Why International Women's Day is Seriously Important (Day 68)

So today (8th March) is International Women's Day and we need to talk about it.

Living in the U.K it's pretty easy for me to believe that the inequalities between men and women are not all that severe. It's sometimes hard not to take for granted how easy it is for me to find an equal place within society. I have the freedom and the right to an education and to achieve anything I want to in this life. I am surrounded by strong, independent women who have taught me to think for myself and to believe in who I want to be.

However in many countries across the world being born a girl is basically a death sentence. For example there are 15 million girls a year, under the age of 20, that are married to older men. Countries like Niger, India and the Dominican Republic still have high amounts of child brides and these girls face a bleak future. They are normally sexually, physically and mentally abused and impregnated at such a young age. For a lot of these girls they will die as a result of the abuse, STI or miscarriage. It can stop.

In the U.K, as a woman I have my right to an education but for a lot of girls education is an unachievable luxury. In 2013, Unicef estimated that approximately 63 million worldwide were out of education. That is a huge number of girls that will never, ever reach their full potential because they do not have access to a basic human right. For some girls, they risk their lives to go to school. Take Malala Yousafzai for example. Malala  was an activist and regularly spoke out against the taliban on her right for education. On the afternoon of October 9, 2012 she boarded her school bus in Taliban occupied Pakistan. The Taliban boarded the bus and asked which one was Malala, when she identified herself, they shot her three times. They left her in a critical condition. She has since made a full recovery and continues to advocate for the right of girls in education. She is also the youngest person ever to win a Nobel prize. No girl should die for an education.

Image available here.

So this is why I will always celebrate national women's day, for all the women that need to know that it will get better and if we keep fighting, they will finally have access to their rights.

Fight for you and fight for others. Never let anyone tell you that you can't do something just because you're a woman.

Talk to you tomorrow, Chloe xx