I have often wondered why we need International Women’s Day, especially in a western culture where we have equal rights, we’re not a minority, and the socialists, suffragettes and fabulous feminists fought the battle and won it on our behalf long, long ago.
Surely, if International Women’s Day no longer exists for us to highlight our secondary status but to celebrate our achievements, shouldn’t we be assuming no one else needs to be told how clever we are as well? Of course women are equal. Everyone knows this, right?
But then I woke up from that lovely dream and read the papers.
And I remembered what it was like growing up in a surfing town and, later, living in a Catholic college that consisted of mostly boys, pretend-men from farms and country towns, many of whom (not all of course) had been programmed into the master/slave way of being. I wonder what they all think now that they have daughters. What do they tell them about their rights? Does their own conscience allow them to warn their teenage girls about boys, and what some might be capable of?
That Rosie Batty is Australian of the Year says it all. And we only need to look at situations across the world – in Syria, India, Nigeria – to realise why an international day set aside to reflect on and respect women might still be necessary.
So, if I’m to celebrate anything at all about International Women’s Day, or single out one woman or group in particular, it’s not likely to be the big-ticket achievers. Of course women are capable of running banks and countries and long distances.
It’s not likely to be the Rosie Battys either, which would just be a reminder that while some women have achieved great things and do run banks and countries and long distances, many, many others still live under threat.
I’ve recently spent a lot of time in and out of hospital visiting my sick mum and, I have to say, it’s the nurses we should all be applauding right now. Anyone who can cajole my mum into doing something she doesn’t want to do has got to get some sort of international recognition. Go nurses.
And so on this, the eve of International Women’s Day, I’m saying hooray to those who still persist at this time-honoured profession. Yes, it’s a traditional, perhaps even conservative, and some might say unimaginative career choice for women.
In fact, I remember a time when nursing was widely discouraged. Why be a nurse when you can be a doctor, they said, but that’s not so relevant today because lots of women are doctors (and lots of men are nurses, although they’re not winning the race by a long shot – they still represent about 10 per cent of the nursing population).
And I do sense a subtle shift in the young of today, who see nursing with fresh eyes, as an altruistic, vitally important and rewarding career (that can also involve travel).
They seem happy to do it, too, are naturally kind and empathetic, and even manage to smile as they help old people, i.e. certain relatives of mine, with their bedpans and myriad complaints about not ordering the food they clearly did order because it’s on the sheet right in front of them and in their handwriting.
That’s why I’m going for the nurses, on International Women’s Day, the everyday lovelies who turn up for long shifts on their feet, eager and willing to fix what is wrong. I wish everyone was more like them.
What do you think?
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