Christabelle Grant Author

I was 12 years old the first time I heard the phrase “feminism.””

The boy sitting opposite me in class, with a tablespoon of snot coming out of his nose sniggered as he said to the boy beside him “She’s a feminist.”

I remember the feeling distinctly and I remember that he thought, in using that phrase, he was putting me down. I remember staring him straight in the eyes (just above the snot) and thinking what a piece of sh*t.

Because weirdly in the past 15 years, a lot has changed in that time and a lot hasn’t.

As women we have been knocking down walls and smashing through ceilings- since the very beginning.

Intelligent women were called witches and burned at the stake. Men have stolen our ideas and lifetimes of work- and called them their own. We’ve been oppressed, shut out of universities and been unable to own our own homes or make choices in our own lives.

Up until recent history we have also been in unpaid labour, in unsafe homes, with unsafe men.

In 1983 Aotearoa New Zealand we became the first governing country in the world to grant women the right to vote in parliamentary elections.

Only 133 years ago.

And it was only in the 1870’s that women were “allowed” to start enrolling in universities to gain a higher education.

No wonder we were pissed.

So whilst today 8th March 2026 on International Women’s Day a lot has changed- as I said earlier- a lot hasn’t.

I come from a long line of strong, independent women and thankfully in my family, gaining a higher education, owning my own home and being in control of my own life- was not only an option, it was the only option.

And whilst that is my reality, I am aware there are others out there who still feel that feminism is associated with snot and do not like to attach themselves to it.

These attitudes are flung around daily, with people making statements such as ” I hate the women who burned bras, why did they have to do that? I want to stay at home and not work.”

And honestly, most of the time- I look at them in sadness.

Do you want to live in an unsafe home?

Do you want to live your life with a man’s boot on your neck?

Do you want your potential to have been squashed before you were even born?

Do you want to be chained to the ground, quite literally, in every aspect of your life?

Or do you want to stay home and watch Netflix?

If that is what you meant when you said you don’t want to work- then say that. Say “I’d like to spend more time watching t.v. I want to see my friends more. I’d love to travel. I’d love to have enough money to not work again.”

Be specific with what you want in your life.

Say what you mean- keep the boot off your own mouth.

Feminism is about equality. Equal rights, equal choices- and ultimately living in a safe world.

So to those who still think it’s funny to dis all the women who created positive change for all of us and burned those damned bras- I say this once- louder for those at the back

– pass the matches.

Christabelle Grant 8th March 2026

International Women’s Day