All sorts of sources have been reminding me that today is International Women’s Day. Facebook has been throwing up some really poor photos I posted of women marching in Vigo three years ago. BBC Radio 3 had an extended edition of In Tune, featuring women musicians and women composers largely ignored by history.
Nicola Sturgeon used the opportunity to apologise to all the women who were executed as witches under the Witchcraft Act of 1563. According to the Survey of Scottish Witchcraft, a comprehensive database of known prosecutions, between the first execution in 1479 and the last in 1727, at least 2,500 people were killed. So some were executed well before the act was passed. I’m a little sceptical about modern apologies for ancient injustices but Nicola Sturgeon justifies hers as follows:
“Firstly, acknowledging injustice, no matter how historic is important. This parliament has issued, rightly so, formal apologies and pardons for the more recent historic injustices suffered by gay men and by miners.
“Second, for some, this is not yet historic. There are parts of our world where even today, women and girls face persecution and sometimes death because they have been accused of witchcraft.
“And thirdly, fundamentally, while here in Scotland the Witchcraft Act may have been consigned to history a long time ago, the deep misogyny that motivated it has not. We live with that still. Today it expresses itself not in claims of witchcraft, but in everyday harassment, online rape threats and sexual violence.”
So well done, Nicola Sturgeon, but now let’s follow it up with some education.
As for me, I did little for women’s solidarity and went and had my hair done in Manchester. My hairdresser and I discussed our mutual fear of heights and marvelled at the fact that she organised a zip wire event, which she also took part in, for her partner’s birthday. This was quite a thing for a woman who hates rollercoasters to arrange. She videoed her flight over the Welsh hills. When the screaming was all over, her partner thanked her, told her it was amazing, that he had really appreciated it but that he didn’t want to do it again … ever!
I suppose that if people from previous centuries who executed the witches saw people flying over Welsh hills on a zip-wire, they might think those zip-wire users were also practising witchcraft. Long ago, we took our small children, ages 2 and a 1/2 and about 8 months, to Wales at Christmas time. We rented a little cottage. The landlady lived next door and popped in from time to time. Every time she did so our small boy hid behind me. “He’s very shy, your little boy, isn’t he?” she Welshly lilted. She didn’t know that her rather stooped posture, dark clothing and raggedly tangled locks made her look just like the witch in his scary story book!
Wrong accusations abound.
Thinking of accusations, I found that someone had posted this on social media:
“It's amazing Tories get away with so much and John Bercow a staunch Remainer is banned from holding Commons pass for life for bullying, lying and it is being appealed. If he was still in the House of Commmons he would have been thrown out. Bercow has been suspended by the Labour Party pending an investigation.”
Apparently there has been an investigation into complaints and the standards watchdog has ruled that he is a serial bully and a serial liar. He denies it all and is making an appeal but in the meantime, not only has he been denied a peerage, something departing speakers usually get, but he’s being denied a lifetime pass to the House of Commons and Kier Starmer has suspended him from the Labour Party, which he only joined fairly recently! Maybe he has he wrong opinions and perhaps he hasn’t donated enough to impress the PM.
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!
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