Louise O'Neill: 'What is International Women’s Day? And what does it mean to be an Irish woman today?'
Louise O'Neill: guest editor of the International Women's Day edition of our Weekend magazine. Picture: Miki Barlok
I came of age during a time when the Teen Magazine was the essential accessory for every young girl. I’d pick up my copy of Sugar, Mizz, or J17 from my local newsagent (graduating to More magazine when I got a little older/braver – RIP to Position of the Fortnight) and on the first page, there would be a letter from the editor.
A headshot of a glossy, lipsticked woman smiling brightly, setting the tone for the pages ahead, alerting the reader to features or interviews she thought were particularly worthwhile.
When I was asked if I would be interested in guest-editing the International Women’s Day special edition of Weekend, that was what I thought of first; what would I write in my letter from the editor? But after multiple phone calls and emails with the real editor of this magazine (an amazing woman who has been home-schooling four girls/mini-feminists in the making. How on brand for IWD is that?!), I was left grappling with the same questions that I have every year on March 8 – what is the purpose of International Women’s Day? And what does it mean to be an Irish woman today?
For those of us who were raised Catholic, the Hail Mary is a familiar prayer. We mouthed “blessed art thou amongst women” over and over again, in Mass and after confession and before bed, the words becoming meaningless through repetition.
But I know that I have spent a life amongst women; I only have one sister, I attended an all-girls convent school for both my primary and secondary education, I’ve worked in two female dominated industries, fashion and publishing. My favourite art tends to be created by women, and I’m particularly drawn to depictions of female friendship in pop culture – Vix and Caitlin in Hillary and CC in ; Tia and Tamera in ; , , , .
It was 2013 when I read a piece in The Cut about Shine Theory, positing that powerful women make the best friends, and it instantly resonated with me. The theory was coined by Ann Friedman and Aminatou Sow and is described as a ‘practice of mutual investment in each other’.
It encourages women to see each other as collaborators rather than competitors and is a ‘conscious decision to bring your full self to friendships,” rather than allowing insecurity or rage to ravage them. To take joy in other women’s achievements rather than feel diminished, knowing that, as the aphorism goes, a rising tide lifts all boats.
Over the last number of years, there has been some frustration in the LGBTQ+ community that Pride, a movement intended to disrupt the status quo, has been co-opted by corporations who are happy to slap a rainbow on their branding or products rather than doing the work to improve workplace practices so queer members of staff feel safe.
I think that it’s fair to say something similar is happening with International Women’s Day. Over the last few years, I’ve seen a lot of ‘yass kween’ posts on Instagram, companies offering two for the price of one offers on Prosecco or manicures, influencers who never seem to talk about gender-based violence or reproductive rights or the gender pay gap but are perfectly happy to share a sepia-toned throwback from childhood captioned ‘Who Run The World?’
Well, as much as I love Beyoncé, it’s not girls. This toothless, commercialised version of IWD won’t change that any time soon; The Revolution Will Not Be Commodified.
International Women’s Day will only enact real change if we insist that it is used as a tool to highlight the specific problem of gender as it relates to women. As Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie says, we need to look at gender as it pertains to how women have excluded and subjugated, silenced and oppressed for hundreds of years.
And as the implications of intersectionality (a term created by professor Kimberlé Crenshaw in 1989 to describe how race, class, and gender intersect with each other) become more urgent, it’s crucial that we don’t allow International Women’s Day to focus solely on the needs of white, straight, middle-class, cis gender, able-bodied women.
That is the question we should ask ourselves - if our feminism is not inclusive, is it really feminism? In 2021, I want to hear different perspectives than have been presented to us before. I want to hear from trans women and women of colour and Traveller women and migrant women and women with disabilities and queer women and sex workers about what International Women’s Day means to them, how they make sense of their identity as an Irish woman. That was my mission for this edition of Weekend, to celebrate IWD in a way that felt inclusive but was also representative of how modern Ireland actually looks. Ní Saoirse go Saoirse na mBan. All women.
. This collection of essays by Sophie White is an essential work of brutal, flaying honesty. She writes about her body with a primal physicality which will make the reader wince in recognition, but still, every beautifully formed sentence is a joy to read.
Alicia Raye has been described as a trailblazer in the Irish hip-hop and R&B scene and with the release of her mixtape, her impact is undeniable.
Check out (featuring artists like Erica Cody and Tolu Makay) now
