Kate Packwood, baker and food blogger Posted on June 24, 2023 by planirl

Kate Packwood is the owner of The Wild Flour Bakery, an artisan bakery in Dublin that makes luxury cakes and biscuits using seasonal, Irish and ethically-sourced ingredients.  She can be found at the Honest2Goodness farmers market in Glasnevin, as well as various food establishments and events around Ireland. She holds a BA (Hon) in English Studies from Trinity College Dublin, where she was   elected a Foundation Scholar. Kate has a keen interest in the ethics of food production, and writes on this issue at the blog: ‘Artichoke and Typewriter www.artichokeandtypewriter.com

• Because I am a Girl I ask … that women and girls get the same opportunities as their male counterparts and that gender discrimination is eliminated once and for all.

• Because I am a Girl I believe … that gender is of no relevance to a person’s worth, and that all people regardless of gender, race, sexuality or class deserve equal opportunities, respect and dignity.

• Because I am a Girl I hope …that practices of structural discrimination and violence towards women and girls be stamped out; and that practices such as female genital mutilation and bride burning be eradicated forever. I hope that domestic violence and rape is addressed and stopped and that women’s bodies are not continued to be used as objects in an increasingly sexualized media.

• Because I am a Girl I wonder …at the bravery of women who have stood tall in the face of discrimination and prejudice and who are beacons of hope to the women and girls who have come after them.  I am thankful for the advances fought for by those who have gone before me - the right to vote, to divorce, to reproductive rights - and wish that all women in all parts of the world had these rights too.

• Because I am a Girl I dream …of a world in which all women are safe from violence, tyranny and oppression. As a gay woman I dream of a world in which I can be safe from double oppression and that whom I love is not even relevant to anyone except me.  I dream that Irish women win the hard fought-for right to govern their own bodies and that free, safe, legal abortion becomes an available option for all women.

• Because I am a Girl I remember …my fury at being told by my elders that I must behave “like a lady”.  I remember the claustrophia and injustice of having codes of conduct prescribed for me by others.  I do not allow my gender to effect the decisions I make regarding my behaviour, but I am fully aware that not all women and girls in the world have this option, and that is something that needs to change.

• Because I am a Girl I like …camaraderie and comradeship among women, which I think is essential to effect necessary change.

• Because I am a Girl I dislike …seeing women fall back on their sexuality rather than fighting for meaningful change.  I dislike seeing women perpetuate the inequality between the genders by playing up to sexualized expectations of themselves, and maliciousness between one another. I have no time for that. 

• Because I am a Girl I feel …that we would do well to recognize structuralized sexism and understand that though it manifests itself dramatically differently across the world, attitudes that causes the woman in Ireland to be chastized for having the audacity to breast feed her child in public are underpinned by the same attitudes of sexism and objectification that are manifested as female genital mutilation or stoning in other parts of the world.  Internationally, we are fighting the same fight, regardless of the particulars of the local battle.

• Because I am a Girl I celebrate…the achievements made in the fight for equality between the genders. I celebrate the possibility of this not just being a fight by women for women, but by all people for equality.