Happy International Women's Day!

Happy International Women’s Day to one and all! Today is the day that we celebrate unity, equality and empowerment. As a history student, of course I went over to the International Women’s Day website to find out how exactly it started as a day to be marked out from all the others. There is a great timeline of how women got to where we are today, documenting suffrage, feminism and all kinds of female activism. I would strongly suggest that you go and check it out! (About International Women's Day)
 
In the build up to today I have found myself reflecting on Leeds Girls Can and how we as a campaign and group fit into the global jigsaw puzzle of female empowerment and activism. It has become apparent that as women, everything we do is affected by old fashioned and out of date stereotypes and whether we choose to conform to them or if we smash them to pieces. Through our outreach into the wider Leeds community, through classes, groups and events we get to meet the women who make Leeds tick. The women who battle and defy artificial limitations every day. These are ideas that have been enforced on us by society, they can be anything: girls can’t park cars, girls can’t do maths, girls shouldn’t lift weights… Well let me tell you, girls can do all of these things and a million other things that we’ve always been told we “shouldn’t do”. I thrive off a good parallel park, I can certainly deadlift my own body weight, I can climb up a technically challenging bouldering wall without being attached to any ropes, I can run, I can swim, I can do a decent waltz and cha cha, I am a black belt in Karate and so I could and have won many fights (competition setting of course). But I can also apply eye liner (kind of, not very well…) and I like the colour pink. There is more to us than at first meets the eye and I strongly encourage any ladies reading this to think about your capabilities that perhaps others don’t know about. Surprise us! If you are a man reading this, post about a woman in your life that inspires you. Post it on social media, comment on this post, let us know what you can do that you are proud of. Use the hashtag #leedsgirlscan or #thisgirlcan if you’re not in Leeds! You could also include #pressforprogress the official IWD’s hashtag! 

The Leeds Girls Can Ambassadors team are a truly inspirational bunch and so I dedicate this post to them and everything they have achieved and will continue to achieve in the future. 

The worst thing that has probably ever happened to me in a gym was when I was spotting bench press for my boyfriend Ant (making sure he didn’t drop it on himself) and this random man saunters over and says “Alright mate, do you want me to spot for you instead?” At the time, a female member of staff called Sophie stuck up for me and told him that I was stronger than I looked. I am deeply grateful to her for this and always will be. At the time I was nineteen, fairly new to lifting weights but knew exactly what I was doing and in that moment I did not know what to say. Now I know exactly what I would have said. “This Girl Can.” 

Em x

Instagram: @active.em.blog
Facebook: Emily Ankers – Leeds Girls Can Ambassador