International Women's Day: Women have been written out of power – time is ripe for a new language of equality
Ella Tennant, Keele University As we mark International Women’s Day after a year of renewed media attention to issues of gender inequality, it could be that there are more important threats facing women and the survival of our planet, than mere words. But after the #MeToo campaigns, exposure of the gender pay gap , and recent publication of yet more research that challenges the idea of a gendered brain , it is mindboggling to see how “ gendered blindness ” – described as “the one-size-fits-men approach” in design and tech culture – lives on. Meanwhile women’s equal contribution to society and culture is ignored. Visible women – those in the public eye or who call out unfair treatment – are subject to scrutiny and treated suspiciously in a way that men are not. Gender scholars have argued that English is a language made by men for men with the sole purpose of representing and perpetuating their point of view. The way we see the world is therefore shaped by patriarc...