WHAT is the definition of feminism? ‘The theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes.’ Seems fair enough so why the uphill struggle?
Remember Professor Higgins in My Fair Lady? "Why can’t a woman be more like a man?” he asked. “Men are so honest, so throughly square, eternally noble, historically fair.” Excuse me?
He goes on: “Why can’t a woman learn to use her head, why do they do everything their mothers do, why don’t they grow up like their father instead?”
Times they are a changing, Professor H. Women are not more like men but these days we have many more opportunities open to us in both employment, travel and lifestyle and we have determination. Even though it’s 100 years since some women entered the political arena and were ‘allowed’ to vote, Emmeline Pankhurst began agitating in 1903.
Massive moves forward since but according to Angela Saini, there’s room for improvement, I’ll say – on average females are paid one fifth less than men.
Angela is a most interesting woman, journalist and broadcaster. European Science Journalist of the Year, she has won many awards for her writing including from the Association for the Advancement of Science and with a masters degree in Engineering from Oxford University and being a Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, she’s worth listening to.
Next Friday she’ll be in Belfast for the NI Science Festival, speaking at the Crescent Arts Centre between one and two o’clock. Her subject, Science in Society, is a fascinating one, as I discovered when I talked to her last week.
A lot of research has gone into trying to determine if there’s a biological difference between men and women. Are women inferior to men? Designed to be housewives rather than achievers in the workplace?
She talks of a study at Yale University in which more than 100 scientists were asked to apply for a vacancy as a laboratory manager. Every resumé was identical except that half were submitted under a female name and the other half under a male name. Those with female names rated significantly lower in competence and hire-ability, proving that bias is still abroad.
In her book, How Science Got Women Wrong and the New Research That’s Rewriting the Story, Angela investigates the science behind the stereotypes and it makes interesting reading.
Society is still controlled by men so, by and large, they call the shots. This whole uproar about grid girls and darts hostesses came about because men at the the President’s Club behaved in a boorish way and this was exposed in the newspapers. I know for a fact that hen parties are just as bad so, behind closed doors, does anything go?
Society is rebelling
For instance, witness that page three girls no longer disgrace the Sun newspaper and beauty pageants are no longer on television. In Victorian times showing an ankle was deemed immodest; when I started working our desks had modesty boards across the front to protect our legs being on display. But, on the other hand as Angela points out, all this pressure on virtue could lead to repression.
If a young woman is happy to express her sexuality and make money, is that OK? Someone said on television that these girls were a bad role model for young women and boys, with their skimpy dress and provocative poses. If that’s the case, Little Mix are on borrowed time!
Our moral judgment is a personal thing which gives rise to the differing opinions on whether grid girls are doing a useful job or just being eye candy. Their talent is their personality and their good looks and, just like a female nuclear physicist, they are making a wage to pay their bills and bring up their family – so what’s wrong with that?
I was incensed when I heard someone say they were only making pin money and wouldn’t miss it.
Angela will argue the point – do we need a radical overhaul of the way we think about women? At one time I lamented being born a girl only because in my day boys could travel the world, women found it more difficult.
I wanted to accompany my grandmother’s coffin to the cemetery but I was told no, only the men follow the hearse. I disobeyed, I did go to the graveside. I did take off when I was 17 to begin travelling worldwide and while I respect most men, I find their opinions are often biased against women wanting to achieve on an equal footing.
In a PR firm I did the work of an account executive but I never achieved the title – that was reserved for the boys. I wouldn’t put up with it today.
Women of my generation who have jobs still feel they must have the tea on the table and shirts ironed because mummy said! Thankfully that script has been rewritten among younger couples, there’s more equality and sharing of duties which is an important and necessary improvement.
The father of evolution
Angela quotes Charles Darwin, who professed that women "though generally superior to men in oral qualities, are inferior intellectually." Crass, to put it mildly.
So, last word to another more sensible man, Sir William Golding, author of Lord Of The Flies who realised that if you give a woman equal opportunity she will change the world for the better.
“I think women are foolish to pretend they are equal to men. They are far superior and always have been. Whatever you give a woman, she will make it greater. If you give her sperm, she will give you a baby. If you give her a house, she will give you a home. If you give her groceries, she will give you a meal. If you give her a smile, she will give you her heart. She multiplies and enlarges what is given to her. So, if you give her any crap, be ready to receive a ton of shit!”
:: More about NI Science Festival at www.nisciencefestival.com
