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Each year, on the 8th of March, known as International Women’s Day, women around the world celebrate their achievements and continue to advocate for the social, economic, cultural, and political advancement of women's rights.

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Historically, International Women’s Day has its roots in World War I era Petrograd, or modern day St. Petersburg, Russia. On March 8, 1917, (February 23 on the Julian calendar), women textile workers banded together to organise a demonstration for “Bread and Peace”, a slogan coined in reference to their demands to see an end to World War I, food shortages, and the authoritarian government. Tens of thousands of protesters, mainly women, participated in the demonstration, and the movement would go on to spark the Russian Revolution. At its core, the International Women’s Day movement was created for women worldwide during times of war, when they were most affected. The occasion highlights the worsened disparities women face in times of conflict, poverty, and grave inequity.

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At the time of writing, International Women’s Day 2024 is just around the corner. This year, the occasion feels particularly weighty, especially as the world bears witness to the unrelenting suffering of women and children who are enduring political conflicts in Palestine, Sudan, Congo, and more. On this International Women’s Day, Inclusive Iceland raises the question: Are we truly on a path to liberation for all? This IWD, we ask you to join us in reflecting on the Western feminist movement, and where we go from here.

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Inspiring Inclusion

Each year, IWD has a theme, and this year's focus is “Inspire Inclusion”. Naturally, at Inclusive Iceland, Inclusion is a large theme in our work. We emphasise that it is important to view Inclusion not as a lofty ideal, but rather, as a complete, achievable design.

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Inclusion is not only about marginalised individuals being included in powerful systems and gaining privilege. Inclusion is about dismantling oppressive systems and creating a healthy environment that provides for the most disenfranchised individuals. It is crucial that our inclusion efforts not solely focus on shattering glass ceilings and promoting women into high-level positions, but also that we actively work to break down barriers for women experiencing environmental and technical conflicts.

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Inclusion can be achieved by actively working to eliminate historical inequities, thereby creating a better, more equitable environment for everyone.

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Last year, Inclusive Iceland’s founder attended an event where a female member of parliament proudly proclaimed that Iceland has made a lot of social progress, and that by setting an example, Iceland has helped many women worldwide. Given the current climate of the plight of women and children around the World, as well as Iceland’s increasingly discriminatory immigration laws, we reflect on this bold statement. While progress has been made, the flaws and insufficiency of the Western feminist movement have perhaps never been more clearly displayed than during this time of extreme humanitarian crisis and collective witnessing of such horrors. In order to begin the necessary work towards the Inclusion of all women, it is essential that we, both as individuals and within our systems, address our limitations.

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Recommended Reading for IWD 2024

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In honour of inspiring inclusion this International Women’s Day, Inclusive Iceland invites you to read White Tears / Brown Scars: How White Feminism Betrays Women of Colour. This book provides a combination of research, historical accounts of settler colonialism, and lived experiences of white women who have contributed to the perpetuation of harm. In the 2019 release, author Ruby Hamad provides an analysis of the relationship between racial and gender disparities in modern-day Western societies, the priorities of the Western feminist movement, and the privileges afforded by whiteness. Invariably, these privileges maintain, and often actively contribute to, colonial structures that inflict harm on communities in the Global South, particularly those made vulnerable by political conflict.

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Hamad writes, “No analysis of any form of oppression in a Western context is complete without an analysis of the role played by whiteness. To put this in another way, no analysis of any form of oppression in a Western context is complete without an analysis of the role played by colonial inventions. This includes class, race, immigration, and gender disparities.” This is precisely why we cannot separate the inequities in our work environments from the unfolding global events. Much like a parent is forever connected to their child, whiteness is an enduring, inextricable consequence of colonialism, and persists in all areas of our societies.

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We describe White Feminism not as an identity, but as an inherently flawed ideology and movement. In the words of Ruby Hamad, "Whiteness is the privileging of those racial, cultural and religious identities that most resemble the characteristics associated with fair skinned (Western) Europeans. Consequently, the terms "white" and "people of colour" are not descriptive - they are political." As a movement, White Feminism is rooted in white supremacist, colonial structures and ideals, while true feminism is rooted in struggle for the liberation of all women. It is inherently anti-racist and decolonial.

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Contextualising White Tears / Brown Scars for today’s issues

During the 2016 US presidential election, many Western women viewed the possibility of Hillary Clinton’s election as the first female president as a mark of progress. Conversely, many others raised criticisms concerning Clinton’s political record. Examining the issue in her book White Tears / Brown Scars, Hamad draws attention to the eagerness of Western women to support Clinton as a progressive candidate, without acknowledging the harms caused by her interventionist policies as Secretary of State in the Middle East. While Clinton herself did not develop these policies, she actively continued the legacy of her predecessors via such policies. Hamad writes, "What I have observed in feminism circles over the years, however, is that shallow markers of representation and diversity are serving as substitutes in lieu of much-needed progress."

Fast forward seven years later, to October 2023, in the midst of the genocide in Palestine. During a gala and panel event for the Baker Institute for Public Policy, Hilary Clinton publicly expressed her categorical opposition against calls for a ceasefire in Gaza. Mere weeks later, in November of 2023, Clinton attended a literary event taking place at Harpa Concert hall - despite a boycott by authors due to her participation, as well as a protest on the premises.

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The situation starkly demonstrated a detachment from white Western feminists' ability to contend with the reality of how interconnected and overlapping foreign policies affect Black and brown societies. As Hamad notes, it is the failure of many Westerners to consider that the primary victims of hard-line foreign policies in the Middle East are not the governments but the civilians.

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As subjects of Western democracies, it is our responsibility to examine how our governmental policies can have direct or indirect harmful effects on communities across the globe, and to recognise that progress in our own countries does not extend to situations such as ongoing genocides. It’s particularly important to take into consideration that many international organisations are not just active in communities in the Global South, but also that Western specialists and policies dictate humanitarian aid. As demonstrated by the humanitarian aid crisis in Gaza and the suspension of financial support to UNRWA by many countries, including Iceland, this system is highly precarious. In order to inspire and create inclusion, We must strive to reimagine systems that work actively for all folks.

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Re-thinking IWD:

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International Women's Day, Just like Women's history month gives us a chance to contemplate what inclusion truly means and how we can make feminism more inclusive for all women. This is where the real effort starts. We can't keep disregarding the historical roots that cause harm; instead, we must comprehend how the systems of oppression intersect.

Achieving liberation is not just about equality for a select few in an unjust system. It requires us to rethink the entire system itself. We can work towards this by:

1.) Promoting an intersectional framework that is based on societal structures.
2.) Launching community-led research and projects that are led by the communities that are impacted.
3.) Examining how policies affect the indigenous and local societies.
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learn more about how to show up for other women and strategies for designing towards inclusion.