Every day is women’s day

In no field are women equal. In fact, progress on women’s rights has crunched into reverse as a result of Covid 19. Women have been more likely to lose their jobs than men. Women are more likely to be shouldering the burden of unpaid care than men. And when you go behind the stats you realise that comparing women as a group with men as a group misses important facts as this article by Mwanahamisi Singano and Ben Phillips points out. For example, women of colour have lost their jobs while white women have actually gained jobs, unequal access to vaccines will mean progress beyond COVID will unequally favour the Global North, and so on.

As the authors so rightly say, “Equality for women will only be realised when all the forms of exclusion holding women back are challenged…It is not enough for the men in power to be persuaded to open a narrow gate in the fortress of patriarchy, through which a small group of the most well-connected or respectable women can slip through to join them.”

My friends and I have been talking this week about how exhausted we are. Day in, day out, we’ve been reading about the hounding out of Meghan Markle, about the tragedy of Sarah Everard, about the loss of abortion rights in Poland to the dramatic increase in domestic violence during the pandemic, it is unrelenting.

I don’t have any answers, I’m afraid, but I continue my work.

Interesting and useful links 🖇️

Can Development Aid ever be Anti-Racist? - a reminder that issues of racial justice cannot be disentangled from conversations about development aid. “The problem with this story is that it invisibilizes the connection between the wealth of rich countries and the poverty of poor ones.”

Does your board need to be more diverse? Some tips from Community-Centric Fundraising

Some interesting slides about "Belonging" - as the next step along from diversity and inclusion…

Learning points 🎓

Quiet people in meetings are incredible

“It’s okay to sit in silence. It doesn’t make you a loser; it makes you smart.”

YES.

Day of the Week 📆

March 8 has been marked as International Women’s Day for over one hundred years.

What am I reading? 📚

I’m currently about halfway through Digital Minimalism - Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World by Cal Newport.

I’m planning to give a full report when I’ve finished it but it’s very interesting so far.

What am I watching? 👀

Let's Talk About Race episode of Panorama presented by Naga Munchetty and here's an article about the programme.

Joy-giving things 😍

Have some blossom from the allotment

Have a lovely weekend

Lucy

P.S. I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own - Audre Lorde

I write this newsletter because I believe in sharing progressive ideas that help us work towards a truly equal world.

Share it with your friends so they can read it too 📣

Thank you!

ChangeOut is created by Lucy Caldicott. You can find more about my work at ChangeOut.org. If you’re looking to have a chat about culture, leadership, purpose, equity, or a facilitated team discussion about any of those things, get in touch. You can also find me on Bluesky, Instagram, and, LinkedIn.

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