Making Friends With The Neighbours

I’ve been thinking a lot about International Women’s Day over the last week, mostly because I’m not participating in any events or actions or anything at all this year. I always know it is coming up (as I tell people who seem surprised it’s arrived, "it’s the same date every year") so I can only surmise that my apathy is intentional. By now, we know the critiques of IWD that emerge in Australia – that it is commercialised, corporatized, neoliberal, and focused on White women, middle class women, women with the most privilege – so my apathy isn't so hard to understand.  What has been surprising is that along with my apathy has come guilt.  I know that it’s not my personal responsibility to do something every year. Nor is there a need for my thoughts or ideas to be part of every IWD conversation or action. But I still feel guilty that I'm not participating in a formal way.  Recognising that this year I'm not organising or supporting events or actions, I’ve made time