How not to celebrate International Women's Day in 2023
And these examples are all genuine and not from an episode of Black Mirror
In 1994 I set up International Women’s Day at Central High School of Philadelphia. Think I had about 40 speakers come in to speak to my classmates across all of our subject areas. Almost 30 years later and I am now one of those speakers at Universities and for corporate clients. International Women’s Day has become a performative event where companies can pretend that they care about initiatives from Flex Appeal, Pregnant Than Screwed and groups fighting for women’s rights through Menopause– whilst they ignore, underfund and hide behind NDAs the rest of the year and strip back what little protections women have.
My big speech today which would have incidentally covered my rent and ability to be an activist for the next six months was canceled when 30% of the company’s workforce was cut as well as all of the extras (extras always include Diversity and Inclusion— because we are still considered the fringe, the extras, the add ons.) So, incidentally as someone who fights day in and day out for women’s safety and police reform; having one day a year set aside to say I am inspirational doesn’t really bode well when it doesn’t translate into my rent.
But a benefit of not doing the road show today means I can be brutally honest about how badly some have executed their #InternationalWomensDay2023 ideas.
The contenders for worst of the year are as follows:
For context—- The Camden police were attempting to do a “Day in the Life” with two female officers who blast Showdown when going to a fight. They didn’t thread the messages or give any context throughout the morning
When we are 5 days from the anniversary of Sarah Everard; once again putting the focus and lens on women to protect ourselves; by the police no less is quite problematic. Was going to make a joke about fighting them in the gym and on the streets; but there really isn’t anything funny about how dark this is.
Vote for your favourite below and tell me what you think the prize should be called in the comments.