International Women’s Day

On the 4th March, Cultivate - The Feminist Journal of the Centre For Women's Studies (University of York) and Curiositas - York St John's Postgraduate Journal for the School of Humanities held a wonderfully illuminating and collaborative event for York International Women’s Week. Thank you to all who turned up and shared their artistry, wisdom and time with us.

Today, my feed is full of International Women’s Day posts from people and organisations who may claim to champion women, and yet whose politics sometimes tell a very different story. We may never stop making mistakes, but hopefully will also never stop growing, learning and evolving. This is what I have learnt recently. Feminism that excludes migrant women, non-white women, or women deemed “other” is not feminism; it is selective and performative. True feminism is intersectional, or it is nothing. It recognises that gender inequality cannot be separated from culture, class, immigration status, or any of the other systems that shape women’s lives and the lives of “others”. If your feminism only works for some women, today is a good day to reflect on whose liberation you’re actually fighting for.