What does International Women’s Day mean to me? It is tokenistic? Maybe. Do women still have it harder, I truly believe we do. Male bias is systemic as well as subtle and sometimes undeniably obvious. We’re conditioned to work with it as we’re so far away from true equality: our societies depend on inequality to function. The gender pay gap and the amount of unpaid care work, be it looking after children or elderly parents, still falls disproportionally on women.
I have lived in many different countries and have been fortunate enough to have witnessed many different cultures. Women are the glue of our societies, the unsung heroes who juggle multiple tasks, where multitasking is more often than not guaranteed. Yet ’having it all’ – job and a family – is still not a straightforward endeavour. Things may have improved, but we still have a long way to go. It is not that long ago that women were not allowed to open their own bank accounts or take on a job without their husband’s permission. This ingrained prejudice is still present in people’s minds. When I first returned to my job in the male dominated banking sector, when my son was half a year old, I was quizzed, judged and compared with the stay-at-home wives of my male colleagues. Some, including my boss, literally asked me why I was returning to work. Without a doubt, a man’s experience is different. It is unlikely, that he will be asked why he is returning to work, or who is looking after his child.
Perhaps, we should take the opportunity of the IWD as a form of recognising those women who are also a form of deep inspiration – whether as friends, colleagues or family members. My gentle hero as a child was and always will be my maternal grandmother. She is still with me every day. I’m fortunate to count some of the women in my life to be my closest friends – some of them scattered in far away places and some from far away places close to me in my daily life. Some I have known for decades, others are more recent companions. Some are older and some much younger. One of my closest friends could be my daughter.
At the Bylines Network, the EICs are 83% women. That’s quite a statistic that we’re proud of. We find ourselves juggling many tasks, many of us come from completely different career paths and fulfill the role together with our many valued volunteers.
I personally do the EIC work out of a sense of purpose, passion, connection and commitment. The force and power of the written word to unite people and make voices be heard never ages. There are always stories to be told. What connects us is always stronger than what divides us and I am tireless about creating a healthy and better society for all.
Being part of a writing community offers creativity, connection and empowers us all – our writers, our editors and proofreaders, and of course our readers. It offers people a place to be and belong.
The Bylines Network has the privilege of having a high proportion of women who are, or share the job of, Editors-in-Chief across all ten of our publications – standing at an amazing 83%, while the industry standard is 46% in the UK. And that is not mentioning the plethora of women behind the scenes here at the Network, without whom we would not be able to function.
For International Women’s Day, on this year’s theme of Give to Gain, the Bylines Network has collaborated to bring you profiles of the amazing women that lead our publications – giving you our stories, so that we may all gain empowerment and inspiration.
You can find the profiles of our female Editors-in-Chief at the following links:
- Central Bylines.
- North West Bylines.
- Scotland Bylines.
- East Anglia Bylines.
- North East Bylines.
- Sussex Bylines.
- West England Bylines.
- Yorkshire Bylines.
- Kent and Surrey Bylines.
More on society:
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