NUIG students demand to shift the narrative for International Women’s Day
By Anamika
The International Women’s Day is fast approaching and sentiments circulate across social media to celebrate womanhood, but NUI Galway students feel that this narrative often reinforces stereotypes, rather than destroying them.
Across the world, women are fighting against structural injustice and are working towards bringing forward change in notions embedded with their courage and resilience.
Women in leadership roles
The Global Gender Gap report reflects that women are not significantly represented in leadership roles, despite taking up half of the global population.
Claire Austick, President of NUI Galway’s Student Union, also commends Michelle Obama and Mary Robinson as significant women in leadership roles.
“Recognising the positive contributions of women in leadership is important. It is also essential to discourage people from designating women to meet specific stereotypical characteristics,” said Ms Austick.
People utilise social media platforms, to celebrate decades of women’s struggles that set significant milestones. However, there seems to be a pretence on communicating about substantial issues.
The stereotypical narrative strips away the accountability of those who are in the wrong and silences the discriminated.
“My advice to the guys out there would be, if you have a platform, don’t be afraid to give it to women. CIS white men can dominate a lot of voices across different platforms, and it is our duty to step aside”, said Scott Green, a computer science student at NUIG.
The origins of celebrating womanhood
International Women’s Day has been observed since the early 1900s, a time where women were challenging notions with their progressive ideologies.
Leader of the ‘Women’s Office’ for the Social Democratic Party in Germany, Clara Zetkin proposed the idea that every year women across the world should celebrate the day to urge for significant demands in their representative country.
Presently as women still demand changes, it all begins with a conversation and lending an ear.
In the current climate that incites negative emotions, the conversation in the advanced western countries revolves around the Me Too movement, gender binary roles and Harvey Weinstein.
Whereas, in the developing parts of the world, women are still subjected to systematic racism, sexism and are still not given provisions to access education and basic needs.
To find out more click about The International Women’s Day click here.
