Does International Women’s Day make any difference?
March 9th, 2009 by Emma Feeny Posted in gender
Another year, another International Women’s Day. More marches, more speeches, more articles, more conferences, workshops and festivals. But will anything actually change?
It’s hard not to be cynical about these global days to promote X or Y. Those who don’t think about the challenges women face will once again turn a blind eye to the IWD coverage, while those listening are already only too well aware that at least one in four women in the UK will experience domestic violence, for example, or that the gender pay gap rose in 2008 to 17.1 percent.
But while figures like these are a useful reminder of how far from gender equality we remain, statistics are of no use when it comes to measuring the impact of days such as IWD.
How do you quantify the new energy generated in a cash-strapped, community women’s organisation which at an IWD workshop meets with a similar group fighting the same battles who can offer some new ideas?
How do you measure the feeling of solidarity and strength in numbers that comes from spending time at an IWD festival with people you’ve never met but who are as passionate about ending discrimination as you?
Last week I was in Italy for an International Practice Exchange, a very dry term for what was actually a lively and enthusiastic meeting between the UK, Austrian and Italian partners in Oxfam’s GenderWorks project, which explores the problems faced by women living in poverty across Europe.
As partners we are very different in terms of our reach and areas of focus, but by sharing our learning in a positive, supportive atmosphere – and fuelled by endless cups of strong Italian coffee – we found that there is no shortage of ways in which we can help each other in our work.
Our Austria-based partner, WAVE (Women Against Violence Europe), for example, brought women from a shelter in Bologna to meet our Italian partner, Lamoro, who introduced them to a representative of local government, who subsequently agreed that there should be some input on violence against women at a regional meeting of politicians at the end of March.
In turn, Oxfam’s UK-based GenderWorks team arranged to provide some training to the shelter, La Casa delle Donne, on how to influence local decision makers.
It’s this kind of exchange – of ideas, experience and contacts – and the energy and feeling of solidarity it generates, rather than an expectation that the lot of women will be improved overnight, that makes IWD an invaluable event – even if its impact is impossible to measure.
