Social Justice Day
Today, 20th February
2018, is Social Justice Day around the world.
What do we mean when we talk
about social justice? Why is it important?
I think this passage on the
United Nations’ website answers both questions and summarises key features:
“Social justice is an underlying
principle for peaceful and prosperous coexistence within and among nations. We
uphold the principles of social justice when we promote gender equality or the
rights of indigenous peoples and migrants. We advance social justice when we
remove barriers that people face because of gender, age, race, ethnicity,
religion, culture or disability.”1
I like the fact that this description
highlights that social justice is a foundational principle, rather than, for
instance, an ideal or ideology. It also draws attention to the need to be
vigilant wherever social injustice occurs, as well as the role of making continuous
advancements to expand the realm of what constitutes social justice and how to
address all those disadvantaged by societal prejudice and bias. This, unfortunately,
includes a huge number of people in society if not the majority.
Women are not a minority group (historically
women outnumbered men in the world, which is important in order to ensure
genetic diversity, although this is no longer the case, there are currently more
men than women2) yet suffer so many more obstacles in life than men,
be it educational (the further along the education system you go the less percentage
of women there are), or employment opportunities (far less and paid less and
often do not match their ability or education and that is in addition to
discrimination of women of child bearing age). Just these two factors alone
place women in a far less stable financial situation than men. Women are
considerably poorer than men, with few exceptions, throughout the world. This
impacts on women when they reach mature years, because their lack of financial
security when younger negatively affects their assets, savings, pensions and
health so that, in old age, many women are on the poverty line which is totally
unacceptable and is unnecessary in developed countries. Furthermore, women of
colour suffer from the added obstacle of racial discrimination so they can be
worse off than both white women and even men of colour. The picture I’ve
painted above becomes even worse if you are disabled because the world simply
isn’t constructed to fit you in whether it’s travelling on public transport or
entry to most buildings where, for instance, there are steps but no ramps or
the entrance is too narrow for a wheelchair. Educational and employment
opportunities for disabled people are the lowest out of all groups in society.
Hence, poverty is particularly acute for this group.
This is why it’s essential that
feminism embraces and includes all women irrespective of their background and their
additional identities. In other words, fully including women of all colours and
(so-called) none, LGBTQ+, mature women, disabled women, women of all classes, religions,
beliefs, cultures and nationalities and being sensitive to their diverse needs
and experiences. United we may have a better chance of bringing about justice
for all.
This does not even begin to show
the full picture. We have a long way to go before we can say that there is
social justice in our country or other countries around the world. It’s vitally
important that we are sensitive and empathetic towards others and realize the
hardships they suffer and do everything that a civilization should that
everyone, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, age, race, class, religion,
or disability has a home, access to educational and employment opportunities which
give them financial security and that they feel fully included in society. This
isn’t pie in the sky but a fundamental human right and society benefits from it
because it promotes physical, mental and emotional health, creates diversity
which promotes ideas and creativity which in turn creates prosperity from which
all benefit. It also reduces crime and social instability so bringing about an
ideal state of co-operation and peace not just within a nation, which also
includes respect and recognition of the rich contribution of indigenous peoples,
but between nations too. Social justice brings about freedom, happiness,
security and peace for individuals and as a collective.
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