International Women's Day is an annual slap in the face

International Women’s Day is laudable for its original intention and the movement’s roots. However, given how far women are from equality in almost all areas of life on our planet, the annual homage rings hollow.

I admire so many women, I’m fortunate to have women of all ages as friends and as the wonderful writer Clarissa Pinkola-Estes noted we have one birth mother but over our lives many women mother us, love and teach us. And women are so insanely witty, able to find joy even when our patriarchal world snubs us over and over.

It’s not that there aren’t resources, there is no will.

Equal pay for equal work, affordable childcare, representation in national and international negotiations, healthcare tailored to women and women’s health, the right to walk home at night without clutching your keys, the right to travel around the world without the niggling feeling to watch out for your safety, ignoring victims of domestic violence and murder, the right to due process in the justice system (going down for women in the UK in rape cases) the right to education for girls and women in developing countries, a significant pension gap for most women and close to no executive level representation amongst the world’s biggest companies.

Empty promises and half-hearted action. Why should women pay the same taxes as men if this is our life? When female leaders are voted in why don’t they make a tangible difference to the lives of women?

Things to muse over indeed.