Chimu Adventures’ Marketing Manager, Meg Hall shares her thoughts on feeling uncomfortable around International Women’s Day. While she believes the travel industry is a brilliant place for equality, she would love to see a more even platform.
Every year, as International Women’s Day comes around, I don’t feel comfortable.
There are a couple of reasons for this. On one hand, as a woman, I personally don’t feel like I’m an issue of concern, so why call me out?
Equally, I don’t need to toot my trumpet on this particular day and say, “look what I did, even though I’m a woman!” I do what I do, did what I did, because I’m me. I wanted to and felt like I could, so I did.
Feminism has never played a part in my journey, not because I have issues with the belief, I support all genders having equal rights wholeheartedly.
It’s because I never needed to think about it. I’ve long been driven by being a curious human, and so I’m jolted every year that this day needs to exist, as if I need to take stock of my potential weakness?
I see myself as a human first.
BUT I AM LUCKY, and this is not lost on me. On this day, this makes me feel uncomfortable too.
I’m acutely aware of my privileges, from the gift of a forward-thinking upbringing to the fact that I work for an incredible company, in an incredible industry, that embraces greatness and fairness amongst its humans.
A workplace where I’ve pushed countless boundaries, worked side by side with the most inspiring men and women, a workplace where ideas are welcomed no matter what time of the day or who you are? Whether you are on the school run, sitting in a traditional meeting, or finding a spark at 3 am.
I work for a company where what you achieve matters, not how long you sit at a desk, what you wear, or whether you can or cannot give birth? A company that gives back as much as its people commit. A company that has built its foundation on heart and mind.
Yet not all women are as lucky as me, oppression remains large across the globe and it pains me that collectively we still have a road to travel to reach equality nirvana, therein lies my discomfort. I am privileged yet I understand the fight.
I know equality is possible, I live it every day, it’s large in the travel industry. I’d fight for this too.
Then, I find myself thinking, ‘what about men today?’ They do great things too and they also suffer. Suicide is the highest amongst the lads of our land, yet we seem to run our fingers over this statistic then turn the page.
There is also an underlying stigma that remains for the way women have been treated by men historically. Not all men are to blame. How must they feel on this day?
Can we not bring the gender spectrum together rather than continually platforming one type?
I know the underlying current of this widely celebrated event, as many will attest, is now spearheading gender and ethnic equality. Bravo.
So why don’t we engage so passionately in International Men’s Day? It exists, yet we also seem to run our fingers over this and turn the page. Is this too confronting? Are men afraid of feeling vulnerable? Maybe that is a problem too? All genders have vulnerabilities, we’re all human.
Maybe it’s time to combine the two and expand to the entire spectrum on one wholesome celebratory day, highlighting the continued achievements in equality in genders as a whole.
Together we can continue to pull the oppressed from their bunkers and celebrate the achievements of everyone as we work on the same platform as humans of all genders.
It doesn’t matter what shell you walk the earth in, what matters is what lies within.
What matters is what your mind and heart can give and what your mind and heart needs. By understanding and embracing what it is to be human, we can all help each other and make this world a better place.
Together. Equal. Human.