On International Women’s Day 2013, in a London Underground tube carriage on the Northern line, one woman took the radical step of reclaiming the space in which she was sexually assaulted.
When a man pressed his erection into Ellie Cosgrave’s behind on a crowded tube and left her with semen running down her legs, she felt the powerlessness that mark so many women’s daily experiences of harassment and assault. But like thousands of other women in the new wave of feminism sweeping the UK, Cosgrave is taking a stand; finding her own, individual way to fight back and refusing to be silenced any more.
Returning to the carriage where she was assaulted, she performed a dance to express the anger, embarrassment and discomfort that she felt. Next to her stands a sign reading: “On the 4th Aug 2011 a man ejaculated on me in this carriage. Today I’m standing up against sexual harassment everywhere.”
International Women’s Day 2013
Today, men and women around the world will celebrate International Women’s Day. Since the early 1900s people have used the annual holiday as an opportunity to celebrate women’s economic, political and social achievements. In honor of this, we’re recognizing several exceptional women that utilize Instagram to document their incredible stories of talent, triumph and humanitarianism:
- Bethany Hamilton (@bethanyhamilton) — Known for surviving a shark attack that left her without one arm, she overcame the injury to become a professional surfer.
- Yoko Ono (@yokoonoofficial)— A Japanese artist, peace activist and feminist, also known for her philanthropic contributions to the arts, peace and AIDS outreach programs.
- Gabrielle “Gabby” Douglas (@gabbydoug2012) — Making history in the 2012 Summer Olympics, she won gold medals in both the individual and team all-around competitions, becoming the first black woman of any nationality to do so.
- Padma Lakshmi (@padmalakshmi) — The first internationally successful Indian supermodel, she is now the host of Bravo’s “Top Chef,” an award-winning author of two cookbooks, and the co-founder of a nonprofit organization focused on increasing awareness, education and research about endometriosis.
For more incredible women sharing their stories on Instagram, be sure to follow Oprah Winfrey (@oprah), Sheryl Sandberg (@sherylsandberg), Sofia Vergara (@sofiavergara), Mindy Kaling (@mindykaling), Ellen DeGeneres (@theellenshow) and Shakira (@itsshakira)!
![mohandasgandhi:
dank-potion:
23andchildfree:
Happy women’s day, yo
What’s misandry, again?
Women perform 66% of the world’s work, but receive only 11% of the world’s income, and own only 1% of the world’s land.
Women make up 66% of the world’s illiterate adults.
Women head 83% of single-parent families. The number of families nurtured by women alone doubled from 1970 to 1995 (from 5.6 million to 12.2 million).
Women account for 55% of all college students, but even when women have equal years of education it does not translate into economic opportunities or political power.
There are six million more women than men in the world.
Two-thirds of the world’s children who receive less than four years of education are girls. Girls represent nearly 60% of the children not in school.
Parents in countries such as China and India sometimes use sex determination tests to find out if their fetus is a girl. Of 8,000 fetuses aborted at a Bombay clinic, 7,999 were female.
Wars today affect civilians most, since they are civil wars, guerrilla actions and ethnic disputes over territory or government. 3 out of 4 fatalities of war are women and children.
Rape is consciously used as a tool of genocide and weapon of war. Tens of thousands of women and girls have been subjected to rape and other sexual violence since the crisis erupted in Darfur in 2003. There is no evidence of anyone being convicted in Darfur for these atrocities.
About 75% of the refugees and internally displaced in the world are women who have lost their families and their homes.
Gender-based violence kills one in three women across the world and is the biggest cause of injury and death to women worldwide, causing more deaths and disability among women aged 15 to 44 than cancer, malaria, traffic accident, and war.
[source]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m0kzqfqizq1qa4ff3o1_500.jpg)
Happy women’s day, yo
What’s misandry, again?
- Women perform 66% of the world’s work, but receive only 11% of the world’s income, and own only 1% of the world’s land.
- Women make up 66% of the world’s illiterate adults.
- Women head 83% of single-parent families. The number of families nurtured by women alone doubled from 1970 to 1995 (from 5.6 million to 12.2 million).
- Women account for 55% of all college students, but even when women have equal years of education it does not translate into economic opportunities or political power.
- There are six million more women than men in the world.
- Two-thirds of the world’s children who receive less than four years of education are girls. Girls represent nearly 60% of the children not in school.
- Parents in countries such as China and India sometimes use sex determination tests to find out if their fetus is a girl. Of 8,000 fetuses aborted at a Bombay clinic, 7,999 were female.
- Wars today affect civilians most, since they are civil wars, guerrilla actions and ethnic disputes over territory or government. 3 out of 4 fatalities of war are women and children.
- Rape is consciously used as a tool of genocide and weapon of war. Tens of thousands of women and girls have been subjected to rape and other sexual violence since the crisis erupted in Darfur in 2003. There is no evidence of anyone being convicted in Darfur for these atrocities.
- About 75% of the refugees and internally displaced in the world are women who have lost their families and their homes.
- Gender-based violence kills one in three women across the world and is the biggest cause of injury and death to women worldwide, causing more deaths and disability among women aged 15 to 44 than cancer, malaria, traffic accident, and war.
[source]
Also check out Becca discussing International Women’s Day (and International Men’s Day) in this video Hangout for YouTube UK news channel Truthloader.
Pre-warning: the discussion does get pretty heavily dominated by men and an insistence that we given an equal amount of time and consideration to men’s issues.
Lady Lovin’ (by personstwo)
Great video about the importance of International Women’s Day!
LOVE this brilliant positive video about the importance of International Women’s Day and celebrating and saying thank you to the awesome women in your life.
Can’t believe they only have 64 subscribers! If you like our vids you should definitely go and subscribe to personstwo on YouTube now!
They have loads fantastic vids talking about things through a feminist lens (or a telescope, or a periscope, they’re flexible).
Brb going to go watch my way through their back catalog now. - B
