Two weeks ago, March 8th, the world was busy celebrating International Womens Day 2023.

So you may be forgiven for thinking that this post is just a couple of weeks late...but taking a moment to reflect, there really is still so much to do to #EmbraceEquity for women-kind.

It is now more than 100 years since women in England were given (limited) access to voting rights, and so we can get carried away with thinking that those bad old days are over and the goals have been achieved, and it isn't just about the right to be heard in the political arena.

Here's an exerpt from the IWD webpages, aiming to encourage conversation and movement to show that equality is not the same as equity, and that equity really does matter: 

The campaign aims to encourage important conversations on Why equal opportunities aren't enough and Why equal isn't always fair. People start from different places, so true inclusion and belonging require equitable action.

About IWD 2023

During this month our libraries have shared selections of books that focus on women, from sports and science, to fiction and philosophy, as part of engaging in the conversations that will help to bring us all together - women, friends, allies.

There's still time to browse the displays available in the libraries, but if you don't have time now the books will still be waiting for you, and so you don't have trouble finding them there's even a Reading List with some great selections to start you off:

Books Unlocked: International Womens Day 2023

We are also so proud to share some thoughts from one of our UOB academics, the very special Nicola Darwood, who is a champion for women in and on literature, and tells us a little more about her journey, here:

Reading for Pleasure - November 2015 "Bad Feminist" by Roxanne Gay

In these articles the novelist and academic Roxanne Gay discusses a world of fractious contradictions in a style which is both effervescent and subtly persuasive. A number of the articles discuss the disadvantages she has experienced as an American black woman, but she is also quick to point out the advantages and privileges she has benefited from, such as a stable middle-class upbringing, and varied educational opportunities. 

Her writing allows her to balance uncertainties with strongly held values about race and gender. For example she willingly ponders whether her feminism is compatible with her liking for rap music, at the same time as discussing and dissecting the destructive consequences of violence and discrimination. These contradictions may possibly make her a 'bad feminist' in some ways but they also make her a good writer. She has the ability to use writing to examine different identities in an illuminating and thought provoking way and to create her own identity as she writes.

Reading for Pleasure - November 2015 "How to be a Woman"

How to be a Woman by Caitlin Moran

In this book Caitlin Moran gives a personal account of her intricate but happy and ongoing path from being a young girl, the oldest of eight children living in a council house in Wolverhampton, to being a young-middle-aged woman, working as a journalist in London, and raising two girls of her own. 

Her story is interspersed with thoughts and observations about how society has different expectations for women and men and how miserly and restrictive these expectations can be. What makes the book special is how she writes about the occasionally sticky process of liberating herself from unwanted expectations with such humour (mostly wicked!), courage, generosity and sheer glee. The book often reads like a brilliant and ingenious manual for living life to the full. I would very much agree with the blurb on the book “The book every woman should read”, and add that men are highly likely to enjoy reading it too.

Reviewed by Bill Mortimer, Academic Liaison Librarian.