A toilet roll as a topic of conversation, you just have to come up with it. Hundreds of free toilet rolls are available in the Van der Velde bookstore on Wednesday 8 March, International Women’s Day, to draw attention to the unequal treatment of women.
Feminist Platform Damn, Honey and Myrthe Spiteri of publisher Blossom Books call on residents of Groningen to distribute the scrolls.
Toilet rolls and women’s inequality. Explain, Myrthe.
“We distribute a total of one thousand toilet rolls to bookstores across the country. These are provided with a wrapper on which dozens of figures on gender inequality in the Netherlands are printed. This is our Shit you have to deal with as a woman -toilet roll. And what do you wipe shit with? With a toilet roll.”
But you know how shit is, right? You’ll never get rid of it completely.
“A world in which there are no longer any differences between men and women indeed seems like a utopia. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t fight for it.
Name some numbers printed on the wrappers.
,,Do you have a minute? Eleven percent of women have been raped at some point compared to 2.6 percent of men. In the Netherlands, 250 child marriages are performed, most of the children are girls. Women spend 1.5 times as much time on unpaid care tasks than men. We have never had a female prime minister. On average, women’s start-ups invest half as much as men’s start-ups, while they generate twice as much revenue on average. Between now and twenty years old, 4200 girls in the Netherlands are at risk of being circumcised. Half of the women have been confronted with sexually transgressive behavior at some point. This is 19 percent for men. 16 percent of women have experienced partner violence at some point. Women earn on average 14 percent less than men doing the same job. Cars are designed and tested for men’s physiques. As a result, women are 41 percent more likely to be seriously injured in an accident and 17 percent more likely to die.
Who can pick up a free toilet roll?
,,Everyone! And they have to put this toilet roll in a place where they think attention is needed for gender inequality. That can be anywhere: a pub, your work, the university or even with friends.”
With friends? That can be fun.
“Everyone knows that women are treated unequally, but not everyone knows how big those differences are. Everyone should know that!”
Damn, Honey is a feminist platform, founded by Marie Lotte Hagen and Nydia van Voorthuizen. They will be present in bookstore Van der Velde on the Grote Markt in Groningen on Wednesday between 9.30 and 10.15 am.