International Women’s Day has become an important opportunity for many people to share their stories and highlight the gross inequality that still exists today. A day is nowhere near enough time to put forward all of the issues that women face but it is a day when the world listens.

As a poet, this day has given me a renewed perspective and a chance to learn from others and support good causes, like The Nelson Trust in Gloucestershire that does wonderful work supporting women in great need. Since I was a child I learned about inequality for women, from my mother’s perspective, and from what I saw on the TV and in films. Back then, when children are filled with love and wide-eyed optimism, it baffled me as to why anyone was treated differently. Learning about the Suffragette movement at School and in books, as just one example, was a starling and painful thing for me to learn.

My poem, ‘Raised Voices’, was written back on the 8th March 2019 after being inspired by the powerful words shared at Raised Voices, the first charity poetry event organised by The Gloucestershire Poetry Society, in aid of International Women’s Day.

To put the poem into context, at that event was a new visitor that we hadn't seen before. They timidly walked up to the stage and stood up to the mic, ready to share their poem. They took a long, nervous, deep breath and...BOOM. Out raced a powerful voice filled with emotion and connection that left the audience speechless and deeply moved.

In a world where equality is strived for by many but where so much more positive change needs to happen before we are anything but equal, it's vitally important to rise up and speak out and have our voices heard. Not just for people to take notice but for action to be taken. Be it in voice, in performance, in music, in print, in type, in art, in work, in the home, in public or in protest, we all have a right to expect and demand equality for all and to call out inequality whenever we see, hear it or experience it.

I don’t, for one minute, fully understand how women feel or have endured constant suppression throughout their daily lives. What I do know, is that we are all equal, with the same hopes and dreams and the same struggles. I hope that I live to see the day when Women have a completely equal footing in society, with equal pay, equal opportunities and equal respect. It also goes way further than that, as inequality is a far-reaching societal issue that affects people of all gender and diverse cultural backgrounds. It won’t be my voice that makes change, it will be the surging tsunami of women’s voices that will wash away the walls of ignorance.

Raised Voices

A tepid minnow scurries reluctantly to the shallow waters of the estuary and takes big gulps of charged fluid for courage.

An inquisitive shoal are hypnotised by the stillness of a tiny, lone, pale swimmer illuminated by the moonlit waters.

As the shimmering statue exhales, a torrent of hot current displaces the onlookers in clouds of amber sand.

Her raised voice from the blue makes jaws drop with lead-weighted words as they thud onto a coral stage.

Hooked lips twitch expectantly with each pause and bob with rhythmic ripples that taste of warm saline.

Pressure quickly settles the grained mist and the startled audience stare in admiration at the unexpected flow.

Pearled flesh stings with salty scratches from the raw display of a stage netted with baited breath.

Scales fall down, like broken chain mail, as the minnow is no longer blinded by the blotted shadows of deep water.

This mighty fish commands the reef with the volume of a blue leviathan, as an elated squid inks the scene for prosperity.

The shoal writhed in silhouetted patterns, like starling waves, in celebration of a new legend for sea dogs to bathe in shanty.

I can still taste the echoes of the sea when I recall the night a minnow became a whale with a golden worded catch.

In terms of business, it’s everyone responsibility to champion equal rights and to call out inequality, sexism and racism, wherever we see it. Equal pay should be a fundamental right for all in the workplace. The worst that we can do, is to watch on the sidelines and do nothing as, without action, nothing changes!

Sadly, right now, equality is an ideal to be fought for and whilst there are instances of equality, in general, we know that some people are far more equal than others.

It’s time that we all understand and accept that there is no ‘us’ and ‘them’, only ‘we’!

#internationalwomensday #equality #womensrights #equalpay

Jason Conway is a multi-award-winning creative designer, photographer, artist and writer based in Stroud, Gloucestershire UK. Find out more about him and his creativity at www.thedaydreamacademy.com.