International Women's Day - Friday, March 8th

Today is International Women's Day here in Australia - it'll be tomorrow for many of you. [url=http://www.facebook.com/itsjaythenerdkid/posts/343102385791644]Here's a short blog post I wrote about it.[/url] The text is reproduced below for those of you who don't have Facebook: [quote]Here are my (scattered) thoughts about feminism for International Women's Day. What I've learned over the past year is that there are a lot of different and equally valid ways of being a feminist. If you're someone who reads what I write, thinks I have good ideas but isn't sure how to contribute in your own way, my message to you is this: don't be afraid to speak up in your own voice! I get angry a lot, and that's what fuels my activism, both in this and other arenas - because when you look at the state of the world, I feel like there's a lot to get angry about. That's my voice - one of someone who is angry that in a world with so much potential, we still allow injustices great and small to be perpetuated. But that doesn't have to be your voice. There's room for all kinds of voices in feminism, and all kinds of perspectives - those of women who want the opportunity to advance in their chosen careers without fear of discrimination, those of women who don't want to be judged for the choice to stay home and raise a family, those of gay or transgendered women who are trying to find ways to express their femininity whilst dealing with their own complex issues in other areas, those of women trying to reconcile their enjoyment of popular culture with the negative messages that culture sometimes broadcasts, those of women from different cultural backgrounds who have their own ideas about how women can contribute to society and their own unique battles to fight, those of men who want to participate in the feminist movement but are facing the challenge of navigating their own privilege whilst doing so...the list goes on and on. All of those perspectives are valuable, valid and deserving of expression. You don't have to be angry to be a feminist. You can be happy, hopeful, sad, lost, or anywhere in between. The only requirements for feminism are that you want to see true gender equality in the world, and that you're willing to do what you can - big or small, on a grand or local scale - to make life better for the women around you. That's it! How you choose to do that is totally up to you. All of us have the potential to do good in a way that only we can, using the unique combination of gifts that only we have. My prayer for this International Women's Day is that whoever you are, wherever you are, you find your voice, and that you use that voice to help make the world a better place.[/quote]