International Women's Day: Do We Still Need Feminism?

I am a feminist. Taking the definition of feminism to be a belief that men and women should have equal rights, I think that probably most of the people I know are also feminists. However, few would identify themselves as feminists.

This is because the word 'feminism' conjures up images of crazy, men-hating women, who don't shave their legs and who believe in female supremacy rather than equality. Until recently, I also didn't want to identify as a feminist because of this.

 I also thought feminism was irrelevant, in this country at least, and belonged in my history lessons not in everyday life. Perhaps ironically, I think this is because I grew up as one of three sisters and went to an all-girls school. In my home and school, I saw that girls could do anything. Girls could do science; girls could lead; girls could be funny. I didn't realise that outside my little world, women were thought to be incapable of doing these things and a lot of their worth was measured by their bodies.

Of course feminism has come a long way, but there is still some way to go, both in the UK and worldwide. To mark women's day, here's a (by no means exhaustive) list of why we still need feminism:

• In the UK, the gender pay gap stands at 15% 

• Only 24% of senior management roles are filled by women, globally 

• Girls have to be taught how to not be raped

• The prevalence of rape culture, particularly on university campuses, and the practise of victim blaming, because she was wearing a short skirt/drunk/flirty/'asking for it' 

• The fact that a song like "Blurred lines" is so popular (btw Robin Thicke there are no blurred lines and if she doesn't say she wants it, she doesn't want it!) 

On that note: 

 all the men here are fully clothed (because they're worth more than their bodies) 

• Male Privilege (worded too perfectly by Charly Cox here) 

• Male politicians being able to decide in certain countries what a woman should or should not be allowed to do to her own body if she becomes pregnant. 

• Around 14 million girls, some as young as eight, will be forcibly married in 2014 

• In ten countries, women are legally bound to obey their husbands 

• Over 130 million women have undergone Female Genital Mutilation 

• About 44% of women in the UK have experienced either sexual or physical abuse since they were 15 

• Globally, one in three women will be raped or beaten during their lifetime 

So as you can see, we still have a while to go before total equality is achieved and I, for one, am a feminist and proud! Happy International Women's Day!!