Both International Women’s Day and EUSA’s Election Deadline took place this year within the same week. This coincidence once again reiterated to me the importance of students voices in striving towards gender equality in campus and beyond. We, as students, hold the power to create a brighter future for incoming students and to take this forward wherever our lives unfold after university.
Voting is a feminist issue. It can be used as a tool to strive towards gender equality and to combat injustice within campus. The fact that EUSA provides a democratic system of choosing leaders – with a single vote for each individual student – should be viewed as a privilege. Every territory around the world, except the Vatican, allows women to vote. However, in many parts of the world, women face barriers that prevent them from voting, such as gender based violence, that limits the accuracy of this claim.
Fortunately, the voting system takes place online through EUSA’s website. The system is designed to be made accessible to as many students as possible. Through open computer spaces at the university, even those working part time jobs can find a few minutes within the wide time frame of five days to vote. Additionally this ensures that there will be no voting queues that have the possibility to discriminate against excluded groups. To not take advantage of such accessible systems seems like an opportunity lost!
Democracy needs “excluded wisdom” says Silvia Federici, feminist philosopher at the Hofstra University in New York. Women, and other excluded groups, must use electoral systems as a tool to leverage power. Electoral politics are significant, but there’s much more to a democratic system. It would be shallow to say that voting alone would solve gender inequality. Yet, it’s a fundamental tool in the journey towards a more equitable society.
Look at France, last week they were the first country to make accessible abortion a part of their constitution through a landslide victory! This would not have been made possible without the fundamental democratic tool of the vote, with 95% of French people of voting age being registered to vote. Here at university, such change is also possible. Educate yourselves and ensure you vote for causes you believe important for future generations!
Illustration via Lucy Keegan