The theme for International Women’s Day 2019 is #BalanceforBetter. A gender-balanced world is a better world. How do we achieve this? Celebrate women’s achievements. Raise awareness against bias. Take action for equality. Quest Social Sciences Tutor Dr. Jacy Young reflects on this and more.
Why do we celebrate International Women’s Day?
For more than a century, International Women’s Day has been an opportunity to reflect on both what has been achieved with respect to gender equality, and how much remains to be done. While much has been accomplished in terms of women’s rights, efforts to dismantle systemic patriarchy are ongoing. Doing so is of benefit to everyone!
You’re working on a cool digital archive project. Tell us about it!
As part of a feminist collective, I’ve been working on a project called Psychology’s Feminist Voices for 10 years now. Psychology’s Feminist Voices is a digital encyclopedia and multi-media archive that documents both the history of women in psychology and the ongoing work of feminist psychologists.
We’ve profiled nearly 300 psychologists and conducted 120 oral history interviews. We document how gender shapes the experiences of psychologists, as well how psychology serves as a site from which to contest often taken-for-granted ideas about gender.
We’ve been able to highlight the fascinating lives, work and activism of some remarkable individuals, including E. Kitch Childs (a feminist therapist and civil rights, lesbian rights, and sex workers rights activist) and Leta Stetter Hollingworth (who refuted the then-common idea that women’s mental faculties were incapacitated during menstruation).
That’s awesome, Jacy! What’s one of the best parts of this project?
One of the great joys of this project has been the opportunity to work with a really engaged group of colleagues, including undergraduate students. This is something I hope to continue here at Quest in the years ahead!
To learn more about International Women’s Day 2019 and how you can make a difference, check out the official website.