Inclusion
*This is a speech I prepared for International Women’s Day 2024. I delivered it both at school and at a local gathering.
I grew up in an ever-loving family who never made me feel small. I was never introduced to the views people now have on women. They never went out of their way to make me feel as though I didn’t deserve certain things or had to act a certain way because I was a little girl, but they also never went out of their way to empower me to fight against societal norms or completely reject certain ways of acting. To me, there was no difference between any of my other peers and myself. We merely used different bathrooms.
As I grew up, this view changed. You see, when I was younger, I loved the color pink. Pink dresses, pink shoes, pink hair, pink with glitter, pink with sparkles—the whole get-up.
Then, as I was exposed to more people and the stereotypes that were held about women, I decided I hated pink. I was not weak and I didn’t need any saving and I could be anything I wanted to be. For some reason, I thought those things and liking pink were mutually exclusive.
My views had been molded to fit those of society. By consciously avoiding being “girly,” I was only playing into the negative and demeaning stereotypes around me. This wasn’t helping me reach any of my goals, and it definitely wasn’t pushing me to become a better person. I was only trapping myself in the system that assigns us value depending on how we look and teaches us to segregate ourselves.
As I grew up, matured, and began to understand more about the views around me, I finally stopped allowing myself to be painted by outside perspectives.
I did grow out of my pink phase, but I still reach out for pink shoes almost every day. I am “girly” purely by virtue of being a girl. For “girly” is simply defined by the Oxford Dictionary as “characteristic of or appropriate to a girl or young woman” and not by the constraints of color, theme, or stereotypes.
After all, a word only gains meaning when we attach meaning to it. When we choose to give it a certain meaning.
Inclusion was a word that had little meaning to me ten years ago. Growing up, I was never introduced to the idea of inclusion. All it meant was to play with everyone at school without leaving anyone out. I was never discriminated against or disqualified because of who I was. I had the same opportunities that everyone else did. It was no different for my peers. We all started on the same line.
However, I know that this is not true for everyone. Time and place can warp where society decides to place your starting line.
In the US during the late 17th century, I would have been unable to leave my home due to fear of being persecuted as a “witch” (Blumberg).
About a century ago, I wouldn’t have had the right to vote in South Africa, Italy, Vietnam, Switzerland, France, Spain, Cuba, Turkey, and the list goes on (“Women’s Suffrage”).
And as of 2022, “women still have only three quarters of the legal rights afforded to men–an aggregate score of 76.5 out of a possible 100, which denotes complete legal parity” (The World Bank).
I have been so privileged to have been born in an environment where I never had to question my worth or compare myself to others. It wasn’t a part of growing up. I can say that I have been even more lucky to have been given the opportunity to study abroad and widen my horizons. But that is not true for others.
It is so painfully different.
Inclusion should not be a topic of debate. It should be a guarantee. It should be subconscious. It should be ingrained in our systems and communities. Especially since the perspectives we have are first taught to us before we are able to think critically,.
We must treat our children as equals at home to let them know that they will be treated the same in the outside world. We must treat all our students as budding seedlings that are given the same opportunities and conditions to grow into our talents.
We must make it a world in which we no longer care about inclusion. Not because it does not matter, but because it has become a norm that no one has to think twice about.
This is how we achieve true inclusion and empowerment. By making it a given part of our lives. The art of how we act and treat others, and thus how we are treated, is learned. We just have to learn from our younger counterparts and include everyone at the workplace and in the community, just like how children include everyone at the lunch table.
And maybe, just by altering our views the smallest bit, we can steps forward into a better future.
Bibliography
Blumberg, Jess. “A Brief History of the Salem Witch Trials.” Smithsonian Magazine, Smithsonian Institution, 23 Oct. 2007, www.smithsonianmag.com/history/a-brief-history-of-the-salem-witch-trials-175162489/. Accessed 07 June 2024.
Elder, Sara, and Sriani Kring. Young and Female – a Double Strike?, Youth Employment Programme, Jan. 2016, www.ilo.org/sites/default/files/wcmsp5/groups/public/@ed_emp/documents/publication/wcms_447495.pdf. Accessed 07 June 2024.
“Women’s Suffrage.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 29 May 2024, www.britannica.com/topic/woman-suffrage. Accessed 07 June 2024.
The World Bank. “Nearly 2.4 Billion Women Globally Don’t Have Same Economic Rights as Men.” The World Bank, World Bank Group, 1 Mar. 2022, www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2022/03/01/nearly-2-4-billion-women-globally-don-t-have-same-economic-rights-as-men#:~:text=In%2086%20countries%2C%20women%20face,which%20denotes%20complete%20legal%20parity. Accessed 07 June 2024.