Sunday is Feminist Christmas*. It’s the day that social media feeds turn pink and women get celebrated with morning teas (organised by women) and the lady folk are handed a cupcake (made by women) to shut us up and make us forget that women continue to live in a world designed and defined by patriarchy.
Isn’t that a joyful start to this article? I’ll wait while people shift uncomfortably and refer to me as an angry/difficult woman.
In the coming days in the diabetes world, you’ll see posts pointing to women in the diabetes landscape. These women are generally remarkable and doing great things. But oddly, rarely are the women whose faces appear on a social media carousel actually living with diabetes. A few years ago, I pointed out that while we should be recognising the clinicians and researchers improving our lives, women with diabetes are completely ignored.
So, a little hint to anyone who is putting together content for next week: don’t forget to also highlight the women with lived experience of diabetes who are actually doing so much of the work in our community. Those grassroots initiatives that continue to be life saving and life changing are very often powered by women with diabetes. And, as is often the case, these women do this work on a volunteer basis. All while managing a very demanding chronic health condition on top of all the other work women do.
In the meantime, you should all register for this year’s DiaLeb Annual Diabetes and Women Panel. This is the 7th year and I’m very excited to be on the panel with two remarkable women living with diabetes, and another two women with loved experience of diabetes. Be quick! It’s tomorrow!
Seriously, women with diabetes are brilliant. we deserve way more than a cupcake. But I’ll take one all the same if some bloke would like to organise it.
More on International Women’s Day at Diabetogenic
2023 – Deserving more than a cupcake
2019 – Interweb Jumble #34 – The IWD edit
*The brilliant Wilhelmina Stracke coined this term. You should follow her on Instagram.
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