It’s International Women’s Day, so it’s your chance to celebrate women everywhere, throughout history!

The theme this year is #MakeItHappen, and they’re also doing #PaintItPurple to show support, which is why I’ve painted my blog purple for today.

While women have come a long way in history (we can now vote and have basic human rights) there’s still a lot that needs to be done, and it’s nice to have a day to celebrate women, although there’s some “meninists” out there to make it all about them…

While SO many people argue that feminism isn’t needed anymore, because we can vote, that’s not true. Yes, it’s true that women do have the same basic rights as men but that’s only in some places, and even in Western “civilised” countries, women have to endure sexist comments, wage gaps, and general f*ckwittage behaviour from misogynistic men.

People don’t believe me when I say that there’s still inequality between the genders, and I constantly get argued against whenever I bring up the wage gap differences. So, for all of you that didn’t believe me, I have news for you – the World Economic Forums predicts that it will take 80 years for the world gender gap to close. This is based on the way things are happening currently.

Society is still very much a patriarchal place, which is why feminism is still needed, but so many people don’t realise that, which is why Helen Pankhurst (the great-granddaughter of Emmeline Pankhurst (the leader of the Suffragettes)) said today that there should be a “concerted push” to get more women into politics.
The majority of the world leaders are men, men get paid more than women, men run more businesses, and if a woman was to act the way a man does, she would be slammed, even in an industry where women are obscenely successful.

“When I’m assertive, I’m a bitch. When a man is assertive, he’s a boss. He bossed up! No negative connotation behind being ‘bossed up,’ but lots of negative connotation behind being a bitch. Donald Trump can say, ‘You’re fired!’ Let Martha Stewart run her company the same way and be the same way. [People will say] ‘F*cking old evil bitch!’ But Donald Trump, he gets to hang out with young bitches and have 50 different wives and just be cool. ‘Oh, Donald, we love you Donald Trump!'”
Nicki Minaj

More importantly, women around the world in less advanced countries are constantly being pulled back purely for being female. In India, women are constantly attacked and raped, because religion gives women less rights than men, and the religion is stopping the country from moving forward quicker. Indian culture is notorious for having different values and ideals for men and women (TRUST ME) and this needs to stop and change.

Earlier this year, President Obama said in a speech in Delhi:

We know from experience that nations are more successful when their women are successful. These are facts. So if nations really want to succeed in today’s global economy, they can’t simply ignore the talents of half of their people.
Every daughter deserves the same chance as our sons, and every woman should be able to go about her day – to walk the street, or ride the bus – and be safe and be treated with the respect and dignity that she deserves.”

So many woman around the world are held back purely for being women, and it’s time people started realising that – that is why we still need Feminism. It doesn’t matter that I’m not oppressed for being a woman; there are so many women in the world that are. Some women can’t even get a decent higher education!

Gucci’s Chime For Change campaign exists to try and help women all over the world by funding projects to help women that need a better quality of life, better education, or even healthcare, so I really recommend checking that out! You can even find a project to donate to on Catapult – a crowd-funding platform that focuses on gender equality.

There really is so much you can do, so take today to celebrate the most inspiring people, who use their fame and success to make a difference. So many people have slated strong and empowering women for literally telling it how it is and embracing themselves. Apparently, it’s shitty to highlight the differences between men and women, and it’s slutty to perform in a corset or speak openly about sex.

If you’re one of those people that think there really is a clear divide between men and women, that they should be treated differently, that women aren’t as important as men, then you need to go to your room, think long and hard about your life choices, and just not speak to anyone else ever again, for fear of spreading your idiotic ideals.

To all the women, all over the world, everywhere – you keep doing you.

 

Check out International Women’s Day online, and keep up to date with them here:
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Disclaimer: I’m not a misandrist – but you really need to get your life in check if this article made you think I was.