MADRID, 7 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Eight teenagers and young people tell Europa Press about their concerns ahead of March 8, International Women’s Day. They are students, activists, writers, former guardians, gypsies, migrants or girls with disabilities. Their voices advocate for a future that is committed to awareness and real equality.
The youngest of this group of women are the sisters Mirella (16 years old) and Diana (13 years old), who live in Santa Cruz de Tenerife. The oldest, a 4th year ESO student, regrets that in schools “they barely talk about March 8, only some subjects.”
“I think that, when these dates or 8M itself approach, we should do some activity that explains its importance,” asks the young woman, who argues that “8M represents that the fight continues and is not over yet.” “They say: yes, we are going to support women, but deep down they are not really supporting us,” she denounces.
Her sister Diana, a 2nd year ESO student, believes that “people should be taught more about value as a woman and as an individual person, a human being.” “You are not just a woman, which is very good, but you are an individual human being and there should not be so many differences,” she adds.
Furthermore, he reveals that until last year he did not know this date, which he discovered at school. At this point, he mentions one of his teachers, “the first person” who taught him things about feminism, thanks to a class assignment about women who had influenced mathematics. “It was the first time I heard about March 8,” she says.
A face known to youth, such as climate activist Olivia Mandle, assures that girls and young women have “a lot of power.” “And it is very important to raise our voices and not hide,” she points out. “We talk many times, but then we do nothing. There is still a lot of machismo in Spain and this must change. In the end it is our future and our right, therefore we must fight for it,” she defends.
This young woman from Barcelona believes that the 8M should serve to “enjoy equality, but not only equality between men and women, but also the equality of human beings with the rest of the animal species, because in the end we are all human beings.” alive and we all have rights.
Another youth reference is the writer Inma Rubiales, who has just published her book ‘All the places we kept secret’ (Planeta). In the field of literature, this 21-year-old young woman from Extremadura assures that she has not suffered different treatment for being a woman, although she does recognize “prejudices” since she dedicates herself to a genre, the romantic novel, which “is considered second-class and “it tends to be underestimated when it moves many readers and in which many women succeed.
In his opinion, 8M is “a very exciting day because of the demands made in favor of equality.” “Even though women are told that we have to compete, I am inspired by the sisterhood and support between women,” she says.
Life has not been easy for Laura (18 years old), who has lived in a juvenile center for eight years. Although she now lives with her father and her sister in Parla (Madrid), she has decided to continue studying to build a future for herself, so she applied for a scholarship from the Soñar Despierto Foundation and is currently studying Health Emergencies.
The young woman affirms that she has never had the opportunity to participate in any demonstration or event for 8M, although she explains that she saw it on TV and thought: “How cool, I wish I could go! Because at the end of the day I am a woman and I would like to go.” at some point, to know how to live. Furthermore, although he still does not know if he will attend any marches this year (since he has classes in the afternoon), he agrees to “go out into the streets”, while asking politicians to take into account that today’s young people today “they are neither weak nor lazy.”
Claudia Bedoya (20 years old), a first-year Biochemistry student at the Autonomous University of Madrid, has not had it easy either, after taking a ‘For Digital Talent’ course from the ONCE Foundation. “In addition to being a woman, I have a visual disability and I am albino. I am lucky to have been born in the 21st century but the issue of inclusion remains unpolished and I still have problems but I am still there,” she highlights.
Regarding his perception of March 8, he points out that it is a date that does not convey “anything to him because it is frowned upon.” “Things are asked that I do not agree with. I am a feminist and I support equality but very extreme things are asked,” she acknowledges. In her opinion, she should “really support equality and inclusion through action.” “And actions are demonstrated with actions and actions are demonstrated every day. It is not just about giving a talk: it is seeing it with actions and making the message a reality,” she says.
Another example of improvement is Ana (not her real name), 22 years old. Born in Beijing, she lived in Belarus and Russia before arriving in Spain, in 2017, “by chance” and without having knowledge of the language. She currently resides in Madrid, where she works and carries out her great passion: studying a career in violin performance.
As she has lived in several countries, she notes the difference in treatment of women depending on the culture of each region and emphasizes that, when she arrived in Spain, she was struck by the comments she had to endure on the street. Following her experience, she calls on women to “be independent and take advantage of their abilities,” without “afraid to try things.” “You have to dare,” she insists.
From Palencia, the young gypsy Selene Jiménez (24 years old) – who did a Middle and then Higher training cycle in Image and Sound in Valladolid, in addition to participating in the TándEM course that the Secretariado Gitano Foundation does with the State Public Employment Service (SEPE)– believes that on Women’s Day we should “see all that has been achieved.”
“It is not only a demand but also a party. Now young people have more awareness and when it comes to demonstrating there are more people,” he highlights. In any case, he asks that “there be more real equality” and would like that, in the future, this day would be “more of a party than a demand.” “Not just on paper, I would like equality between men and women to be real, that there is not this moral struggle,” she claims.
