Im some days behind the curve here, but Id like to encourage everyone to sign up to heforshe.org, gender equality is everyones cause. I had not realised until relatively recently that I was actually a feminist, because I didnt realise the idea that women should be socially, politically and economically equal was not blatantly obvious to everyone; I was unaware that that was an “ism” at all. In optimistic naivety I thought the world was better than it is, and that hardly anyone thought of gender as a barrier to anything any more, because I didnt consider it to be a barrier. It was seeing what happened to Caroline Criado-Perez that first enlightened me; for anyone unfamiliar with her she was responsible (amongst many other things) for the campaign to make the selection of people on pound notes more representative (the Queen doesnt count BTW). She succeeded and the Bank of England agreed, so Jane Austen will be appearing on the £10 note in the near future. But for this reasonable campaign, she became subject to horrific online abuse, I would not have been surprised to hear some passing grumbling from an unenlightened minority; but that some people were so motivated by hatred of such a low key expression of equality to put such effort and bile into attacking her was genuinely shocking. And like anything you unexpectedly notice I suddenly realised it was everywhere, from the similarly extreme attacks on Stella Creasy to the triviality of the dreaded Daily Mail covering the outfits of the new female members of cabinet, or with ultimate irony, Emma Watsons suit when she launched heforshe. I already believed in equality, but now I realise it is a more fundamental challenge, that it is down to all of us to make it work, to call out prejudice and discrimination wherever it should appear and that, figuratively, ensuring my daughter grows up into a better world is as much a matter of ensuring my son understands equality as ensuring my daughter understands the unlimited possibilities open to her. So, as I said, sign up, watch out and stand up...
Posted on: Thu, 25 Sep 2014 20:40:41 +0000
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