To all women

Today is International Women’s Day and wherever you are in the world you won’t be able to escape the news headlines or social media feeds to remind you of that fact. But what that means to people will vary greatly. Some will see it as an opportunity to draw attention to the still prevalent challenges to achieving gender equality and for some, it is a day like any other.

And for me? Aside from the fact that it’s my birthday, today embodies the very concept of diversity and inclusion. Or rather should embody. International Women’s Day should be a celebration of the inclusivity and diversity of all women – whether lesbian, bisexual, trans, or queer; women of colour; women from a diverse social and economic backgrounds, religions and families; women with a range of physical abilities; and gender non-conforming people. It should include all of us.

However, women’s equality doesn’t always feel so inclusive and equal for us as queer women. LGBTQ+ women around the world still face forms of discrimination that heterosexual women do not, whether that’s in the workplace, the law, the media or socially. We also don’t see ourselves represented in these realms in the way that heterosexual women do – we are often there to titillate the male gaze, hyper sexualised and stereotyped. At work we are also most likely to be faced with a double glazed glass ceiling, which is why we are twice as unlikely as gay men to come out at work. In general there is also a clear lack of role models to look up to.

So yes let’s celebrate women today, all of us – and let’s be mindful of any biases we might have, even as women.