Celebrating International Women’s Day-Climate Campaigner and activist Ruth Kettle-Frisby.

For International Women’s Day we met climate activist and human rights campaigner Ruth Kettle-Frisby.

Ruth campaigns tirelessly for those who have no voice in our community and is always found helping those in need in our borough. She is known locally for having a big heart that genuinely cares for so many.

Not only is she an amazing role model for women, but also an incredible mum of two young girls.

Today, she shares with us her thoughts on International Women’s Day and her work here in Havering.

If Internationally Women’s Day is to be interpreted as a celebration of women locally, then goodness me I’m proud to live in Havering! 

 I see women in the BME Forum, the Volunteer Centre, Arts Council, and other local groups who bring communities together with warmth and good humour; women with progressive ideas who work for a better, more equitable Havering; I see women who are part of local environmental and climate change groups pushing cheerfully against emotional public tides as they ebb and flow; women in low-paid jobs smiling and getting to know my littlest girl as she practices her manners; I see women carers, quietly upholding the rest of society. 

 As a feminist, my heart is cheered whenever I see women championing other women. A good friend suggested to me that women should say ‘I love you’ to each other regularly, and another good friend told me that she thought that as women we should be praising each other behind one another’s backs. How wise both women are! I’ve noticed us all doing both of these things more, and long may this continue. We need to support and fortify each other, particularly given that as women – while we comprise over half of the population – we are still an oppressed group. 

 On International Women’s Day, we have all learned to expect the by now fairly standard pile-on of women and men throwing toxic toys out of the pram about men being left out, thus betraying their ignorance about what feminism actually is and what it means for us all. Oh, and then there’s the fact that the day has been hijacked by companies selling things. This only serves to compound the sense of futility a single celebratory day brings. This is especially true in light of how intersecting forms of oppression (including racism, sexism, ableism, classism) have led to disabled women of colour, for instance, being structurally set up to fail, and how much harder all women have to work than our male counterparts. What’s more, women continue to manage external expectations about how to behave and what to put up with, and that’s on top of everything else we do in the home and in the workplace. 

 When International Women’s Day passes by for another year, let’s continue to empower and include women all over the world: women in the Global South for whom climate change poses the greatest threat due to gender inequality; women who are daily survivors of domestic abuse and are never celebrated; girls who look to us for guidance, reassurance and validation. 

 I think I’ll celebrate International Women’s Day (or rather, women in the future will) when we’ve dismantled patriarchy. Until such a time, let’s listen to and try to appreciate the women in our lives, and amplify the voices of women with less power than ourselves: these are the women whose truths and wisdom, if heard, will make everyone’s life better. 

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