Here’s to strong women. May we know them. May we be them. May we raise them
I have always had issues with this quote. What does it actually mean? What does it mean to be a strong woman? How do we raise women to be strong and how do you know if you’ve achieved that?
I am and grew up surrounded by women. In my family, my dad was very much outnumbered; there’s my mum, two older sisters, grandmas, cousins, and aunties. My role models close to me were women and all the role models I found in the media were women. In the past, the idea of an International Women’s Day seemed redundant to me, until I realised not everyone grew up like me. In an environment where being girl-dominated was the norm and no topic was out of bounds. Everyone should get to grow up like that.
The Past
Stella Senior was a young girl in Leeds. She was a suffragette who knocked a police officer’s hat off to help Lenora Cohen escape arrest. At work, she would try to set up unions, which sometimes meant that job was over. Stella was my great-great-grandma, everything I know about her I learned through stories from my grandma.
Audrey was born in 1931, she lost her mum Lilith when she was young and the war years brought evacuation. She left school aged 14/15. She got married, had children and life was getting better. Except after the birth of her fourth child realised something had to change in her life. So with the help of a local GP, Audrey returned to school, studied English Literature, and became a teacher. She once told me she brought her wedding dress into school for the children to play with.
“I treasure the time we got to spend together, and hopefully, we’ll get to make up for the time we lost.”
We would spend weekends visiting her and the rest of my dad’s family, she would cook a mountain of food and as I was a picky eater there was always ice cream.
Because of certain world events, I have not been able to spend as much time with my Grandma as I would’ve liked, but I treasure the time we got to spend together, and hopefully, we’ll get to make up for the time we lost.
The Present
My Grandma Jackie lives five minutes away from me. Growing up when my parents were working she would pick me up from school. We sat, her with a tea and me a hot chocolate in front of ITV3 mostly watching Midsomer Murders. One time she let me and my sister eat a full tear and share garlic bread (side note if you are thinking of doing this, your breath will stink and your mum will be cross because some of that was meant to go with her tea). There were also times where she’d let us “string” (run round chucking wool everywhere) her house.
My Grandma (in my opinion) knows everything about history. I still now love sitting with her and talking about everything historical with her.
My mum’s sense of family loyalty and love surrounded me. We would have Christmas and Easter with everyone at our house. Saturday nights were often spent with my aunty over for tea and during the day we were at her house seeing my cousins.
The women in my family are what I’d describe as strong women. They are inspirations to me for what it means to be a strong woman, but that doesn’t alleviate my anxiety that I am letting them down.
The Future
“I hope by next International Women’s Day I’ve figured out what it means to be a strong woman”
International Women’s Day can feel performative. We shouldn’t need a designated day to celebrate not only the women in our lives but women across the world and in history. I don’t need a day to recognise how incredible it is to watch my cousin transform into a mother or to appreciate all the women in my family.
However, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy International Women’s Day because I love it as the day it’s meant to be. A day where women can celebrate themselves and each other safely.
I hope by next International Women’s Day I’ve figured out what it means to be a strong woman, but for now, I can say I’m trying my best
Orla McAndrew
Feature image courtesy of Rod Long on Unsplash. Image license found here. No changes were made to this image.
Orla McAndrew
Orla McAndrew is a co-founder of Empoword Journalism and also a features and Instagram editor. As a freelance writer she has written for Stylist Magazine, The Yorkshire Evening Post, The Indiependent, The Hysteria Collective and SmallScreen. Currently she is an intern at Screen Yorkshire, and in September she was be starting her English Literature degree at the University of York.