Women in Politics

2019 shone light on some important females such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Greta Thunberg, Gina Miller and Nancy Pelosi; while the Me Too movement continues to draw some much needed attention to sexual harassment, gender and pay inequality, as women are still seen as second class citizens in some parts of the world there’s still a long way to go. Here are some inspiring achievements from women around the world in 2019:

1. Finland formed a government of five parties all led by women, with the youngest female Prime Minister in the world
2. Alaa Salah leading change in Sudan
3. Sub Lieutenant Shivangi, 24, became the first woman pilot for the Indian Navy.
4. Deb Haaland and Sharice Davids became the first Native American women to serve in Congress
5. Botswana, Brazil and Ecuador undertook laws to promote equality and protect members of the LGBTQ community by decriminalizing homosexuality.
6. 29-year-old Katie Bouman created an algorithm that shown the first ever image of a black hole.
7. Saudi Arabian women over the age of 21 are now able to get a passport and leave the country without the permission of a male guardian
8. NASA completed its first all-female spacewalk
9. Greta Thunberg raising awareness about Climate Change and holding government to account
10. 22-year-old Simone Biles becoming the most decorated gymnast in history
11. Egypt, Tanzania and Indonesia banned child marriage within the year and raised the age of marriage to 18. Though Indonesia later raised the age of marriage for girls to 19, as they didn’t want to have different legal ages for girls and boys.
12. Scotland set to be the first country to provide free sanitary products to women and girls, and tackling period poverty.

But with the good, unfortunately comes the bad. Women’s rights, equality and their right to be heard in politics has never been more important due to the threatening issues facing women today. Here are just a few examples from the last 12 months alone, proving why we need to keep on pushing.

1. Alabama’s passing of a highly restrictive abortion law (though this was later protested)
2. The announcement from the UK government that they won’t compensate WASPI women on their loss of pensions
3. Donald Trump telling Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ayanna Pressley to, “Go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came” while crows chanted and cheered
4. Boris Johnson refusing to apologise numerous times to a live TV audience during his election campaign when asked about his comments regarding women in burkas which led to a 375% rise in hate crimes/Islamophobic incidents
5. British backpacker Grace Millane murdered in New Zealand by a man who claimed she died accidentally by strangling. Grace is one of 59 women in the UK to have died from violent but consensual sex
6. Iranian woman who set herself alight in protest at a possible jail sentence for watching a game of football in Tehran
7. Death of female K-Pop stars Sulli and Goo Hara. Sulli, 25, took her own life after years of online abuse. Goo, also 25, took her own life after taking her ex partner to court for threatening to post revenge porn online.
8. The heartbreaking death of Caroline Flack

The one thing all of these have in common, are crimes against women just for being a woman.

According to http://www.gov.uk, new figures show police record an average of one incident of domestic abuse per minute (in the year ending March 2019). Last year alone an estimated 1.6 million women aged 16 to 74 years experiences domestic abuse were murdered in domestic violence attacks. Violence against women is estimated to cost countries up to 3.7% of their GDP, which is more than double most governments spend on education. How bad is that? It’s bloody cheaper to just think of us as your equals.

On the BBC today, Sophie Walker, CEO of Young Women’s Trust talked about how hard it is to make progress with equality due to reluctance to understand what violence against women is rooted in. She continued to add, “People generally want to talk about violence or we live in a violent society that experiences violence, but we’re never going to seriously tackle the epidemic of violence against women until we understand that it’s written into our daily structures. It is routed in unequal pay, it is routed in unequal opportunity, it is routed by the fact that all institutions and governments are run by men. That policy is written by a very small group of white, straight, middle-upper class men who all look, and sound the same. They simply don’t understand the experiences and needs of women”. Which brings me perfectly to my next point, how inequality, over sexualization, condoning of discrimination and shaming women in mainstream media reinforces those exact daily structures Sophie Walker discussed.

Women in the media

Here’s some examples of the language women are subjected and degraded to in the media every day. These headlines have been collected from January 2019 onwards:

Daily Mail

Kylie Jenner flaunts her curves in sexy bra before sharing a cute video of Stormi

Katie McGlynn stuns in deeply plunging swimsuit

Chloe Ferry shows off her very peachy posterior in a tiny purple thong bikini

Kylie Jenner sets pulses racing as she showcases her ample cleavage in black bikini

Lauren Goodger leaves VERY little to the imagination as she showcases her killer curves in barely-there lingerie during racy shoot from her hotel room

Demi Rose displays her phenomenal figure in a series of VERY racy ensembles as she reminisces about her Burning Man stint

Lauren Goodger displays her jaw dropping curves and pet posterior in skimp bikini during sun-soaked Marbella getaway

Kim Kardashian re-posts video of Victoria’s Secret vet Devon Windsor baring her cleavage

Vanessa Hudgens looks single and ready to mingle as she poses in a bra top

Braless Bella Hadid sends temperatures SOARING as she sizzles in slinky black gown with risque nude inserts

Khloe Kardashian flaunts her eye-popping cleavage in plunging denim dress as she posts for sizzling snap… after displaying her taut midriff during 6am workout

Kylie Jenner poses in a plunging white dress that puts her chest on display while spending time with friend Stassie Karanikolaou

Bella Hadid shows off her underboob and toned abs as she steps out in tiny crop top after flying home to New York City

Daily Star

Kylie Jenner flashes boobs as she strips naked under 100% transparent dress

Love Island’s India Reynolds ditches bra under dress in sizzling boob display

BGT babe Amanda Holden risks over-exposure as she thrusts up leg in PVC skirt

Rhian Sugden sends fans wild with sultry snap posing in see-through bra

Global Awards 2020 – the sexiest outfits of the night including Emily Atack’s skintight dress

Myleen Klass wows in see-through dress

Amanda Holden gets fans fired up as she squeezes curves into skintight jumpsuit

Big Brother’s Jemma Lucy’s boobs spill from minuscule bikini for ‘sexy’ epose

Steve Irwin’s niece flashes boobs in teeny bralette during provocative display

Love Island’s Arabella Chi unleashes boobs in dripping wet bikini epose

Kylie Jenner’s hottest ever snaps from racy see-through tops to sexy Playboy babe

Jennifer Lopez squeezes boobs together as she flaunts cleavage in white hot swimwear

Apprentice Karren Brady’s daughter flashes knickers as she tugs down on jeans

Amanda Holden thrills as she flashes cleavage in skimpy Tinkerbell costume

Rita Ora strips to her knickers to flaunt killer pins in racy backstage snap

Holly Willoughby wows as she shows off ‘pert rear’ in skintight trousers

Whether it’s inappropriate headlines, over sexualization and overexposure of women’s bodies, unneeded and unnecessary play on words combined with a derogatory attitudes towards women, ultimately helps contribute towards an anti female society which fully, consciously enforce that every day. Showing women to be nothing more than a sex symbol, if it’s through their advertising, very clear use of specific language, photographs used, it all contributes towards inequality. Let’s not forget, not all women are represented in the media; the top 100 grossing films of 2019 only represented 12% female directors. 68% of all female characters in the top 100 grossing films of last year were white. Only 20% black, 7% asian and 5% latina.

The media also sets an impossibly high beauty standard for women, whether it’s through advertising or only celebrating one specific type of aesthetic beauty, which to their preference is light skin, blonde hair and big boobs. Or, sun-kissed skin, dark hair and curves. If you aren’t either woman, you’re not ‘sexy’ or what they want society to perceive as sexy. Not only does this paint an unrealistic picture of women, but of men’s expectations from a woman too.
The language used towards women by male world leaders and mainstream media is an ever-worsening problem – there’s Prime Ministers, Presidents and journalists belittling women publicly at every chance they get, comparing other women to each other, under/misrepresenting women in society, meanwhile downplaying female accomplishments to a platform of millions of people which sets a tone. It’s been proven that impressionable people will also adopt the language used, as it’s been condoned and put on a pedestal by society and the status quo. Anti female laws set an anti female agenda and anti female society. There’s more women in the world than there is men, so if there’s a time for ‘the man’ to champion an anti female agenda then it’s going to be now, when we’re at our most influential, strength in numbers and all that.
The World Economic Forum reported that at the current rate of progress, it will take 108 years to close the gender gap due to women earning about 20% less than men on average. Women basically work from October-December for free, and if that isn’t a reason in itself to get angry I don’t know what isn’t.

If you need help or advice concerning domestic violence, please contact the National Domestic Violence Helpline which is open 24/7, every day of the year.
0808 2000 247 or contact them via their website

If you need general help or advice or are feeling low, contact Samaritans Free Helpline which is available round the clock, every day of the year.
116 123 or email them, jo@samaritans.org