International Women’s Week a success

Warwick last week celebrated International Women’s Day, which aimed to highlight gender inequality across the globe.

The day was part of International Women’s Week, for which Warwick held 16 events, including talks by feminist activists, a Jitsu-style defence class and comedy shows.

The week hoped to raise awareness of women’s issues: “Feminism has taken us far but there’s still a long way to go,” said Women’s Campaigns Officer and Warwick Women’s Week organiser Helen Gould.

She added, “Women are still raped in large numbers, only 22 percent of journalists and politicians are women, women are badly represented in the media, particularly in porn, and women are penalised for being mothers.”

Gould said the events have been “fairly successful” and had received a generally positive response from both male and female students.

A mock trial on the case of R. versus Ahluwalia, a woman who was sexually and physically abused by her husband to such an extent that she set fire to him in their bedroom, attracted a particularly large turnout.

The comedy show featured feminist comedian Kate Smurthwaite and saw hordes of students flood Curiositea to watch, although the ‘How Has Sexism Affected You?’ talk proved less popular.

Classics student Cathryn Turhan said, “The range of activities this week has been fantastic, including a great talk about a student project to educate Coventry schools about Domestic Abuse.

“International women’s week is a hugely important institution for both women and men. It’s a great way to recognise how far women have come in terms of achieving equality and acknowledging that the fight against sexism is far from over, a fact all too easy to forget in this campus environment.”

However, second-year Biomedical Science student Mimi Jones was less supportive of Women’s Week: “I think it’s doing as much to alienate the sexes than unify them as equals.

“I think there’s an emphasis on hitting gender diversity targets over judging people on personal merit. A lot of men are going to resent being blamed for the actions of a few prejudged people in the past. Having a feminism week seems as ridiculous to me as a chauvinism week.”

Many questioned Gould as to why there is no International Men’s Week. She responded that: “Although men are repressed, it is in a way that makes them more powerful, as in they have to be strong and dominant. It gives them power if they want it or not, but women are made weaker. Issues such as fathers’ rights link with women’s rights because they are expected to be carers.

“Fundamentally, men own most of the property in the world, men are the political leaders, men are not raped or abused as much and men are not sexually objectified as much as women. The rest of the weeks are International Men’s Week.”

Other events included a charity Salsa and Tango night and a talk from male feminist Mediocre Dave, who attempted to demonstrate that feminism is not just for women.