Although I commend Emma Watson for her speech at the UN this week, and certainly respect the passion with which it was delivered, I remain unswayed to her cause. I cannot accept the fundamental principle of the feminist argument which, as I interpret it, is that no matter what I do or how hard I work I will not achieve my goals because the world wont let me. I cannot accept that my fate, and what I can achieve, is outside my control. Take equal work for equal pay as an example. There are umpteen studies that show that women are paid less or promoted less because they do not stand up and ask for what they want - unlike their male counterparts. You could interpret this as a construct of society, which discourages strong and demanding women, but if that is true it is within me to change. It is my choice and does not require a global movement with a fancy logo but individual decisions on how I behave and how I raise my children to behave. I do not believe I am penalized at work because I had a baby. I am judged based on my accomplishments and my skills, this includes my years of experience, which is one year less than a person who did not take maternity leave. Leaving work for a year was my decision, I chose to have kids, I chose to take time off and clearly I believe it was the right choice, for me, because I am about to do it again. On the other side is the person who chose not to, and therefore has more experience than me. I cannot expect society to negate her/his contributions and accomplishments to validate my life choices. I say all this in relation to the first world. No one can deny or minimize the atrocities perpetrated against women and girls in the second and third world. But I believe these to be human rights violations and not simply the violation of womens rights. Keeping a girl out of school is a loss for all of humanity, not just that particular girl. The ripple effects of educating and empowering women, especially in developing countries, has been proven again and again. Until we stop qualifying and reducing these violations to womens rights from human rights we will never achieve this vaunted equality. In case you missed it: m.youtube/watch?v=Q0Dg226G2Z8
Posted on: Wed, 24 Sep 2014 01:42:55 +0000
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