In the lead up to International Women's Day - marked each year on March 8 as a moment to celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women, and a call to action for accelerating gender parity - we asked the RUSSH team to tell us what the day means to them.
Natalie Petrevski
Fashion Editor
This International Women’s Day our social feeds will be flooded with posts of girl gangs, mums, grandmothers, daughters and probably a few Spice Girls mentions, too. These are all wonderful, and it is a beautiful thing to celebrate women and to be a woman too. In saying this, I hope the celebration can be followed with sincere actions to aid and give platforms to women and girls in all walks of life, especially the ones that need it most. Everyday should be International Women’s Day with a celebration for all. Let’s keep moving in a positive direction.
Victoria Pearson
Content Director
I choose to celebrate International Women's Day by supporting the numerous advocacy groups and not-for-profits that deserve column inches (and Instagram traffic) for the incredible work they do every single day to support and empower women across all facets of life. A few of note: ethical gifting social enterprise Mettle Inc., Dress for Success Sydney, National Breast Cancer Foundation, Our Watch, Action Aid (and so many more). I encourage you all to find one that speaks to you and support with your time, your attention and your resources (financial or otherwise).
Victoria Pearson
Content Director
I choose to celebrate International Women's Day by supporting the numerous advocacy groups and not-for-profits that deserve column inches (and Instagram traffic) for the incredible work they do every single day to support and empower women across all facets of life. A few of note: ethical gifting social enterprise Mettle Inc., Dress for Success Sydney, National Breast Cancer Foundation, Our Watch, Action Aid (and so many more). I encourage you all to find one that speaks to you and support with your time, your attention and your resources (financial or otherwise).
Ella Jane
Production Coordinator
Though feminism is one of the most important things to me, it feels as though International Women’s Day has morphed into a day to celebrate accomplished women, and has been reduced to panels featuring the successful (including women I absolutely respect and admire) and ‘GRL PWR’ Instagram posts, while the women still figuring their shit out, the women of intersecting race, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, ability, education and class, are left with space once again not properly held for them on a day that is supposed to do just that. These are the people who are at the frontline of feminism. It is they who we are benefitting off the backs of, who put their bodies and voices on the line for women whose identities meet at these intersections to feel safe. It is they we need to stand next to, and give platforms to, to talk about what is truly needed.
Gabriela Hidalgo
Senior Designer
I, too, have been guilty of zoning out to a mindless scrolling action, only to stop for an occasional staccato double tap. It has become all too familiar for us, one ‘like’ = you have my support. But does it really?
IWD is not the only day out of the year where we should be celebrating, sharing and uplifting one another on a personal level, but on this particular day where some momentum can be gathered, so many campaigns are released supporting important causes which require our full attention. In this instance a double tap will not truly suffice - we need to share information and open up about what causes are important to us. IWD should be a day where we listen just that little bit more, take some time to read a full caption and reflect on what we can do to contribute. Some wonderful campaigns I’ve seen recently are Camilla and Marc's Ovaries. Let’s Talk About Them, and Dress For Success's Empower Hour. What are some you have heard about?
Gabriela Hidalgo
Senior Designer
I, too, have been guilty of zoning out to a mindless scrolling action, only to stop for an occasional staccato double tap. It has become all too familiar for us, one ‘like’ = you have my support. But does it really?
IWD is not the only day out of the year where we should be celebrating, sharing and uplifting one another on a personal level, but on this particular day where some momentum can be gathered, so many campaigns are released supporting important causes which require our full attention. In this instance a double tap will not truly suffice - we need to share information and open up about what causes are important to us. IWD should be a day where we listen just that little bit more, take some time to read a full caption and reflect on what we can do to contribute. Some wonderful campaigns I’ve seen recently are Camilla and Marc's Ovaries. Let’s Talk About Them, and Dress For Success's Empower Hour. What are some you have heard about?
Ellen Presbury
Market & Beauty Director
How to talk about the meaning of International Women’s Day without sounding too cliché, and allowing all room needed for nuance and contradictions? Instead, I’ll just pass on quotes by others who are much better with their words in the hope that how I view the women I’m lucky enough to be surrounded by is enough to do it justice …
“I, with a deeper instinct, chose a man who compels my strength, who makes enormous demands on me, who does not doubt my courage or my toughness, who does not believe me naïve or innocent, who has the courage to treat me like a woman.” – Anaïs Nin
“Women often have a great need to portray themselves as sympathetic and pleasing, but we’re also dark people with dark thoughts.” – Zadie Smith
