“RIGHTS in Sight” is our theme for International Women’s Day 2020, as we highlight the reality for many women whose rights are not realised.  

We in Northern Ireland (NI) are still governed under the sex discrimination order (NI) 1976, Race Relations Act 1976, and Disability Discrimination Act 1995, yet the rest of the UK is working under the Equality Act 2010, which is more in line with current society.

We finally have equal marriage but we know laws aren’t enough to guarantee equality and we have had to fight every step of the way. 

While abortion rights have been introduced through Westminster, it didn’t happen without the dedicated campaigners in Alliance For Choice who continue to work until we have reproductive rights that are fit for purpose, here and around the world.   

We have just been consulted on what our abortion service should be like and we anxiously await the outcome.

Sadly we believe that reproductive rights will continue to be a political football as the two main parties reluctantly navigate a piece of legislation that suits them and not those in need of the service.

We have no childcare strategy and no gender equality strategy, but we have them in our sights as our assembly gets back to work and we will have to campaign and lobby all the way. 

Childcare is trending on the agenda as all the political parties agree to tackle this, which is welcome but our confidence in this government is low.   

There are rising numbers of women imprisoned for crimes of poverty. Every 17 minutes police respond to a domestic abuse incident and NI is falling behind in legislation on stalking, upskirting, cohersive control. 

We cannot make do with the crumbs fed to us and our resolve is strong and resolute.    

After three years of neglect we have a government that we can lobby, but it is playing catch-up and has a lot of difficult decisions to make.  

It is time the Stormont government ditched the austerity measures that have increased poverty and created the “working poor,” with foodbanks in hospitals for the staff.

This is unlikely as politicians settle into their seats and get down to the business of their own pay rises.  

We have witnessed a historic victory this year with our health staff striking for pay parity with the rest of the UK and winning.

What this clearly shows us that when we stand together, solidarity wins. 

Even with some media outlets trying to shift the focus from pay parity to patients being neglected in attempt to reduce the public support, we stood firmly with our striking health staff.  

While the women’s movement in NI can see we are being left behind, we alone cannot change it.

We recognise that we must build our alliances and stand in solidarity with the many campaigns and support the collective demands for change and not allow ourselves to be divided and we will not allow our demands to be diluted.  

It has always been a case of “Rights in Sight” for women as we have legislation to protect women and embed equality, but they alone do not guarantee this — it is the implementation of these laws that will bring equality.

Sadly we see more energy spent on finding loopholes, manipulating returns on the gender pay gap and massaging figures on women in public life.  

Global companies are trying to shoring up their feminist credentials by sharing “MeToo” and “TimesUp” content on social media. But we are not impressed with this “feminist-washing.”  

The race to get gender equality in the boardroom indicates a competition rather than education, and while businesses might adopt feminist branding we should look deeper and examine how they treat their employees — are their policies reflective of an equal society based on respect?  

Gender equality is not being equal with men in a man’s world. We want men to be free from toxic masculinity and gender stereotyping. It’s not a competition — it’s an educational journey that we are embarking on and we want everyone on board.  

Today we will host our rally in Belfast, which is one of the biggest in the UK and we will make our voices heard loud and clear that we want change and we will make it happen and we will be joined by all those in the women’s movement, community and voluntary sector, our trade union colleagues and even our political parties will join in as we work towards building an equal society for all.

Helen Crickard is co-ordinator of Reclaim the Agenda. The Rights in Sight International Women’s Day rally takes place today, Saturday March 7, from 11am to 12.30pm at Writer’s Square, Belfast.