Thought For The Day – Wednesday 8^th March 2023

The 8th March each year is International Women’s Day.   The theme is “embrace equity”.  Equity means fairness.

We celebrate, and remember,  the essential and inspirational contribution of women to our daily and family lives, to our school, to society and to the world, past, present and future.

We think about, and give thanks for, women who have been, and are, inspirational role models to us.

So much wonderful progress has been made in matters of equality.

But there is much still to do.  We take with the most seriousness, and fully stand against, sexism and misogyny.

When discussing sexism, in September 2020, with eight students in a Year 12 Religious Studies  Feminist Theology class at TBSHS, all the female students in the class (five students) all reported that they had received sexist, misogynistic comments in the street, whilst walking to school or to the shops, and often from adults.

A 2021 United Nations survey of women in the UK found that 97% of women between 18-24 said they have been sexually harassed and 71%  of women said they had received sexual harassment in public spaces. 1 in 3 teenage girls have experienced sexual assault at school.  A recent OFSTED report found that 79% of girls said sexual assault was common in their friendship group. 1 in 4 women suffer domestic violence.  2 women are killed by a man every week in the UK.   Many women walk home with their keys in their hand, pretending to be on their mobile ‘phone, looking over their shoulders. Inequality further deepens around the world.

We severely question, see through and stand fully against the false, hateful, wrong,  poisonous and evil narratives of those “individuals” on-line who seek to divide, manipulate, abuse, invade, economically and emotionally exploit and gaslight.

As a student said in a Citizenship class in 2021, when he was in Year 10, it is not men verses women,  it is everyone verses the problem. 

We stand up to sexism.  We call it out.  We do not engage in sex or gender stereotyping.   We encourage equality, diversity and inclusion.  Representation matters. People matter.  We stay safe and legal on-line. We follow the legal age of consent, knowing that only yes is consent and that consent can be withdrawn at any point, and consent should never be abused, manipulated or exploited.

We respect and empower all. We treat people as people, just as we wish to be treated.

An anti-sexist society benefits everyone.

We celebrate International Women’s Day.

Professor Ann Loades CBE, inspirational feminist thinker and theologian: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2rLZct2oRw