International Women’s Day: we need to be as bold as the pioneering Jennie Lee
Against the bleak backdrop of conflict in the Middle East, on Sunday we will celebrate International Women’s Day.
Around the world and here at home, women and girls are continuing to face violence and discrimination on a shocking scale.
In Iran, where the regime is desperate to prevent women from dressing how they choose. In Afghanistan, where the Taliban are forcing women out of schools and workplaces. In Sudan, where rape is a common tactic for warring parties amidst the world’s greatest humanitarian crisis.
And here in the UK, where one in three women will experience sexual assault in her lifetime, women are paid almost 13% less than male counterparts, and a woman is killed by a man every three days.
Progress is not permanent. Rights are not guaranteed. Equality does not sustain itself.
Here in Fife, we are fortunate to have many outstanding organisations who work tirelessly to support women experiencing violence and abuse. I pay tribute to the teams at Fife Women’s Aid, the Fife VAWG Partnership, and the Kingdom Abuse Survivors Partnership.
There is much work to do. Tackling the challenges facing women and girls will require courage, conviction and determination; qualities that remind me of pioneering women like Jennie Lee.
Jennie was a proud Fifer, born and raised. She grew up on Foulford Street In Cowdenbeath, attended Beath High School, and later taught in Cowdenbeath. She was elected to Parliament in 1929, becoming just the 14th woman ever to take her seat in the House of Commons.
Jennie fought fiercely for those whose voices were too often unheard. She believed that opportunity should never depend on what postcode you were born into. She understood that culture, creativity and learning are not luxuries for the few, but rights of the many.
On International Women’s Day, I’ll think about women like Jennie who faced huge inequality but refused to accept the limits that were placed upon them. They did not simply demand change, they created it.
Meeting the many challenges faced by women and girls today will require tenacity and perseverance: the very qualities Jennie Lee had in spades.
That is why her picture hangs on the wall in my office. Not simply as a tribute to her achievements as a local girl done good, but as a daily reminder that if we are serious about tackling the problems facing women and girls, we must be just as bold in our time as she was in hers.