News | Monday, 8th March 2021
Gender equality: why we must all Choose to Challenge
On International Women’s Day it’s time to confront stereotypes and fight bias, says Professor Helen Pankhurst
By Professor Helen Pankhurst, Visiting Professor in Gender Equality at Manchester Metropolitan University
March 8 is just one day of the year, but it is an important one. It is International Women’s Day, a day to celebrate feminism, locally, nationally and globally. A day to reflect on how far we have come, to question where we are and to strive for better in the future.
The theme for this year is ‘Choose to Challenge’. As a Pankhurst, the granddaughter of Sylvia, great granddaughter of Emmeline, no surprises that I think it’s a particularly good one.
Choosing to challenge is about individuals using their agency, it’s about questioning the status quo, individually and collectively, it’s about challenging existing norms and the policies and structures that perpetuate gender inequality.
The COVID-19 pandemic has been an incredibly difficult time for everyone right across the world. We know that women play a leading role during crises – in our families, communities, and workplaces. They are also the hardest hit by both COVID-19 and the climate crisis. Yet women are still largely absent from decision-making roles.
We want to challenge this and for women to have a say on issues that really matter both in Greater Manchester and across the globe. Our voices should be heard in COVID-response policies and we want to make the region safer for all women.
Through my work at the University and with the charity CARE International, we want to tackle some of the issues that we’re aware of through local data and campaigns to broaden women leadership, as I explore below.
Challenge
We want to challenge these now as the obstacles they face will only continue to rise with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
As well as a part-time post as a Professor of Gender Equality at Manchester Metropolitan University’s Sylvia Pankhurst Gender and Diversity Research Centre, I convene GM4Women2028 which is hosted by the University. It is a coalition looking to better understand and document the situation faced by diverse women and girls in Greater Manchester, and to campaign for equality.
GM4Women2028 was launched by a group of like-minded women and key organisations including Manchester Met in February 2019, to advance the gender equality agenda across Greater Manchester, a region that has long flown the flag for women’s rights.
On February 6 this year – which is the day over a century ago that the People’s Representation Act 1918 was passed extending the right to vote to some women – we revealed the results of our latest annual survey on gender equality.
The GM4Women2028 Pankhurst-Fawcett Scorecard identifies 10 key baseline indicators to mark the progress of gender equality across education, employment, safety, participation and active lives.
We can see from the 10 indicators, little change, or that the situation is getting worse rather than better. The results are singularly poor for some areas, particularly around safety for women.
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to make things even worse in next year’s survey, hence our focus on encouraging local leaders, businesses and people across Greater Manchester to support the five themed areas outlined.
This can be done by sharing the scorecard to help spread the word, making a pledge and sharing the actions you will take with the coalition or joining the group to get involved in our activities.
Coalition
We clearly still need to challenge business as usual and this is before some of the negative effects of COVID-19 feed into the statistics. An example of this, which is shown in research from Manchester Met, is the many female entrepreneurs and women-led businesses who have been overlooked and forgotten by the government’s business support schemes.
The GM4Women2028 coalition will keep working to 2028 – the centenary of equal franchise.
I also work for the development charity CARE International, which this year, is focusing its March4Women campaign around the importance of more women’s leadership.
We are asking people to join us and loudly call for women to have a real say on issues that matter.
This is particularly focused on three areas:
First, in COVID-19 response policies, secondly in the planning for the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as COP26, which aims to address the climate emergency and thirdly in international development.
The motto that we are applying in our social media is ‘Stop Telling Half the Story’. This is because, too often, diverse contributions and perspectives are side-lined or silenced, which means policies are half-baked as a consequence. We need to challenge where there are gaps. We need to tell and to hear the full story.
Similarly, for all of us at Manchester Metropolitan University, in our work, in our homes, as citizens, as women and men, as young and old, as students and staff, let’s ‘Choose to Challenge’.
On this day and on all days, let’s confront our own stereotypes, fight biases and broaden our personal, collective and organisational perspectives.
Happy International Women’s Day.
See www.GM4Women2028.org for details and how to get in touch if you want to get involved.
