Arfi Hagi Yusuf, Women’s Supplement Coordinator
March 8 marks this year’s International Women’s Day, a day reserved for the celebration of women across the globe for the achievements and contributions that they have made to the world. And I, Arfi Hagi Yusuf, could not be more excited. Truthfully, IWD isn’t something that has significantly shaped my life. It’s not a public holiday, nor is it something that is celebrated in halls of secondary schools, and it wasn’t until I came to York that I realized the significance of this day. Nonetheless I have come to the quick realization that this holiday isn’t all that it’s chalked up to be.
When I first found out I was going to be coordinating this year’s Women’s Day Supplement, I googled IWD and landed on the official site that was dedicated to the holiday. The header caught my eye as it consisted of three photographs of women: two of them white and one of them racially ambiguous. Needless to say, all of them fitting heteronormative Eurocentric beauty standards. I scrolled down the page and saw this year’s theme in bold letters: Pledge for Parity.
I’m a third-year political science student, fluent in three languages, avid reader, and hoping to pursue a career in journalism, yet I did not know what the word “parity” meant. After a quick Google search, I found up this year’s theme is pledging for equality of women.
Language is an active tool and instrument of either inclusion or alienation, acting as a gate or a barrier. When facilitators chose to use words like “parity” as opposed to equality, the agenda is clear as day. A barrier is drawn right there and inclusivity is out the window. Let’s not beat around the bush, this isn’t language that is used everyday. It’s language used in academia, therefore discluding women who are not highly educated or have an expansive vocabulary. This isn’t to say the two words have the exact same meaning, but they do have similar connotation. One would think that something that is meant to celebrate all women would be inclusive, but unfortunately that is not the case.
The problem with holidays like IWD is that they don’t challenge current power structures but rather, reinforce them. This holiday isn’t one used to celebrate racialized, indigenous, and disabled women. It’s not a secret that these women have to work twice as hard. It’s no secret that these women are especially vulnerable to violence, lack resources, and access to basic needs come at higher rates. Solidarity begins at acknowledgement. Unification under a similar aspect, especially something frivolous as gender, should not be an indicator of oneness. Totalizing experiences works against marginalized women and even goes to erase history.
A recent Facebook ad helped me come to this realization. The illustration was quite diverse racially and religiously speaking. It read: Happy Women’s Equality Day We Voted, dated August 18, 1920. This is an American illustration as some Canadian women received the right to vote in 1921, but the illustration was a blatant lie, not all women who received voting rights. It was white women who received these rights.
Indigenous people of Canada were not granted this same luxury. In order to vote they would have to renounce their Indian status. That illustration is deceiving but it’s not illustrator’s complete fault. We are taught directly and indirectly as women that we have the same, if not similar, struggles therefore a win for all of us is a win for all. Not only is this not the truth but it invalidates the experiences of marginalized women.
Perhaps the most simplistic reason that I am not looking forward to IWD celebrations is because I am tired of celebrating women who don’t look like me. I am tired of having to show solidarity with the same groups that view me as sub-human and don’t return the favour. I’m tired of my identity being trivialized, of it being a burden. I’m tired of my existence being denied not only as a woman, but as a black woman. And I know I am not alone.
This year’s theme for the supplement is intersectionality in womanhood. It’s time that we come together at York and celebrate women that look like the students here. Reshape what it is and what it means to be a woman outside of this normative lens and recognize marginalized women who have maneuvered through their different intersectionalities in a remarkable manner and manage excellence.
Within this supplement you’ll find an array of articles looking at different aspects of intersectionalities. With contributions from the phenomenal writers, sit back and enjoy as we come together and revolutionize what it means to be a woman.
