women

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Heard back today about my role review – they’re going to increase my pay 🙂 It’s not as much as I think I would get in the market but at the same time, I think it shows an acknowledgement of my work so far and while I’m still part time, I’m happy with it. Feels like this just goes to show that it pays (literally) to ask for what you deserve. How many people go through months and years in their jobs without a fair wage? Maybe some organisations pay fairly. Maybe some people have other parts of their job which compensate them in other ways. Maybe some people are just content with their remuneration and maybe that’s okay… but maybe it’s not. Maybe a lot of them are women who are used to subpar treatment, used to staying quiet and keeping the peace.

I’m really glad I said something. This was my first conversation of this type and it was a valuable one.

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Today is International Women’s Day. I wish that it was a day where we could just purely celebrate the wonderful wāhine in our lives, instead of having to justify its existence. Every year I have the same conversation with a different person about what IWD is and why it’s important. I’m thinking that maybe I should just write up a list of FAQs, print them on cards and hand them out.

Wouldn’t that be lovely? To just say to someone – “Let me stop you right there, I think I know where this conversation is going, this will help you understand.”

Why is there no International Men’s Day?

There is – it’s in November. Also, pretty much every day in human history has been a big fat international men’s day.

Why are we still fighting for women’s rights? They can vote now.

Reducing rights to voting rights is like giving a crumb to a starving person and asking them why they’re not full afterwards. There is so much more to equal rights than just being able to vote.

Why the word “feminism”? It’s too close to “female”.

Grow the fuck up. If you’re going to argue semantics for why you don’t call yourself a feminist then you should ask yourself if your stance has much substance. The word “feminism” is defined as the doctrine that advocates for women to have the same rights as men. If you believe that, then you’re a feminist. That’s how words work.

It’s hard to stay patient when you have to repeat yourself year after year and yet there are still more people who come with the same questions? I really really hope that there will be a day when I don’t have to have these conversations anymore, that we will finally be able to move forward and embrace and champion diversity in our communities and equity for all.