International Women’s Day; a way into gender equality versus performative diversity

It is always wonderful to see organisations going the extra mile to bring light to these issues and to have a little encouragement to implement strategies that might support a move towards a world of gender parity. While initiatives and special days like these have their detractors, and while it can seem performative, it’s interesting to think about to what extent these sort of awareness days help their cause and to what extent they hinder. In my personal opinion, as Tesco says, every little helps. Large organisations can often feel the pressure to post about international women’s day and create initiatives to support it due to the nature of the event. This can mean that the message is reaching groups and audiences that might not be part of, what can sometimes be, an equality echo chamber. I often think about my own experience with politics and equality (while not always specific to gender). One example was the EU referendum. I thought Team Leave was doomed to fail until I worked in a polling station on referendum day and realised that the organisations and people I’m surrounded with mirror my own thoughts and the interesting pieces and thoughts that they were sharing weren’t always getting out beyond an inner circle.