Breaking the Glass Ceiling
- tochangeourworld
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- Oct 10, 2022
- 3 min read
Updated: May 11, 2023
Poetry and artwork for International Women's Day 2022.
Today I am proud to share with you two pieces of art with a common thread: Women's Empowerment! On this International Women's Day, I share with you my latest poem and my close friend Kadence Pember's incredibly inspiring artwork in the hopes that they will allow you to see why women's rights, and lack thereof, have such a major impact on our world and society.
“We can not all succeed when half of us are held back” – Malala Yousafzai”
K.J. Fuller: I wrote this poem while inspired after reading "Women Don't Owe You Pretty" by Florence Given. Given's book highlights the many ways in which women are oppressed and squashed into stereotype-labelled boxes, as if we couldn't possibly be any more. She also spoke about privilege, how we can be both oppressed and privileged at the same time, and the ways in which society has us pitted against each other. As if bringing others down would make us feel better about ourselves.
There is no doubt things are changing. Hearing simple acts like someone speaking out when a degrading comment is made, makes me believe it. However, we still have a way to go.
I hope this piece of writing opens your eyes and encourages you to learn more. I hope you find a piece of yourself represented here, and that it gives you the courage to speak out and take up space.
It's in the way he calls for her,
but never by her name.
It's in the way she shrugs and says
"To me it sounds the same."
It's in the way "it's just a joke,
no need to take offence!"
It's in the way, when I speak up,
I'm 'too emotional' to make sense.
It's in the way they've never seen
themselves upon the screen,
heard themselves on paper,
or really felt they're seen.
It's in the way we're sexualised
for our choice of what we wear.
The way we're only 'desirable'
if we shave our natural hair.
Boundaries make us boring,
but without them we're called worse.
"No" is becoming blurry.
Are we moving in reverse?
We turn against each other,
when strength is when we stand
together all in unison,
standing hand in hand.
We'll look however the hell we want,
and we'll say this with a smile
"To the people who've said all these things?
you're just not worth our while."
As we stand high on this ceiling,
there's no more time left to pass.
Look out world, you're in for change.
It's time to break the glass.
Kadence Pember: As a kid I had believed that being ‘girly’ and feminine was a bad thing, and I had been taught that a big part of being feminine was the colour pink. People around me had conditioned me to think this. I hated the colour pink because it was something only a dumb girl would like which is the stupidest thing I have ever heard, colours have no gender and certainly don’t hinder your intelligence.
I had to tear down this belief system, this idea that liking feminine things was bad, that being feminine was a bad thing because it most certainly isn’t. Being a woman and being feminine isn’t a bad thing, it doesn’t make you unintelligent and anyone who thinks that needs a major reality check. I have experienced so many situations in which I have first handedly experienced sexism and I can’t just say nothing anymore.
I covered my art piece with things I think are core parts of feminism: The ‘You can do it!’ girl, successful women, marches and rallies, and punk feminism which is something that was heavily inspired by Bikini Kill, a punk band, and their zine ‘Riot Grrl’. I was introduced to Bikini Kill by a feminist movie called ‘Moxie’. It was a big inspiration for my art piece, and I highly recommend!! Now that I have grown up and developed my own ideas, I’m proud to be called feminine and girly, it’s a pleasure actually.
“I got a proposition goes something like this: Dare ya to do what you want, dare ya to be who you will, dare ya to cry right out loud.” -Bikini Kill
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