International Women's Day 2015

Disclaimer: Please note that the views expressed in this and all my blog entries are my own personal views and not representative of Ashoka, ADEW or any organisation with which I am affiliated.

The struggle to empower women has always been my struggle – not just because I am a woman, but because it has always been my vocation and my need to lend my own voice to those whose voices have been silenced or restricted. I cannot see injustice without feeling compelled to speak out against it.

In the time leading up to and following this year’s International Women’s Day I have been gratified to see how many more people and organizations are joining us in raising their voices about the need to promote equal opportunities for women in every sphere of life – sending a strong message that this status quo where women have reduced access to opportunities cannot continue.

Acknowledging women’s right to full empowerment and freedom from violence and discrimination should not be about paying lip service to a trend of political correctness. Allowing harmful practices and stereotypes that perpetuate gender inequality weakens us all. Opening up a space for women and men to operate as equally valuable human beings – not confined by outdated gender norms – offers new opportunities for every one of us.

This is an urgent need and I am so glad to see how many prominent voices in the mainstream media, large international organizations and both male and female advocates seem finally to be recognizing this urgency.

The movement for full equality is not a reductive one. Too many people seem to view the desire for equal rights as being limited by the economics of scarcity. The short sightedness of this view astonishes me. People who misunderstand or deliberately misappropriate the precepts and language of feminism, or so-called “Men’s Rights Activists”, speak with palpable fear of men becoming redundant, of women having more rights than men do (a laughable idea) and of men becoming persecuted and unable to speak out on any issue.

What the fears of such people blind them to is the fact that true empowerment breeds empowerment, creating a virtuous cycle of open collaboration, based on new rules – rather than adhering doggedly to an old and outdated system.

For I would argue that it is not just women who are enslaved by archaic patriarchal ideas. Men too are constrained by this idea that it is only acceptable for them to act in a certain way.

I want to see a world where we are all judged on our abilities – not our gender; and where both men and women are encouraged to be strong and assertive when the situation requires it; flexible and conciliatory when that is a more appropriate response.

We live in an era where traditional norms are being broken down, where new professions are evolving and flexible working approaches,organizational restructuring and regular career changes are recognized as an important part of diversification and breathing new life into our working environments. We need to regard a shift in attitudes and the creation of new skill sets as being an integral part of navigating our changing world and a big part of this is reevaluating and reexamining long-held ideas about gender.

I would like to see it become completely normal to have women working as engineers and scientists, for men to work as social workers and caregivers. I wish for a world where a woman who openly prioritizes career advancement is not denigrated for her strength or attacked by insecure male colleagues; and where men are not judged solely on their ability to earn large sums of money and be breadwinners or providers.

We are stronger if we create a world where each person is supported to find and nurture her or his own individual skills and talents. If this means empowering a woman to be assertive and driven, she should not be criticized for being “bossy” or have her femininity questioned. Likewise, a man who is in tune with or governed by his emotions, empathetic and sensitive to the needs of others, should not have to defend himself against accusations of being unmanly. Why should either have to conform to an outdated stereotype, diminishing their unique skill sets and undermining what they have to offer the world?

So my hope for this year’s International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month is that we are seeing the beginning of a new phase of partnership as we move towards equality. My vision is that we can open up a spectrum of possibilities of behavior and values that are non-gendered and widely accepted within society: women can be decisive and forceful and men can be driven by emotion.

Only if there is space for both can we find and build on the opportunities that will enable everyone to thrive in our societies. Only by opening up such a space can we pave the way for genuine talent and skill to emerge from all areas and be nurtured to their fullest.