Too much Pressure on our Girls! It has to Stop #BeALady

Miss E - artistic, expressive, loyal, hard-working, conscientious, honest, great sense of humour,
true to herself, authentic, brave, determined, self-disciplined, diligent, caring and creative

I came across a video today and it makes for a very interesting, powerful and scary watch. The video has been created by Girls. Girls. Girls. magazine and it shows Cynthia Nixon narrating the words of Camille Rainville.

"Don’t be too fat. Don’t be too thin. Eat up. Slim down. Stop eating so much. Don’t eat too fast. Order a salad. Don’t eat carbs. You need to lose weight. Go on a diet. God, you look like a skeleton. Why don’t you just eat? You look sick. Eat a burger. Men like women with some meat on their bones. Be light. Be little. Be petite. Be feminine."

To be truthful it made me feel sick, as these are the messages that I've heard for the last 46 years and my girls are hearing every day now. They are not new messages, but it is time for them to stop.

Girls, women, ladies, call us what you will. We are people, just like men are and as such we deserve to live our lives as freely as men do.

We can be who we want to be.

We can look and dress in a way that pleases us.

We do not have to conform.

We do not have to live up to your standards.

We have value and worth without doing anything.

We are lovable and likeable.

We are so much more than a body.

We deserve respect.

We are unique, every last one of us and that is exactly how God meant it to be.

More Summer Reasons to be Cheerful #R2BC

I'm really enjoying the summer and I hope you are too. I think it helped immensely that I had a whole week without any children! My hubby and I had a great time, visiting a National Trust park, going our for dinner, seeing a Tina Turner tribute act, going to the cinema and getting coffee! It has been bliss and shhh, no I didn't actually have time to miss them!

The kids all had a great time away as well. The girls were at our church youth camp, with around 8000 other people and JJ was with my parents.

Time to just read and snuggle with the cat

Stepping out of my comfort zone for women everywhere. #IWD2017

This morning I'm off to my local MP's office to deliver an open letter from @onegirlswomen urging #huwmerriman to speak up in parliament for girls and women everywhere. 130 million girls worldwide are currently denied an education. THIS IS NOT OK. Change needs to happen. Today's #1goodthing is being able to make a stand/ be a voice for others

A post shared by Michelle Pannell (@michelletwinmum) on Mar 3, 2017 at 1:17am PST

Today is international women's day and there is no way I could let this day go by without writing about the injustice that many women face in our world. I've learnt from my Nan and Mum how different things were for women in their day and still even now there are barriers for women in the UK to achieve the same as men but that's not what I'm writing about today.

I understand it is annoying or even infuriating that we can't earn the same wage as a man, achieve the highest level jobs or gain access to some exclusive clubs but compare that to girls and women in many countries not being able to access education, work in many professions, vote, own a home, inherit land or feel safe and the plight of equality for women in the U.K. pales considerably. There are women fighting and championing for this cause and that is right, as we all have our own passions and causes that set us alight.

My passion, the one that breaks my heart is for all those living in extreme poverty in developing countries. Yes, some of these countries many look rich on the face of it but I can't ignore their people as 'they are not helping themselves'. We all know the old saying 'the rich get richer and the poor get poorer' and it breaks my heart that it is often true. You might have seen that in 2012 I travelled to Ethiopia with ONE (the most amazing campaigning and advocacy organisation, seeking to see an end to extreme poverty) to see the difference that British and US aid made to the people there. It was a trip I'll never forget and one day I pray I'll get to take more trips to developing countries where I can offer my assistance, love and prayers.