The fight for equality: WOW – Women of the world festival, Exeter, through the eyes of a WOWser
This year I had the pleasure of working on WOW – Women of the World Festival, Exeter. As part of the process, I was lucky to work with some amazing women and girls and I heard some amazing stories. Our team included a group of WOWsers, 14-17-year-old volunteers who play a huge role in the event. This is a guest blog by one of them, Natasha Pavey…
Hi there, my name is Natasha and I was proudly on the WOW Exeter’s team of Wowsers this year! I hadn’t had any previous WOW experience before joining the Wowser team, so I was open-minded and excited to get stuck in.
It’s safe to say, it left us all inspired, motivated and empowered but above all, we could only sum the weekend up in one word… WOW!!!
The Wowser team is made of myself and seven other girls who all have a passion for women’s rights and striving for equality. It was amazing to work with so many like-minded young people. As Wowsers it was our job to create a project that relates to us as young women in Exeter.
Amongst all the Pom-Bear munching and conversations about so many different, passionate topics we quickly realised we all had experienced a similar issue. Everyday Sexism. Okay so most people know of the viral hashtag but as young people, we wanted to share our experience of it in schools and colleges, how little comments from peers and teachers are so easily overlooked. But not anymore! Watch out, the Wowsers are about!!
We decided to put some of the shocking comments we’ve heard on colourful luggage tags and see what the public have to say back to them by placing them around the WOW venues. That’s right we wanted #SassyComebacks!!
We wanted to make people think, ‘hang on a minute – that’s not right!’. Putting these statements out there in writing, we were showing everyone that they are not acceptable, and they shouldn’t be tolerated no matter whether you’re a student or teacher.
These are sexist statements that we have heard or that affect us:
‘Girls like to be dominated.’
“I have a penis, I shouldn’t be cleaning this up!”
Girls can’t go outside to do PE but the boys can.
‘When women couldn’t invent the lightbulb, they said okay back to the kitchen.’
“Women shouldn’t work in the military.”
“Women shouldn’t go into politics.”
“Girls aren’t violent enough for rugby.”
“Women’s wombs don’t belong to them.”
“Feminists are trying to be more masculine but they should embrace their femininity.”
‘Women aren’t aggressive enough to play rugby.’
“Girls aren’t attractive without long hair.”
Annoyed? Thought so.
But don’t fear, we got some excellent #SassyComebacks, some of our favourites were:
‘I have a penis, I shouldn’t be cleaning this up’
-Next time try using your hands!
“Women’s wombs don’t belong to them.”
-Does that mean somebody else gets to have my period every month?
‘When women couldn’t invent the lightbulb, they said okay back to the kitchen.’
– …and then they invented the cure for polio!
-Oh, did you need that lightbulb to think up a better joke?
-Who gave birth to the lightbulb inventor? Fed him, clothed him and loved him?
“Women shouldn’t work in the military.”
-No, you’re right – they might be inclined to drive their tanks right over the patriarchy!
-Women have been fighting your battles for decades, e.g. Boudica.
“Girls aren’t attractive without long hair.”
-Maybe my hair doesn’t care about your opinion!
These are just a few of the many awesome comebacks we were given. We hope that if we or anyone else hears one of these sexist statements again, we will be armed with many #SassyComebacks to fire their way.
We hope that our work with WOW will live on and continue to inspire others, particularly young people like us, to make and stand and to not tolerate these comments. We hope that we’ve raised awareness that #EverdaySexism still happens and is experienced by many young people today.
WOW has given us the opportunity to express this and allow our voices to be heard. We will still be spreading our message in our everyday lives, in school and college, encouraging those around to have conversations about sexism and trying to make our generation more positive and equal and building a society where women are no different to men.