What Are Girls Made Of?

For a good three hours, it was just me against the blank page on my computer screen. Internally, I was wagging a scolding finger at myself thinking, “You are a woman and you got nothing to say about the day that you're collectively commemorated? It's International Women's Day not International Any Day”.

It's not that my opinions aren't worthy of expression. Nor was I cognitively exhausted and running low on ideas. But how could you reach the boon of originality with an event that's celebrated for over a century? What else is there to write about the topic? How could you cut through the noise of a deluge of articles that motivate women's empowerment, and shed light on a new angle?

Women's History Milestones: A Timeline

Epiphany crept into me when I was reminded of the following adage's existence:

Behind every successful man, there's a woman.

*Simone de Beauvoir is quaking in her grave*

First-Wave Feminism

Upon reading it, my mind was catapulted across the history of feminism. First stop in my mental time travel: the suffragettes that pioneered change when they marched for their voting and property-owning rights in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. All our female ancestors were asking for was a solid legal presence in the eyes of the law.

The picture displays Komako Kimura, a Japanese pro-women policies who flew from Japan to showcase sisterly solidarity to fellow American suffragists by joining the parade on Fifth Avenue, New York (1915).

Second-wave Feminism

Next up came the second-wave feminists who reimagined the future by tackling the haul of their extant oppression. Besides their fight against pay disparity to ensure gender parity via the Equal Rights Amendment, issues over sexual liberation and women's reproductive destinies were also thrown in the mix. The once-iron ties between marital sex and procreation, where men controlled their wives' fertility, had to be severed. It was time that men viewed women as equal interlocutors in social discourse rather than as sub-humans, or as auxiliary (sex) objects.

A Wages for Housework protest, 1977 (Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute / Bettye Lane).

For the first time, women began to strip off the garments of trauma, exposing their inner scars (the domestic and sexual abuse they'd faced, secret abortions they'd had). Realising that it's not a personal but a social condition, them being outspoken made each individual experience a shared political act.

Third-wave Feminism

And finally, what I dub as “third-wavers” who moved to the forefront in the dawn of the 90s. Their aim to decolonise and broaden minds bred a more intersectional type of activism regardless of race, sexuality, physical ability, religion, class or gender identity. Recognising that no two ladies are the same, they encouraged a rebalancing of predestined feminine and masculine assumptions to embrace diversity and gender fluidity. The latest brand of feminism also works toward abolishing the public mistreatment of women, extending down to acts of slut-slamming, catcalling, violence and/or rape.

Pro-choice demonstrators at the U.S. Supreme Court.

As the proverb I cited earlier indicates, however, conversations about women and men remain divisive. Patriarchal and sexist constructs still prevail in many, even mature and democratic, countries. The debate continues around disproportionate gender dynamics that curb women's potential to take larger political, cultural and social strides in their communities and, ultimately, the global economy.

While some women benefit from the struggles of their mothers and grandmothers today, others don't enjoy the same privilege of positive visibility. In fact, as author, advocate for human rights, and founder of the Isabel Allende Foundation, Isabel Allende, reveals:

[G]irls are still sold into prostitution, premature marriage, and forced labor [...] In times of conflict, war, poverty or religious fundamentalism, women and children are the first and most numerous victims.

Allende outlines the universality of normalised, almost sanctioned, exploitation, abuse and femicide —the intentional killing of women— that have been defined as epidemic in proportions worldwide.

In addition, the greater media coverage and appropriation IWD receives, the more materialistic it gets, thereby losing its value. I feel that it's turning into some sort of consumerist pedal that serves to drive the mass-production of goods.

Feminist Chocolate: Beneath the Wrapper

More so than ever, we need female decision-makers to fill the seats in our Boardrooms, our Parliaments and our Universities. And trust me, this vision cannot be fulfilled through the commercialist and heavily tokenistic campaigns of global retailers. Elsa Bernadotte, chief operating officer of food waste app Karma, notes that

There’s a big difference between saying women are important and taking real action.

Equality and feminism are not merely about “flower-and-chocolate-gifting” or “girl-power-hashtag-stuffing”. Rather than extolling the voice with the strongest bravado that only whines about the patriarchal doctrine, we should reward the concrete actions taken within one's sphere of influence to help build a more gender-balanced world.

Okay, male supremacists have been a life-long obstacle to women taking ownership over themselves. But what steps are we taking beyond our fits of complaint, many of which keep us tethered to the same inferior, passive position that men have subjugated us to?

From a marketing perspective, we could promote more purpose-led missions that recognise women all year round, and not just on a pre-designated date as if it's some kind of an one-off, agreed-upon social contract. Active involvement in fundraising projects to women charities could accelerate gender equality rather than product dissemination; they could raise awareness rather than sales; and they could mobilise people to get on board rather than in stores. Is that enough though?

Lucy Irigaray is convinced that

The circulation of women among men is what establishes the operations of society.

What Irigaray suggests is that only by placing women beside rather than behind men can we evolve out of an antiquated, male-centric system and forge real cultural change. I'm adamant that the solution of the problem lies within the problem itself—in this case, patriarchy. Power is just as hard to cede as it is to wrest it from the hands of its holders.

So, we're left with no alternative but to “befriend the enemy” in a sense. There's no such thing as constructing a world of equity without men; IWD is not just a celebration of women, but an inclusionary honouring of the women and men trailblazing a path forward together to shift mentalities. Simply not exercising male superiority is not enough. We must be reciprocal allies against all forms of discrimination, injustice and abuse.

I don't mean diving into the gene pool and changing the regressive, “macho” model of man who is programmed to oppress and hide his fears or tears. Rather, I'm referring to a progressive type of man who acknowledges that underappreciating his female counterparts will never bring the prosperity he envisions.

For the record, the pursuit of gender equality provides tangible, quantifiable perks to men and women alike. According to 2018 statistics, women’s paid labour represented a hefty 40 percent of total economic activity in the US, and 37 percent in the rest of the world.

Japanese economists have predicted that increasing the volume of women employees could maximise the nation's GDP by 50 percent. In the corporate sector, recent research findings illustrate that organisations with an even distribution of job opportunities drastically outperform the market.

Conclusion

The future is equal. The remedy to the ailments of a highly antagonistic society is the sense of togetherness. Why wasting time tearing each other down when we can lift each other up the equality ladder? As we will be standing on top, our initiatives for social reform will trickle down into the actions of future generations. Girls are made of traits that gear them up to live alongside their female and male partners. Internalised misogyny is not of any help right now, so we better flush it out. After all, how do we expect men to respect us when we don't respect one another first? In the spirit of IWD's urging for change, I rephrase: Beside every successful man, there is an equally successful woman and non-binary human being.

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What Are Girls Made Of? last updated: 26 April 2021