It’s Interational Women’s Day (8th March) – a day to celebrate all the incredible things women are achieving, and to stand up for equality and women’s rights.
Equality between women and men is an integral part of peace & justice, and the struggle for women’s rights intersects with many of our other themes here at Peace Hub. Here are just a few examples:
Fairtrade (our current theme)
Poverty and unfair working conditions disproportionately affect women, and in the early days of the Fairtrade movement the majority of farmers and producers benefitting from Fairtrade were men. Fairtrade International has made inclusion and equality for women a priority in recent years, with more women taking leadership roles in producer organisations, and more women-led cooperatives achieving Fairtrade status. Read about Rosemary, a Fairtrade flower producer in Kenya who is making her voice heard.
LGBT Equality (theme coming up in April & May)
Feminists and LGBT activists have long shown solidarity with each other, and there are many LGBT women in history and today whose achievements we should celebrate. Discrimination and oppression against both women and LGBT people often stems from the same root: rigid ideas about what it means be a woman or man. For lesbian, bisexual and trans women there is a double layer of discrimination to overcome. Read Stonewall’s article on what inclusion for all women means to some inspirational women.
Refugees Welcome (theme coming up in June & July)
Violence against women (including sexual violence) is increasing being used as a weapon in conflicts across the world. Many women and their families are having to flee these terrible situations and seek asylum: unfortunately when they reach a safe country they are often not belived, or forced to recount what they have been through in traumatic detail. And many women asylum seekers arriving in the UK are detained at Yarl’s Wood detention centre in poor conditions, without ever having committed a crime. Read this article from Asylum Aid in Lacuna Magazine about how women are unfairly treated in the UK asylum system.
This Internation Women’s Day we are being challenged to Be Bold for Change.
So why not take the opportunity to learn more about inspirational women, and stand up for gender equality and women’s rights? You can find out about events happening in Birmingham via the I am Birmingham blog. And of course you’re welcome to pop into Peace Hub for a freindly chat about any of these issues.