Seed’s International Women’s Day 2021
It is International Women’s Day and here at Seed we’re passionate about #womeninwork, especially women in the technology industry! This blog is the voice and words of the women at Seed discussing why the day is important to them and what more we could all be doing to forge a gender equal world!
Belle
To me, International Women’s Day is around empowering and celebrating women and challenging how societal rules and beliefs on how individuals who identify as women should act, look and live their lives.
As a yoga teacher in my spare time, I am reminded on a daily basis of the lack of autonomy that those who identify as women have over their own bodies. I recently undertook further training in pregnancy yoga, which highlighted the lack of knowledge and options available to pregnant individuals in mainstream medicine and health care.
However, it is important to celebrate awareness days such as International Women’s Day to educate and share stories of achievement, success as well as inequality to help forge an inclusive world where we have the same opportunities and choices over our own bodies and lives.
Holly
Today is important because it is the perfect opportunity to honour and celebrate the incredible accomplishments of women in the past…But to also highlight what more needs to be done in order to achieve the full equality and freedom that females need and deserve – globally.
Here in the Western world, we have a long way to go in terms of gender equality, but other parts of the world certainly have much further to go. So (aside from giving the amazing women in my life a whole lot of love), I’m going to spend today thinking about what I can do to help girls and women who are in less fortunate countries and circumstances than myself.
Every day I feel so proud to be female, but today gives us a chance to really shine a light on that. It’s a whole day dedicated to women supporting and empowering each other – what can be better than that?!
One of the things that I feel most proud to have accomplished as a woman is to have graduated from university, and shortly after starting my career in digital marketing. Tech is a hugely male-dominated industry – with only 25% of roles being held by women. In just the past year at Seed, we have grown from having only 4 women to 11! That’s definitely something to celebrate.
Alicia
To me, International Women’s Day is a celebration of how far women have come in society. We may not have always been given an equal playing field but the importance of this day is to remember that we can be whoever we want to be; we are strong; we are powerful and we are equal.
As women, we should never stop striving to achieve our aspirations and minimise the cloud of prejudice that still exists in the world today. To bring awareness to this, everyone who identifies as a woman or even someone who has ever been underestimated, underappreciated or undervalued in society, should use today as an opportunity to share the achievements that they are proud of.
One of mine will always be performing as front woman in a rock band to a crowd of people at Concorde 2.I will always remember that feeling of power, self-confidence, and hey let’s throw sexy in there too. That feeling of capability and opportunity is how women should feel every day.
Lauren
International Women’s Day is an important day for me as a young woman in today’s society. Not only is it a day to celebrate the achievements of how far we have come as women, but it is also to reflect on how far we have got to go.
With the recent events in Poland and movements like #metoo, it shows how far away we are still from gender equality, from violence against women, and discrimination. Today is about uplifting others around me and being thankful to be surrounded by people who love and respect me, not just at home but in the workplace too.
Annie
International Women’s Day 2021 – a day not just to shout about our achievements, but to give a voice to the need for equality and opportunities. I am proud to be a woman and so thankful for the women before me who fought for us to be this far. There is still a long way to go for every woman across the world to feel valued and respected, and it’s my and my sister’s voices who have the power to change the world!
I believe IWD means something different to everyone and that’s ok, it is the unity and coming together to bring to light a shared cause that makes it so special. Making every woman, man or individual who joins this movement special. Women are fantastic and I want to be in a world where each and every one of them have the belief they can do or achieve anything without the worry old patriarchal and sexist views will stop them. The power of the people, the power of women, is what continues to make monumental changes and set the path for this coming true every single day.
As a woman I am proud of graduating with a degree, working abroad for six months and now being completely in control of my own life! I earn my own money, pay my own bills and have been able to travel and see many corners of the world. I am proud of my own ambition and determination to get to where I want to be in life.
Olivia
Like many of my counterparts, I have been raised in a society that holds deeply patriarchal views of leadership, based on redundant archetypes. The idea that a quality leader is someone who is strong, a risk taker, and someone who gives orders, is a depiction rooted in old-fashioned ideas of what ‘manliness’ is, and further suggests that to be a good leader, one must be a man.
When asked to describe a strong leader, few would picture a female in her field of work, let alone non-traditional leaders that have shown enormous strength in their overcoming of adversity, as well as being ‘ordinary’. Too often we fail to see mothers as leaders, despite them raising and leading the next generation, we fail to see woman prioritising listening over showmanship as good leaders, and we fail to view role models displaying positive attributes as leaders.
For this International Women’s Day, I #ChooseToChallenge the false narratives around what a good leader is. Happy IWD to the many types of woman leaders around the globe!
Sophie
I think International Women’s Day is a great way to celebrate how far we have come in terms of women’s rights, but it should also be a reminder of the work we still have to do. I believe it is important to recognise that our experiences as women are not all the same and each woman has a different perception of existing within society.
International Women’s Day is a reminder to use our privilege to support other women and amplify their voices in order to achieve equality for all women. So, I use this day as a way to celebrate the achievements of myself and all of the amazing women around me, as well as a day to celebrate all women, regardless of race, class or orientation.
Lily
Women’s rights have been so important to me for as long as I can remember, I grew up in a pretty liberal family, I remember going to protests and marches, fighting for all kinds of equality, before I could walk and whilst sitting on my dad’s shoulders. My fiercely independent mother taught me I could be and do anything, not by telling me the world is fair and kind, but showing me what was worth fighting for and how to be heard. As I have gotten older, I have had to acknowledge my privilege, I’ve been told to “stop complaining” about women’s rights because of the life I have grown up with, but my privilege doesn’t negate the inequality that still causes suffering and pain to people of all genders. So I won’t stop complaining and I won’t be quiet.
I debated which picture to use but in the end, if I want to put on a sparkly dress and tiara and cook steaks on the BBQ, then I will, because I am a woman and I will do what I want.
Beth
Becoming a mum has made me think much harder about what it means to be a woman, what kind of woman I want to raise and how I can teach my daughter about the issues that affect our gender.
I want my child to grow up in a world where all people are considered and treated as equals. We are so far away from that at the moment. However, I believe it is through committing as parents to educate our children; we can change this.
We can promise to make them media savvy, squash stereotypes, and teach them empathy. We can encourage them to understand what boundaries are, to set them, and to respect them. We can read to them, give them choices and encourage questions. If we do these things, we can, slowly but surely, create a much kinder, fairer world not just for women but also for everyone – and that’s the kind of world I want her to live in.
