and supporters of such movements should stand united and tackle these severe issues in order to hopefully bring an end to them for future generations. Would that not make the world a better place for everyone?
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