International Women's Day
The theme of this year’s International Women’s Day is ‘Choose to Challenge’ and Chloe, Ffion and Imogen want to take this opportunity to highlight women in history who have chosen to challenge societal inequalities but have commonly been overlooked. These are ‘extraordinary ordinary’ women who have led ordinary lives but have fought against injustices in an extraordinary way and have paved the way for future social movements.
Chloe - This IWD, I would like to highlight the ‘Matchgirls’; a group of women and teenage girls in 1888 who worked at ‘Bryant and May’, a company which made matches, and went on strike in protest of poor working conditions. The women would have to stand at a workbench for 12 hours each day, were fined for small offences, such as having a messy worktop and worked with incredibly dangerous chemicals, specifically phosphorus, and machinery. After an article by writer Annie Besant highlighting the dangerous working conditions and the firing of a worker, around 1,400 women went on strike, demanding a number of conditions including removing the unfair fines. After only three weeks of strikes, the whole factory being brought to a halt and huge amounts of publicity, Bryant and May agreed to abolish fines, increase wages and set up a canteen, meaning food would be free from being covered in phosphorus. Furthermore, the Matchmakers Union was created, fighting for the workers' rights of all matchmakers. The Trades Congress Union (TUC) have even credited these women for inspiring the dockers strike in 1889 which then created a domino effect of huge amounts of workers joining trade unions.
'The Matchgirls'
Imogen – Women are powerful, but often society celebrate the same kind of women’s achievements and histories, often forgetting those with intersectional identities. This is why we are focusing this month on women who are often erased who deserve recognition and remembrance, because if it isn’t intersectional, it isn’t feminism. The woman I want to highlight is Victoria Cruz, a trans woman of colour who continues to fight for liberation and equality. Cruz was one of the few who lived through the Stonewall protests, she was present in the first Pride march in the 70s and she was there at the Inn the night the police raided Stonewall. She fought the police off alongside Marsha P Johnson and continues to work to get Marsha Justice, and to use her voice to tell the stories of those whose lives were lost fighting for Queer Liberation. Speaking about Cruz, Director David France said ‘almost nobody who was a trans person of colour survived—and she survived. . . She’s a witness to a time that most of us can’t even imagine.’
‘There is a massive number of trans woman who have been murdered, and they are yelling out from their graves, for justice.’ – Victoria Cruz
Victoria Cruz
Ffion – This This International Women’s Day, I’m highlighting Sarojini Naidu, who was a poet, activist and politician. Known as “Bharatiya Kokila” the Nightingale of India, Sarojini Naidu was fought for civil rights, women’s emancipation, and against imperialism. Naidu also stood at the forefront of India’s battle for independence, against the British Empire’s rule. She worked in England as a suffragist, and then in 1925, Naidu became the first Indian woman to be appointed President of the Indian National Congress, one of the country's major political parties.
Naidu was a follower of Mahatma Gandhi, and a strong advocate for his idea of swaraj—Indian freedom from foreign domination. She travelled to deliver lectures on social welfare, women’s empowerment, and nationalism. The British government awarded Naidu the ‘Kaisar-i-Hind Medal’ for her selfless work during India’s plague epidemic, but she returned it in protest in response to the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre.
Sarojini Naidu
What have we been up to?
Celebrations like Women’s History Month and International Womens’ Day give us an opportunity to reflect on the women who came before us but also act as a reminder for how far we’ve still got to go. We were each elected on manifesto promises to support women students on campus, here’s what we’ve been up to this year.
Chloe and Imogen were elected on manifestos which promised to provide more support for survivors of sexual assault and have been working hard on fulfilling these pledges. We are happy to announce that a member of the Guild’s advice team, is currently undertaking training to become an Independent Sexual Violence Adviser (ISVA). This will mean that the Guild will soon have staff member qualified to provide specialist advice for student survivors of sexual assault. This is a result of work initiated by ex-Student Officer, Jodie Sylvester, of which Chloe and Imogen both picked up on when they started their term.
Chloe – As well as providing more support for survivors, I have also been working on improving the current University disciplinary process for students who are officially reporting sexual misconduct. I have been in conversations with the University about how the process could be made to be more survivor focused and ensure it doesn’t re-traumatise anyone. This includes training for Investigating Officers, Wardens and the Disciplinary Panel and giving survivors flexibility in how they give their side of the story. Along with this, another important way to make the disciplinary process easier for survivors, is providing transparency into the system and letting them know what to expect if they officially report another student for sexual misconduct. I am currently developing an infographic for the Guild website which will clearly explain the disciplinary process specifically for survivors.
Imogen - Part of my manifesto was aimed at tackling student’s safety as a result of the increased online reports of sexual violence faced by students travelling to and from campus. However, due to the pandemic and the reduced travel to and from campus, I have focused my efforts to supporting survivors of sexual violence in other ways. Working alongside Chloe, we have worked on the expansion of Bystander Intervention training to RAs from the University’s Halls of Residences. It is important that this training is sustainable, which is why it will also become embedded as a formal part of the RA’s training conference each year. Independently, I am working to broaden the staff who sit on the Universities Board of Discipline so that staff involved in deciding outcomes of cases of sexual violence will not mainly be academics, but staff from other avenues who may have experience in mental health and trauma. In addition, I am working to establish a Survivors Network within the Guild once our ISVA is fully trained later this year. I will work with students to create this, it’s aims, and delivery, in hopes that it will connect students in a safe environment. If you are interested in helping shape this, please get in touch.
Ffion – The Guild provides free period products in our building, aimed at helping students caught short in an emergency. I campaigned in my Manifesto for the University to follow in the Guild’s example and provide these products for free. As Vice President I have been working with a Senior Policy Advisor in the University to work how this can be established. The University initially agreed to exploring how this could be done, and I recently wrote a Policy Paper, which outlined my recommendations on how this should happen. My Policy Paper outlined the need to provide both pads and tampons in differing absorbencies, to be accessible as possible to students. I also recommended that the language related to this work should be inclusive, and not use ‘women’ exclusively, as to not alienate non-binary and trans students. Moving forwards, I will continue to work with the University, aiming at starting with the library as the highest-traffic building on campus to trial this idea.
What can you do to celebrate?
As well as expanding your reading and watchlist, there are a number of IWD events being ran by societies which you can check out such as Help the Homeless’ International Women’s Day Concert which is also fundraising for Refugee Women Connect. You can also join our Womens’ Network, open to self-defining women, the network gives you an opportunity to discuss women’s issues, make real change, meet new people and get practical experience and transferable skills through campaigns, events and social activities. Find out more here.
