‘Choose to challenge’ on International Women’s Day

Today is International Women’s Day. This day celebrates the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. It also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity.

The campaign theme for International Women’s Day 2021 is ‘choose to challenge’, to call out inequality. This can mean many things to many people, like for example, calling out the Vendée Globe’s insistence on describing Clarisse Crémer (above) as having a ‘radiant smile’, or a ‘big smile’ or a ‘bubbly, charismatic personality’ in its communications while – with distinct unfairness in MIN’s opinion – not mentioning the toothy wholesomeness of some of the male competitors.

While we’ve had ‘dignified Kojiro Shiraishi’, and ‘brisk and business-like’ Alex Thomson, MIN is tired of reading content about women which are pre-faced with their attractive qualities like ‘smiling’ and ‘radiant’ Sam Davies.

To be fair to the Vendée Globe communications team, it did an amazing job of churning out content on a daily basis to keep the interest alive and to support all the skippers. But that’s why International Women’s Day is so important, because it reminds us all that we need to keep on calling out the moments of day-to-day, casual sexism, gender inequality which creep in.

So, today MIN chooses to challenge the Vendée Globe communicators to either tell us all about the attractive qualities of all the competitors in its next edition, whatever their gender, whatever their age, or none. It’s a simple proposition.

Six women started the race last year, a new record.

“I think it is the beginning of something that should be the norm, that is having many more female skippers on the Vendée Globe,” Alexia Barrier said as she finished her circumnavigation.

“It has to continue because it is incredibly positive to have these six female skippers finished and back here. It is inspiring for all the young girls who maybe want to start sailing or whatever it is they want to do, they have to tell themselves nothing is a question of gender it is all a question of will and motivation and determination just as for everything else.”

Just to repeat, Barrier’s keys for success are ‘will, motivation and determination’ . . . not a glimmer of the need to ‘smile’.