Yay! The post you've all been waiting for! Or at least the 50 of you who registered to come along to the International Women's Day blogger fundraiser I've been harping on about for the last bajillion years!
I tried to reply to all of you to confirm your registration but I got a bit sidetracked what with the actual orga-ma-nising fandango, but rest assured that if you emailed me your name and address you're on the list, DAHLING!
Also, if you're expecting fancy invites in the post... I had to sack that idea. Sorry, but I wasn't actually sent enough out in the first place, plus I have had NO TIME to deal with admin issues of such magnitude - too busy arranging an awesome night innit!
ON TO THE FUN SHIZ!
- The event will be held at the Hillhead Bookclub just off Byres Road in the west end of Glasgow. We have a special bit reserved up the stairs to the left as you walk in - but fear not, someone will be there to say HIYA and point out the stairs incase you've never been before. It's purty :)
- It's on from 5.30 - 9.30 or whenever really since it's a bar and open till midnight so if you wanna stay and help me drink my body weight in red wine after, please do!
- There will be a bake sale and specially discounted Shellac nails by Rani which will be running all night. Needless to say all fundz raised go to Oxfam's International Women's Day campaign.
- You will be given a FUN, LIGHTHEARTED and female-themed Quiz sheet and answer paper on arrival (which you don't have to do, but if you want to that would be cool) and at the end the winner gets a special prize. (CLUE: it may or may not be a meal for two at Browns in Glasgow... but it is.)
- At 7 pm the Clothes swap madness with begin! All you need to do is bring a couple of items of clothing or accessories with you that you don't wear and that are in good condition and then swap em for something else! You don't have to take part in this, but clothes swaps are always particularly LOL-WORTHY and an awesome way of getting rid of junk and picking up new threadz. It will cost a couple of quid to take part.
- At 8 pm the best raffle in the history of the world will take place! Some of the amazing prizes on the night include three awesome Lomography cameras, a £200 voucher for a makeup class at the Academy of Make Up, Elemis and REN skincare goodies courtesy of PURE SPA, two free PURE SPA treatments, John Frieda hair goodies, BM Make Up gift box, Bomb Cosmetics gift box, a stunning piece of ROX jewellery, two Argan oil gift boxes, Sarah G Cosmetics gift box, two £50 SCHUH vouchers and a few other amazing surprises!
Goodybags will be given out after that and then y'all are free to go or hang about and get messy, up to you! I am also hoping that Laura from Oxfam Scotland will pop in and say a few words about International Women's day and where all our money will go.
YUSS, I literally can't wait! It's going to be a great night, with lots of lovely folks and loads of cake and schmoozing and prizes :)
BUT, let's remind ourselves what we're raising money for...
We're raising money to tackle entrenched attitudes that women are second class citizens. That they don't deserve the same freedoms, equalities, standards of living, care and respect as men. These entrenched attitudes deny women their rights and that's something I'm not about to let slide.
The reality is that in many countries, women:
Miss out on an education
Two-thirds of all children worldwide who are denied school are girls and in the developing world the majority of women are illiterate.
Having never attended school or dropped out at a young age because of early (and often forced) marriage, these women are cut off from the world through their inability to read and write. This limits their choices, their potential and ultimately their life. These women aren't stupid, they know they are missing out.
£135 trains 5 teachers in Mali who between them teach over 250 girls, encouraging them to stay in school. By educating these girls they provide a whole generation with skills to work their way out of poverty.
Suffer horrendous domestic violence
Violence against women is the single biggest cause of injury and death to women worldwide.
Each year, in this country alone, 3 million women experience violence and many more live with the legacies of abuse experienced in the past.
Violence against women includes domestic violence, rape and sexual violence, sexual harassment, female genital mutilation, forced marriage, crimes in the name of honour and trafficking and sexual exploitation. Facts consistently show this violence is perpetrated in the vast majority by men, and often partners and husbands.
"Violence against women continues to persist as one of the most heinous, systematic and prevalent human rights abuses in the world. It is a threat to all women, and an obstacle to all our efforts for development, peace, and gender equality in all societies. Violence against women is always a violation of human rights; it is always a crime; and it is always unacceptable. Let us take this issue with the deadly seriousness that it deserves." - Ban Ki moon, United Nations Secretary General
Die needlessly in childbirth
Every single minute a woman with no medical care dies in pregnancy or childbirth.
Having a baby should be a time of excitement, hope and joy with just a twinge of anxiety at the thought of the new challenges ahead. However for women in Ghana, where the track record for maternal health is one of the poorest around but is by no means an exception in the region, it is more often than not a life-threatening situation - a terrifying time of true dread.
90% of all maternal deaths occur in the developing world. Between 1,500 and 3,900 women die in Ghana alone from pregnancy complications each year, and for every death, a further 30 women suffer from short and long term complications.
Living in rural areas, illiteracy and a lack of understanding of their rights, as well as a shortage of trained medical staff nearby, all intensify the problems that these women face.
All of Oxfam's projects have gender equality at their heart, ensuring women overcome the discrimination they face and secure their basic rights. The money we raise next week will go towards helping Oxfam to combat these issues and provide help and aid where it is most needed, but I also hope that during our wee get together we can remind ourselves that the issues of gender inequality and sexism occur CLOSER TO HOME as well.
For example, forty years after the Equal Pay Act, women are paid on average 22.6% less per hour than men, and 30,000 of them are sacked every year simply for being pregnant. Women make up only 12% of FTSE 100 directors, and remain starkly in the minority in parliament and the legal profession. In the workplace, they continue to be victims of sexual harassment; at home, they are likely to be victims of violence (one in four at the hands of a partner or former partner). Last year, 100,000 women were raped in the UK. The conviction rate for this crime is just 6.5%. In 21st-century Britain, women's bodies are objectified like never before: in men's magazines, in lapdancing clubs, and on the internet.
Recently, the Uni Lad fiasco highlighted the fact that rampant sexism not only still exists, which is depressing enough in 2012, but that it runs rampant within the younger generation - OUR GENERATION. I'm not OK with this. I'm not going to accept having the piss taken out of me just because I'm a woman. And I'm not OK with being labelled as a dour-faced, frigid, feminist dyke who doesn't get the joke because I'm offended when someone gropes me in the bar queue, or leers at me in my car, or heckles me in the street. I'm just not going to let it happen.
BLARGH! Anyway, women, of course, are not simply victims of gender discrimination. We are also awesome human beings who have achieved so many mentally-amazeballs things it'd take me another mammoth blog to document. And no-one wants that. Let's face it, this has been a slog right?
So instead let's all eat cake, schmmooze, swap some clothes, get wur nails done and raise money for a charity who concern themselves day and night with putting an end to all the BULLSHIT.
Congrats for getting to the end. I don't know about you but I need a lie down.
Here's a picture of feminist Ryan Gosling as a reward :)
Love!
x