Break the Bias

March 8, 2022 is International Women’s Day, and it is themed #breakthebias! International Women’s Day is set aside each year to draw attention to women’s challenges in both the private and public domain, take stock of the progress achieved and reflect on the work still to be done. First held in 1911 in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland, over a million women and men attended public events to show their support (Women and Gender and Equality Canada). Over a century later, the day has grown into a global event, enthusiastically marked by communities in the know, but passes unremarked by many more.

In cultures around the world (western and non-western) women and girls have wielded less power, privilege and opportunity in daily living, political, social, religious, cultural, and many other contexts, and some of the bias around that resides in language (more on this later). The 1995 Beijing Conference on Women resulted in a seminal declaration of equality between men and women, boys and girls. In some countries, this statement was greeted with skepticism, ridicule and in some cases, disdain. Opponents argued that such provisions could/will disrupt families and communities. As there were opponents, there were fierce advocates for the cause across the world; some toiling to more success than others. Today, we live in a paradigm of Mainstreaming Gender Equality as a result of the foundational work done before 1995, and since then.

In 2022, much can be said about the “equality” between men and women, boys and girls. Girl enrolment in schools have increased across the world except in some glaring cases of retrogression such as in Afghanistan. Much work is being done to improve women’s place in the public domain with women working in diverse and complex STEM fields, politics and governance at the highest levels, business leadership, and reaching to the stars; so much so that these events are becoming routine.  In Iceland, so powerful was Halla Tómasdóttir’s unsuccessful run for the presidency, a young boy asked her if he could be president when he grew up (Tómasdóttir TED talk). This scant sampling points to a socio-cultural shift that has happened over time. They signal shifts in bias about are who females are, where they belong, what they can do, and what they can achieve. In short, #breakthebias has been happening.

I may be bursting the bubble, but on International Women’s’ Day, 2022, the stock-taking suggests that the work has just begun. Females, women and girls, still face varying degrees of social marginalization and vulnerability. Power, privilege and opportunity may be equally available to all genders but the distribution is not equitable.  Cue the semantic difference between equal and equitable. Much #bias and prejudice slow the rate of progress. The English language (for example) is replete with common phrases that [subconsciously] continue inequality between men and women— stop bickering like women, back to the drawing table, cast your net wide, cut to the chase, and drill down to the issue—phrases that descend from masculinity or men’s work in the public domain. I have stopped counting times I have been called “my brother” or “Sir” on social media where “intelligent” conversations are happening and when the other party (including females) does not know I am a woman. You may be wondering where I am going with this. Our gender bias begins with the acquisition of language (Read more here).

As we speak is as we think, as we think is as we organize the world, as we organize the world is as we do. Prewitt-Freilino puts it more elegantly: “The languages we speak influence how we construct society, and can even set the precedent for gender equality in our social systems” (Read more here).  #breakthebias! Another 100 years is too long to wait for when woman, girl, female is no longer a question when a person takes their place in the world.

Visit the IWD website: https://www.internationalwomensday.com/theme

Rita Yembilah, Snr. Researcher/Evaluation Lead, Canadian Poverty Institute

Dedicated to my two daughters who must inherit a “gendersphere” better than mine.