Women’s Day has become a cynical money-spinner

These gruesome bandwagon-jumpers are using feminism to line their own coffers

‘Iam an “amazing” person. I am “wonderful” and “beautiful”; a “unique flame”. I am “phenomenal”, “inspiring”, and “a force for change”. I “embody community over competition”. And I am “loved, today and every day”. And if proof of that universal love were still needed, I’m being sent a free menstrual cup.

You’ll forgive the big head. It has ballooned to cartoon size as a consequence of International Women’s Day on Sunday, and all the companies and individuals cynically capitalising on an all-important date put in place to advocate for equality and stamp out the obstacles still standing in women’s way.

And it will no doubt continue to balloon further for the remainder of what has now been rebranded “International Women’s Month”, with every social media post and email newsletter cementing my sense of self-worth – and a renewed gush of praise and celebration expected on Mothering Sunday.

What have I done to deserve all this praise and celebration?

I was born female. And I don’t want to play down the importance of either my sex or the March 8 date, officially recognised as International Women’s Day in 1977 by the United Nations. Let’s not forget that it was on that day in 1913 that members of the women’s movement in Russia decided to peacefully protest against the war, and exactly a year later that women across Europe held rallies in solidarity.

Following the Second World War, countries from all continents began using March 8 as a marker for advocating women’s rights, and in the Seventies hundreds of women marched for abortion rights and workplace equality across the US.

I say “let’s not forget”, because we are starting to, aren’t we? Drunk on empty hashtagged empowerment, we’re bastardising a concept that needs to be kept lofty, altruistic and focused on one simple and unsexy message: men need to stop killing, raping, maiming and harassing women. Also we’d like equal rights and pay, please.

But that message has been buried by the craven consumers bombarding my inbox with implorations to “empower women’s individuality through style”, “make your shopping count”, and “help women to support women” by clicking “buy now” on that super wide-leg jumpsuit, as well as “a selection of girly products perfect for your little ones from flowery Dolce & Gabbana dresses and Monnalisa accessories to Gucci belt bags”.

And yes, I’m sure that a percentage of the “proceeds from the Empower Her collection” being flogged by a sporting goods company will benefit a foundation supporting “girls’ running

programmes”, just as I’m sure that the homeware brand peddling “Bhutan Cloud Pillows” are supporting “empowered female artisans in Mombasa”... but more than anything these gruesome bandwagon-jumpers are using feminism to line their own coffers. They’re reducing women’s rights to a marketing ploy.

It’s not just companies revelling in such Hallmark-hollow branding exercises, but individuals. Because in our social media age we’re all brands. Which is why women hawking their latest projects (and themselves) on Twitter and Instagram have eagerly appropriated #Heforshe and #Werisebyliftingothers, presumably because the honest versions of those hashtags – #Meforme and #Irisebypretendingtoliftothers – wouldn’t be so well received.

Then there are the men. Oh there’s a special place in hell for men using a platform for female equality to further their own ends.

Take the Father of Daughters blogger and Instagrammer, Simon Hooper, who decided to make a State of the Union-like Instagram address to “all the incredible women that have been there to guide me”, and “encourage and empower” them “to achieve their goals and be what they want to be” – before shamelessly plugging the insurance firm sponsoring him.

Even Sadiq Khan, London’s Mayor, who I like, went a bit too far with the IWD virtue-signalling, tweeting: “Believe women. Respect women. Promote women. Trust women.”

What, all women? Even Priti Patel? Because when any concentrated concept or campaign becomes an amorphous love-in, this is the problem we run into. Women are not all honest or trustworthy, and they certainly shouldn’t be promoted above men simply by virtue of their sex. They are not a uniquely superlative breed or a non-competitive community, deserving of celebration and flowers for the rest of “International Women’s Month”, but individuals who are themselves capable of evil and misogyny – yet nevertheless deserve to feel safe and have equal rights.