Equality

We are all parts of a whole.  Our individual actions, conversations, behaviours and mindsets can have an impact on our larger society. 
Collectively, we can make change happen.  Collectively, we can each help to create a gender equal world.
We can all choose to be #EachforEqual 
International Women's Day 2020 
For whilst I appreciate that not everyone will share my view that we can no longer ignore the environmental impact of our decisions and we need to take action - now - it was somewhat disheartening when the woman working in the local health food shop launched, unbidden, into a tirade against Greta Thunberg and then revealed herself to be an advocate for world leaders being our best hope.

Thankfully my faith in humanity was restored a couple of days later when I received some art materials wrapped in a cardboard alternative to bubble wrap.  Particularly pleasing because it was unexpected, the company's website made no reference to being 'eco-friendly' and thus whilst not trading on it, they have decided to do their bit.  However, my hopes really surge when I hear that there is an exciting week ahead on the radio with "top coverage of ethical fashion." Unfortunately I am a little hard of hearing and the football trailer that follows this announcement soon makes me realise that they actually said "FA Cup action!" Instantly disappointed, I shall now attempt to redress the balance, although 'top coverage' might be pushing it!

Earlier this year I was fortunate enough to visit the Mary Quant exhibition at the V&A in London.  The show documents her early years as a pioneer of fashion for liberated woman through to the globalisation of her brand, and I am struck by a feeling that we have in some sense come full circle - only this time we need liberating, not from constrictive clothing, but from the fashion industry itself.

On one of the information boards she is quoted as crediting her Kings Road customers as her inspiration, describing the young in 1967 as 'prototypes of a whole new race of women.... It's their questioning attitude that makes them important and different.'  Yet fast forward fifty years and we find ourselves in the situation where we have removed the character and personality from so many of our towns and cities by the (unwelcome) requirement to provide the same shops selling the same clothes, and that, instead of pushing boundaries, we are conforming to type.

Except, I don't really fit this mould.  I have, on and off, been making my own clothes since I was 15 and recently branched out into designing and printing my own fabric.  I've never really thought about why, but standing in front of MQ's iconic daisy motif being photographed wearing a 'dougal & sid' original,  I started to feel that perhaps I am, in some small way, a modern day version of those women of yesteryear, but this time questioning our relationship with fashion and the mass marketing that we have allowed to shape not only our society, but our place within it.  I do not have the skills to make all of my clothes, but I do have a choice over where and what I purchase, and I can ask questions about the incongruity of buying clothes intended to empower me as a woman, if women (men, children and the planet) have been exploited in their manufacture and distribution.


The 8th of March is International Women's Day however it isn't just for one day and it isn't just for women. This year's theme is #EachforEqual and is drawn from a notion of  'Collective Individualism'. Reading that on their website was a huge moment for me.  For someone who has never actively fought for gender equality, who was a full time stay at home mum, who is still almost wholly financially dependent on her fabulously supportive husband, I have always felt that in some way I was letting the side down. Now, I feel like I've finally been told that it's OK to be me for we all have our own unique part to play. It may be a little unconventional that my weapon of choice was a sewing machine but hey, each to their own.

Show your support for IWD 2020 by striking the #EachforEqual pose
share on social media and on the @100secondstomidnight FaceBook page
Thank you SC for your patience in taking this photo!



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