We aren’t inspiring inclusion …
We do it all the time … and so do you.
I don’t know about you but I reach simmering point about this time of the year. It’s International Women's Day (IWD) which is, for the UK, two days before Mother’s Day. It’s very easy for marketing teams to combine the two and ignore twenty percent of us.
Worse, is the confusion over the two IWD themes and I did a little digging about that and found some useful reading that really helped me to work out my feelings and I thought it might be helpful to share here.
First up, it’s not to rain on the parade of anyone who feels inclusion is the theme that suits them, after all inclusion matters always. But if you’ve looked up IWD or check on our socials you’ll see that it’s about accelerating progress and investing in women. Here’s a bit of context.
The United Nations is the global promoter of IWD and they are theming the day as invest in women to accelerate progress. The UN website details why investing in women is critical at this time during global war, poverty and climate crisis. There are links to resources to read, stories to inspire and important statistics.
You might think - Berenice - that’s not it, it’s Inspire Inclusion isn’t it? That’s what Google said.
You’ve almost certainly got to the Aurora Ventures website. They are not the founders of IWD but a commercial venture that has partnered with companies who do not invest in women such as Amazon who have historically had lots of ethical issues over workers health and rights. Aurora Ventures have taken over this campaign by appearing at the top of Google searches, by paying to be there. It’s questionable and there is further reading from fact checked sources below.
The United Nations lists these five key areas needing joint action:
Investing in women, a human rights issue: Time is running out. Gender equality is the greatest human rights challenge, benefiting everyone.
Ending poverty: Due to the COVID pandemic and conflicts, 75 million more people have fallen into severe poverty since 2020. Immediate action is crucial to prevent over 342 million women and girls living in poverty by 2030.
Implementing gender-responsive financing: Conflicts and rising prices may lead 75% of countries to cut public spending by 2025, negatively impacting women and their essential services.
Shifting to a green economy and care society: The current economic system disproportionately affects women. Advocates propose a shift to a green economy and care society to amplify women's voices.
Supporting feminist change-makers: Despite leading efforts, feminist organizations receive only 0.13% of official development assistance.
The Full Stop is global with many women in our podcast audience and online community living across the world and all doing the best they can to be seen and heard in the shadows of pronatalism. With that in mind we’re aligning with the United Nations messaging.
Why did this help? I found it so much more inspiring than women with heart hands. The UN are actively involved and showcases positive action and identify where work needs to happen. The imagery and words are backed up with storytelling and I came away feeling like I had hope.
That’s my personal view, what’s yours?
Berenice
Nursery experts and beneficiaries of a UN Women project in El Salvador, where they work in an experimental nursery so they can grow their own crops. ©United Nations website, UN Women Americas and the Caribbean
Further reading
The United Nations website
Our call to inclusion on Medium
Aurora Ventures ethical practice queried
