Stand Up for Your Beliefs!
Sometimes it can be really easy to take what we have for granted...
These days, young women like us can take it as a given that we can study whatever we want - not just ‘home craft’ for looking after your man and your babies after you leave school (no – really!).
Women can vote, we can hold the best positions in the country – it feels like nothing can hold us back from doing whatever we want in life!
On other hand, when we see the horrible stuff that’s all over the world to countless men, women and children it can make us feel really helpless and like we can’t do anything to change things. While things are slooowly changing, women in NZ still aren’t treated as equal to men. We get paid less for doing the same work as men, if a man says exactly the same thing as us, he’s taken more seriously, and there are NO women CEOs or board members in the highest earning businesses. We still have work to do!
What you need to remember, with both the good and the bad things about your life, is that life wasn’t always this way. Life has always been a struggle between the people who had the power and those who had to fight reclaim their power, and make sure their rights were recognised.
Regular people just like you and me who are standing up for people like themselves, and for others, through activism and advocacy.
The suffragette movement in the 1800’s were a bunch of seriously badass women who did incredible things so that girls just like you and me can vote. Back then, women were excluded from voting because it was thought they were only fit for keeping house and raising children, and that women ‘couldn’t cope’ with politics.
The suffragettes wanted NZ’s women’s voice to be heard in decisions that affected them – so they banded together, got influential men to speak on their behalf in parliament, and they collected petitions from over 33.000 women. They showed NZ that they NEEDED women’s voices! Thanks to them, New Zealand was the first place in the world to give women the vote!! YAS QUEENS!
Activism is another way to make people pay attention to something that needs to change, fast.
Māori people have had to stand up for their rights ever since European settlers arrived. One of the most powerful examples of this is the land march led by Dame Whina Cooper, who presented a petition to Government to protest the government stealing Maori land. This made her cause so VISIBLE that it couldn’t be ignored. Because of Dame Cooper, her cause still lives on today.
Activism and advocacy are something we can get out and do today.
People just like you and me are changing the world:
Image credit: Raniera
- Our amazing Embassador Eva is using her limited time left on Earth to make it count #Evas Wish campaign. Eva's Wish is to make a NZ where her loved ones are safe from sexual abuse by fundraising to help the 1 in 3 girls sexually abused get help, and to campaign to get New Zealanders to recognise that they need to take sexual violence seriously to end sexual violence.
Already, Eva has been featured on the cover of Canvas in the NZ Herald, secured 24/7 online counselling for young people, received National awards and is being featured in a book about inspirational women that have changed the world also features the likes of Michelle Obama(!!). She has also raised over $30,000 to help survivors of sexual abuse get the support they need. How’s THAT for making an impact!
- Internationally, people are coming together to protest Trump taking away women’s rights to control their bodies. Trump’s government is doing what they can to make it as hard as possible for women in the US to get abortions.
Why is that so scary? If you lose the ability to make your own choices and decide WHEN and IF you want to have a baby, your body is no longer considered yours, your opinion or choice doesn’t matter. In the US if you’re pregnant – you HAVE to have the baby – regardless of your needs and what’s happening for you!
Women of all faiths and backgrounds are coming together to fight this injustice, and declare that WOMEN MATTER and are the only ones who get to make the choice over what happens to their own body. The photos of all those powerful women coming together to stay strong gives us the chills!
You can get involved in activism too! Think about what is important to you and get started today!
What do you believe in and what changes do YOU want to make in this world?
The environment? LGBTQI rights? Stopping bullying? Often we’re most effective at being activists when a cause has affected us personally – like Embassador Simonne Butler’s work helping women escape abusive relationships. There are a million different ways you can get involved.
For instance, if mental health is your thing you can check out POD NZ and their program to help YOU make your ideas happen.
You could start a group in school where you get together and talk about what you want to do. You can raise money for causes like #EvasWish through mufti day, you can reach out to an organization doing work you want to support and ask how can I help?
This world is yours and the TIME IS NOW. Get involved and make it better!
Be a part of EM
Em is your place to tell us about what YOU believe in! Write to us at hello@dearem.nz and tell the world about what you’re doing to make NZ more awesome
Start a petition today
Want to start a petition to make NZ a better place? Start today with Action Station.
Eva’s Wish – Help the 1 in 3 girls sexually abused in NZ
If you want to fundraise for #EvasWish to help girls just like you to heal from sexual abuse and have Eva speak at your school, then we’ll make it happen! Email Rebekah and make #EvasWish come true so we end sexual abuse in Aotearoa r.sherriff@helpauckland.org.nz
Be a voice for Em
Help us raise awareness about Em so we can empower more badass young women just like you to become the social justice warriors of tomorrow! Get in touch with Rebekah at rebekah@dearem.nz and we’ll help you smash your fundraising target.
