Hi, I’m Hannah Diviney – a writer, disability advocate, and the Editor In Chief of Missing Perspectives. Here are my top 3 tips on how to break the bias on International Women’s Day.
Tip number 1
Listen to marginalised women. If the focus of your feminism is narrowed to only hearing from the perspectives of straight, white, cisgender, thin, able-bodied women, then it’s not working. Be intersectional guys!
Be willing to learn from women of colour, from transgender and non-binary women, from women who otherwise identify as part of the LGBTQIA+ community, from disabled women, from women who live in bodies of all shapes and sizes. It’s not true equality or parity otherwise.
Tip number 2
Trust your voice. Part of the reason why bias and inequality are allowed to thrive, is because they do so in silence. So I promise you – speak up, use your voice. You have something to say and what you have to say matters.
If there are issues that are worrying you, let’s talk about it! Want to discuss the gender pay gap? Let’s start having uncomfortable conversations. Want to know why women have less political representation? Let’s start addressing these issues systemically.
Tip number 3
Wherever you can, give women space and power to grow. If women are only thought of as accessories to men or as people who somehow have less knowledge or expertise than their male counterparts – that doesn’t get anywhere. You have to tap into the similarly forgotten knowledge of women and girls everywhere. You have to recognise the care load that comes with being a woman and potentially a mother, or just the invisibility of a lot of women.
I guess this builds on tips 1 and 2, but if women aren’t in the room or given a seat at the table, then that’s not good enough. Women need to be put in rooms where money changes hands, where decisions are made, and where power is brokered. Otherwise, we’ll never get anywhere. Trust women. I promise, we know what we’re doing.
Happy International Women’s Day guys!
Read more on how to Break the Bias here.
