International Women's Day was founded in women's rights movements across Europe, demanding better labour conditions as well as calls for suffrage. So though it is primarily about celebrating the achievements of women, it is rooted in feminist protest and activism.
In the spirit of the 2017 theme #BeBoldForChange, I think we should change it up a little. While it is important to look back on the achievements of feminism, we should also look back to learn how to be better for the future.
The IWD colours of purple, white and green reference the colours of the suffragettes. While the women's suffrage date usually quoted for Australia is 1902, that excludes Aboriginal women, who did not have complete suffrage until 1962.
Previously, in most states, Aboriginal men had the vote (and in South Australia, Aboriginal women did too), but this was only because it hadn't been explicitly denied to them. So while the Commonwealth Franchise Act 1902 granted white women the vote, it also targeted Aboriginal and other people of colour not already on the electoral roll.
Effectively, through the advocacy of white feminism, there was a gain for white women, while the rights of women of colour were left behind.
Later, in 1975, as International Women's Day was recognised by the UN, mainstream second wave feminism tried to distance itself from the LGBTI community. In a NOW meeting in 1969, Betty Friedan had coined the term 'the lavender menace' to describe how lesbians were distracting from the feminist cause, lavender being a colour associated with the LGBTI rights movement.
Two of the big names of second wave feminism, Germaine Greer and Gloria Steinem, focused on cisgender women's rights at the expense of trans women, with Steinem warning that 'feminists are right to feel uncomfortable about the need for and uses of transsexualism'.
At its foundation, feminism was for the rights of straight white women. And this still effects mainstream feminism today. Domestic and family violence is a prominent cultural and feminist issue which is statistically more likely to effect Indigenous than white women. Yet in these conversations Indigenous women's voices are frequently unrepresented.
"The fight for women's rights in the past has highlighted the achievements of middle class white women, while also erasing the contributions of minority women."
Similarly, in Australia, the gender pay gap is still a significant issue and receives quite a bit of media coverage. But unlike America, there has never been much focus in Australian