International Women's Day/ Fight for Your Rights to Party (as a woman)
This is a topic that got a lot of people talking on my own personal Facebook, and notably both people commenting were men. Is feminism now a topic that has become taboo amongst young women? I for one have often feared outing my 'feminist' views for fear of further discrimination.It is wrong within society when a woman does not discuss here own views for fear of being perceived by her peers as being 'bossy' or 'opinionated', or even worse being viewed as 'ball breaker'. There is nothing wrong with having views on your own gender, and the issues that effect you. It is important that women stand up for themselves in times where there is still a gender pay gap of 14%. It seems even after the Equal Pay Act 1970, women are still not valued as much in the work place.
Things are changing however.
My own interest is extremely vested, as a female footballer, I have experienced, at times, discrimination and bullying that is extremely unnecessary. As time has worn on, people have become used the idea that yes unbelievably a woman can play football at an alright standard, I am not saying I am the next Kelly Smith, but I have seen boys who frankly do not know the next thing about the offside rule.
Judging by what I have seen on Social Media in the last few days following International Women's Day, is a lot of skepticism towards the celebration of women, as to my own knowledge there is no celebrated day that honours men. I see that this causes conflict as men are not celebrated per se. However I do think that International Women's Day isn't just a day of saying 'you go girl, right on sister', it runs much deeper than that. It celebrates how far the representation of women has come, and how respect for women has become paramount, not just in society but within government legislation too.
To use the analogy of sport again however, things have changed for the better, but we are still not done. Women should be represented within sport, it is not fair to say that just because women of working age or otherwise do not participate in sport as regularly as men, that they do not deserve a voice. Preconceived perceptions of women are a huge barrier to women in sport, anything that goes against societies views on femininity are deemed as wrong and you are tarnished as masculine.
I do not particularly believe that I am a feminist but I believe that both men and women should be treated as equal. So you could say that pro-equality should become a thing as feminism has been tarnished over the years with extreme feminism. I don't particularly believe men as a whole have done anything wrong, they are just following a model of society that has worked for hundreds if not thousands of years. It is once change is administrated that fractions and conflicts occur between the genders.
Change has been long overdue, especially in sport, and it is something that I feel should be celebrated not stopped.
