International Women's Day 115 years on

The first IWD was on 8th March 1911

I was quite surprised that it goes that far back. The purpose of International Women's Day is to celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women while raising awareness of gender equality.

A novel set in the 1940 gives us an insight into gender equality then

I’ve just read the novel, A Town Like Alice, which Neville Shute wrote in 1950. This story highlights the inequality that women faced during the 1940s.

• Jean Paget is living in Malaya in 1940 becomes a prisoner of war by the Japanese. She is one a large group of women and children who are marched across Malaya from village to village, because there is no POW Camp for them and the Japs don’t know what to do with them. Over half of them die.

• When she travels to London after the war she works in a typing pool.

• She inherits her uncle’s income and estate because her brother died during the war and is informed that the money will be managed by Trustees until she is 35, as a young woman could not possibly cope with such a large amount of money. In fact, the uncle wanted it to be age 40, but was persuaded otherwise.

• Later in the story she goes to Australia to find Joe Harman, who she fell in love with while she was in Malaya. In the outback she discovers further inequalities including women disallowed in pubs and bars. In the towns of these isolated, rugged outposts the heat is unbearable and there’s very little to keep a woman there.

What struck me was that Jean responded to all this adversity with dignity and bravery. Rather than be crushed by it, she rose above it and found ways to not just survive, but to thrive.

Women showing kindness to women

During the war, thanks to Jean, the survivors of the group of women and children, spent the last three years of the war in one village working in the paddy fields. When Jean knows she has some money, she goes back to that village and builds a well so that the women do not have to walk for miles to fetch water every day. She also builds a wash house for them next to the well. This gives them a private place to wash and launder their clothes. These two acts of kindness make an immense difference to the women’s lives. Jean had to negotiate with the men of the village to allow her to do this even though she was paying with her own money.

Today is the 115^th IWD and I have reflected on the progress that has been made to reach gender equality. I can only think that while there has been advancement in some areas, recent decades have been marred with:

·        the Me Too campaign

·        a rise in misogyny

·        powerful and corrupt men, such as Epstein, treating women appallingly

·        and still a deficit in the laws we need to make women safe

I’m sure there’s more that causes concern.

Women and Men pulling together for this cause

Overall, I believe that the majority of men want gender equality as much as women. We should speak with one voice to bring us nearer to our goal.

I also think that the government could do so much more and need to prioritise this major issue.

Let’s all keep this in mind, rather than reflecting once a year.