The UN celebrated its first official International Women's Day on 8th March during International Women’s Year in 1975. This day is an occasion to celebrate the progress made towards achieving gender equality and women's empowerment, but also to critically reflect on those accomplishments and strive for gender equality worldwide.

This endeavour is supposed to unite all of us women. But is this at all possible? Very often it seems that it is the confident voices of privileged women that are heard. Women are in reality a heterogeneous  population – they do not all share the same socioeconomic status,  culture, sexual orientation, values,  life experiences,  physical and intellectual abilities, and so on. Intersectional feminism offers a lens through which we can better understand one another and strive towards a more just future for all. Very often we talk about race inequality as separate from inequality based on gender, class, sexuality or immigrant status. We tend to forget how some people are subject to all of these, and the experience is not just the sum of its parts. Standing in solidarity with one another, questioning power structures, and speaking out against the root causes of inequalities are critical actions for forging a way forward that leaves no one behind.

Those who are most impacted by gender-based violence, and by gender inequalities, are also those living with the most disadvantage, including  women in rural areas, single teen mums, girls living with disabilities, trans youth and gender non-conforming youth. It is a known fact that marginalized communities are the most impacted when crises hit, as the Covid-19 pandemic has revealed. It is a problem if we as privileged women view inequality as a “them” issue or “unfortunate other” narrative. We need to be open to considering how both privilege and inequality are caused systemically.

For the disadvantaged woman, the educated upper middle class woman who vociferously fights for women’ s rights may seem alien. The disadvantaged woman looks differently at the world because she has been exposed to different realities than those which formed the privileged woman protesting in her name as ‘woman’. In contrast, the woman living on the margins of society knows what it is to be sick with worry that she would not make ends meet, that she would not have enough resources to raise her children decently, that she could lose her children, that she is not presentable, that she is powerless. Asking for or accepting help may not be an option,  for that would humiliate her. I have met women like these.

These women are largely invisible in feminism, and in the fight for human rights. It is as if they have no voice. It therefore comes as no surprise when research reveals that the term feminist is less likely to appeal to working-class women. These may be replicating their mothers’ and grandmothers’ submission to the patriarchy that has been historically imposed by those in power, within cultures that do not particularly value self-reflection and critical thinking. Or maybe they are afraid of being judged by peers and the men close to them, just as women have always been. Fear is a very powerful emotion. It would take more than feminist campaigning to eliminate it.   

For a movement that is meant to represent all women, feminism frequently focuses on those who already have most of their needs met. It prioritises gender equality, when the primary focus should be on ending the poverty cycle and improving the quality of life for all women. After all, for women who are struggling to keep themselves housed, fed and clothed, it’s not a question of working hard enough. Poverty lies at the root of oppression -  a state where your basic needs are not being met, and therefore there is no energy left for you to engage in  self-improvement. On the other hand, research shows us that educated women make better choices, lead happier lives, and have more opportunities for personal advancement and contribution to society.

Very often the disadvantaged are held responsible for their ills by those who have never known poverty and its iron clutches: “It is their fault”; “Why don’t they take their education seriously?”; “Why don’t they work, like all of us decent people?”; “Why aren’t they careful with their money?”.  We could almost conjure up queen Marie Antoinette in all her splendour retorting: “Let them eat cake!” on being told that the Parisian poor have no bread to eat.  And so it goes.

Just like the domestic violence victim, the disadvantaged woman gets judged and blamed by those who have never walked a mile in her shoes. Women’s Day is on our annual calendar to inspire the world to continue striving for gender equality, but we must not forget that in the world there are women who strive every day to simply survive. They need to be thriving first, in order to be able to summon the energy to speak up for themselves and become more fully human.

Audrey Friggieri is the Commissioner on gender-based violence and domestic violence