A chance to celebrate LGBTQI women’s achievements and increase visibility
BY SOPHIE GRIFFITHS, IMAGE VIA ISTOCK
Happy International Women’s Day 2020! It’s a day that has been celebrated by women worldwide for nearly 90 years, and has become a focal point in the movement for women’s rights.
What International Women’s Day means to each individual person differs greatly. For some, it is an opportunity to draw attention to the challenges faced in achieving gender equality. For others, it’s a day to celebrate and uplift the women around them.
For me, it’s a day that allows me to celebrate how far we have come as women within the LGBTQI community, but also how far we have yet to go.
Women’s equality doesn’t always feel so inclusive and equal for us as queer women. International Women’s Day should be about inclusivity of the diversity of women. International Women’s Day should embody and speak to anyone who identifies as a woman, no matter their background, religion or sexual orientation. It should include all of us.
Yet, LGBTQI women around the world still face forms of discrimination that heterosexual women do not, whether that’s in the workplace, the law, the media or socially. We also don’t see ourselves represented in these realms in the way that heterosexual women do.
The slogan for this year’s International Women’s Day is #EachforEqual. An equal world is an enabled world, but if you’re celebrating this with this slogan in mind, it is crucial to extend that to all women.
The campaign theme is drawn from a notion of “collective individualism”. Collectively, we can help to create a world where everyone has the space to feel included, welcome and equal.
We can actively choose to challenge stereotypes, fight bias, broaden perceptions and celebrate women’s achievements in order to create an equal word where no woman is left behind.
That’s why Lesbian Visibility Week is so important to us here at DIVA. Our aim is to celebrate the diversity of women within our LGBTQI community. It is essential that Lesbian Visibility Week is a voice for unity and lifts up all women, especially those who come from marginalised communities.
Lesbian Visibility Week will bring the first ever DIVA Women at Work Development Day, the results of The DIVA Survey: LGBTQI Women’s Insight 2020, the inaugural DIVA Awards and the release of the Visible Lesbian 100 list.
It will be a week that recognises, celebrates and most importantly supports lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer women across the UK and beyond to be their true selves at work, at home and socially.
If you want to do your bit for LGBTQI women this International Women’s Day, then make sure you get involved in Lesbian Visibility Week 2020. 🌈
DIVA magazine celebrates 26 years on the newsstands in 2020. Get behind LGBTQI media and help us celebrate another 26, at least. Your support is invaluable. Get the latest issue here now.
