Okay, I think I’m at a point where I’m ready to publicly acknowledge my feminist intuition. No, I’m not talking bra burning (lawd knows the support is much appreciated), or setting up all female communes and resorting to sperm banks for pro-creation. But I have always been and am significantly drawn to the relevance and success of women in society.
But can I be honest with you? A big part of me feels feminism has misled a lot of women. Gender equality got misunderstood. The consequences of which are now in effect – from malign ageism to sexism – most women are battling with a conflicting desire to fulfil their intellectual ambition, whilst succumbing to a sexually inspired notion of beauty. Working mum versus stay at home mamma. Brains versus beauty. Can you really have it all? Yes, but just not at the same time.
Men and women are not only physically different but emotionally so also. I think it was very much nature’s intention for us to bring alternative qualities to the table. That’s not to say the values women bring are inferior to those of our male counterparts. They’re just different.
So it excites me when I see women across the board raising awareness to the issues relevant to them at various points of ‘woman’s life journey’. Take broadcasting veteran Selina Scott’s recent dossier to the BBC challenging the corporation’s slow clear out of the ‘old brigade’ (note departures of news readers Moira Stuart and Anna Ford, TV presenter Arlene Phillips. Or the recent launch of the GetSET Blog, whereby alongside Mattel, Barbie profiled women working as minorities in male dominated spheres such as; science, technology, invention and so on.
Ageism and male dominated professions aren’t of direct relevance to me right now, but that’s not to say that they won’t one day be.
What do you think, can women have it all and what does feminism mean to you – men and women – in 2010?
