An Ode to International Women’s Day
Posted on 8th March 2017
Welcome to the day for us women - a day where we can stand up tall and straight, line our heads with clouds and look to the stars.
It's far too easy to say that we're confined to having our feet planted on the ground, especially when we all still live in a world that keeps telling us that all we're good for is making babies and cleaning the house. But times are changing, as it's easy to see on our screens and in our personal lives.
Even though we've got a long way to go until the genders are truly equal, we're edging closer and closer every day. As of 2015, almost 30% of UK MPs are women - in contrast to the 22% from five years prior. Although that's still not representative of our country, it's still change. And it's change we're making.
Although some parts of the world are still drifting further and further backward (Trump's America, anyone?) or even stuck in the same place, there's the knowledge that change is more than possible. In fact, it's inevitable.
International Women's Day exists because women are still marginalised, in every aspect of life. It exists because we're amazing, strong people, who have made it through blatant sexism, maybe even racism and homophobia and a host of other horrible situations.
It exists because it's time to say goodbye to all this nonsense, and embrace a brighter future, one where we don't work for hours unpaid. One where there isn't a tax on products that we need, not want.
Don't let anything get you down, remember that you have amazing women like yourself all around you - to look to, to emulate, to ask for advice from. Be yourself - and don't let stupid things like the fact you were born with a vagina get in your way.
Ellie Crowson-Jeffery (Studying A-Levels in Archaeology, English Literature, German and Medieval History)