Controversial, but here goes; I am not wild about International Women’s Day. The fact that it exists highlights how out of kilter the equality scales still are. It’s easy for individuals, organisations, and society, to use a singular day to absolve themselves of addressing the ongoing issues women face. It feels like a tokenistic, consolation prize that does little to create significant change. I realise it’s seen as an opportunity to celebrate women and highlight the above, but if it’s not accompanied by sustained efforts to address the barriers preventing us from having the same rights, freedoms, respect, opportunities and recognition as men, it’s problematic at best/insulting at worst.
The first half of this photo series was taken in Romania in 2019. I have come here alone to think ...to make a horrible decision. I am about 8 weeks gone. The sperm donor (I don’t really have a better noun for him) has gone AWOL. He doesn’t believe me. Apparently ‘There’s no way you could know two weeks after having sex.’ The last I'd heard from him at this point was roughly 10 days earlier, in front of a group of people at the Royal Dornoch Golf Course giving a marketing presentation whilst trying to act like I don’t want to puke in the bin to my right. My phone vibrates. ‘Sill pregnant??? 😫’ …If you’ve done the math, you know what my choice was. I’ll never be confident it was the right one. It’s all sliding doors now. What I do know, is I’m thankful that I live in a part of the world that afforded me that choice.
According to the WHO *2021, only 66 countries globally allow selective abortion, while 26 ban it entirely. So, while I agree we should raise awareness of gender-based issues, one day a year is inadequate. This is a systemic issue that needs continual effort to overcome.
The final photos in this series are of a trip to the Western Isles I took Juno on, while I pretended to be ok a week after the procedure, because her dad wasn’t free to ‘babysit’ while I recovered. Sperm donor was treating himself to a holiday in Greece.
Until things change, make every day #InternationalWomensDay.
That's all I have to say about that.