International Women's Day 2021 at Gourmate HQ

What does #IWD2021 mean to us?

Laura and I (Steph) put together some words for social media today, 8 March 2021. Because our values are so central to what we do at Gourmate HQ, we wanted to add a little more detail here. 

Gourmate is owned and run by two women who are not afraid of the word feminist.

Laura, in addition to being a pet treat entrepreneur (and Mum!), is a midwife and educator, and I wrote my masters on gender and media.

Since joining the pet industry we've met and worked with so many amazing women too - not to mention the many, many women customers who run their households and put so much love and care into feeding their pets. 

This year's United Nations theme for #internationalwomensday is "gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow".

"Women bear a disproportionate burden of the impacts of the climate crisis, and they need to be central to the solutions for a sustainable planet" 

- news.un.org

At Gourmate our social and environmental values are central to decision making, and intersectional feminism definitely has a role here. 

To me, intersectionality* means that as a feminist I can't ignore the discrimination and oppression of people even if they have different experiences to my own. Today, of course, we reflect on the many women in the world suffering due to the climate crisis. 

Laura and I appreciate what Aotearoa New Zealand provides us with in terms of natural resources and social opportunities, and do our best to make better choices in these realms. 

For customers looking to source the most sustainable treats for their pets, our Organic Green Lipped Mussels and Grass Fed Beef Liver treats are about as good as you can get. Green Lipped Mussels are believed to be one of the most environmentally friendly animal proteins in the world as they actually clean the water they are grown in!  

You can read more about our values here. Honestly, it can be a challenge to balance business and ethics, especially when you're in the business of feeding carnivores and omnivores, but we are proud of what we can offer pet parents. 

Okay, so that went on a bit of a tangent, but today's International Women's Day theme is all about recognising the intersectionality of climate change and gender equality.

We love being a woman-owned and run New Zealand small business, and (as much as I think gender norms are totally overrated) I do think that our personal experiences as women have shaped Gourmate. 

Laura and I lived and worked together in the UK when we were eighteen (still children!) and I know this has benefitted our working relationship due to the friendship, trust and understanding we forged at this time. 

So while we might post a colourful image and some hashtags today, we hope that our values are always present.

Days of recognition are an opportunity to do more listening than speaking, so we'll both be doing some reading and reflecting and posting links we like over on social media. 

Questions about Laura, myself, and our products are always welcome, you can contact Gourmate Pet Treat Co. here. 

*(Intersectionality is an important concept I can't summarise here - it's worth googling!). 

If you made it this far, thanks for reading.

Ngā mihi

Steph