On a day-to-day basis, women all over the world are unable to do things that they should be freely allowed to do. In Saudi Arabia women can't drive a car and they aren't allowed out without a male chaperone whilst in Ecuador abortion is illegal unless you are classed as an 'idiot'. More recently, I've noticed more attention is being paid towards women's rights and its's good, it's needed. We can't go on living in a world where it's seen as normal for women to be cat called while going about their day to day basis or being judged for what they wear or how they express themselves.
Now, I'm not saying men in every country can do everything they want and I'm not ignoring the fact that men are affected by gender inequality too which is why I'm such a fan of the HeforShe campaign. Pioneered by the wonderful Emma Watson, UN Women Goodwill Ambassador, the aim is to include men and boys in the steps towards gender equality. Men are encouraged to actively participate in the movement towards equality.
I'm not ashamed to say that I'm a feminist because a feminist, pure and simple, is someone who believes in 'equal political, social, economic rights for women'. I think the key word here is equal. I don't believe women are better than men, in fact I know women aren't better than men we should simply be equal. It shocks and saddens me that women, to this day, feel restricted purely because of their gender. Some women won't have children for the fear that they will lose their job or have their salary reduced because they will take maternity leave. Others, also in work, accept that a man, doing the same job as them, is getting paid more simply because he is a man.
I watched Emma Watson's HeforShe conversation today which was broadcast on Facebook and she mentioned some quite shocking statistics. I can't remember them all but one I do recall is that '77% of the UK government is male'. That means that less than a quarter of the UK government is female despite there being 28.5million women in the UK compared to 27.6 men (as of the last census). Of the FTSE 100 there are only 4 female CEOs.
The statistic that shocked me most from Emma Watson's talk was that in the UK 85,000 women get raped per year. After doing more research I found that 1 in 5 women have experienced sexual violence since the age of 16. In some countries the woman is blamed for the rape. In Saudi Arabia and Morocco the women can be punished for her rape if she left the house without a male chaperone. Then there is the argument that many put forward saying 'she was asking for it' because of her outfit choice or because she was drunk and she didn't say no. Barely a week will go by without hearing about some sort of sexual violence towards women all over the globe.
Feminism is something I really believe in and I'll admit that there's a lot that I don't know about it and this post has barely scratched the surface. I think if I get one thing from writing this I want it to generate a conversation or a debate. So many times I've tried with people I know to start conversations on topics aside from the usual beauty, fashion or gossip but more with more depth and meaning like women's rights, human rights and animal rights. Yet I barely get a response, instead I blab on about how upset and angry it makes me while they nod their heads but don't give another view.
So, I hope you enjoyed this slightly different post! I'd love to hear your opinions in the comments below or tweet me @charrlottee_ !! I really think gender equality is such an important topic and something that we all need to come together to combat.
Much Love
Charlotte
XO
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