Roll up, roll up for a spot of that old favourite: feminist-bashing. Trot out that figure of the dungaree-clad, hairy and humourless female activist. It’s just as insulting as the slights of ”noisy virago” and ”shrieking sisterhood” hurled at founder of the Fawcett Society, Millicent Fawcett, when she campaigned for the women’s vote in Britain more than 100 years ago.
The stereotype, while ridiculous, is dangerous in that it gives the impression that feminism is first and foremost about how women should dress or whether they should wear make-up. It belittles feminists’ legitimate concerns: that the pay gap still exists, that violence against women is at crisis levels, that women’s caring roles are undervalued, and that women are still woefully under-represented in power.
Add to this the fact that there is no one feminist organisation or definition of feminism, and it makes it all the easier for people to exaggerate certain elements and knock them down.
Why has feminism always provoked such hostility? Unlike other radical movements, it calls for something many find difficult — a profound change in the power relations between sexes, not only in the public sphere, but also, much more trickily, in the private sphere. Feminists aim to transform not only who gets the top jobs in business, but also who cleans the toilet at home.
It is not just about allowing women to lead the same lives that men have for many years; it’s about changing the rules, mapping out a future in which activities that do not directly contribute to further swelling the coffers of business, such as caring for family and others, are valued much more highly. It’s about more than tinkering — and that feels threatening to many people.
Although there are different strands of feminist thought, there is a common agenda on which we can unite. Women need to continue working together on issues that preoccupied 1970s feminists, but are still unresolved: the pay gap, which short-changes women every day; quality childcare, still out of the reach of most parents; rape conviction levels, at their lowest ever; and the fact that more than 80% of British MPs are men.
Now we also have to contend with the hyper-sexualisation of culture, which has snowballed with hardly a murmur of dissent. Against a backdrop of ubiquitous images of women’s bodies as sex objects, rates of self-harm among young women are spiralling, eating disorders are on the rise and plastic surgery is booming.
We need to harness the beginnings of a third wave of feminism. A unified movement must include those whom feminism has failed to reach in the past — men and many ethnic minority, working-class and young women.
We need to map out the profound changes that feminism could bring, making it clear that our arguments are so much bigger than what women wear. This vision could be centred around five key freedoms: power, rights, autonomy, respect and choice.
In a world of equal power, women politicians would no longer be seen as a rare breed whose clothes attract more comment than what they say. In a world of equal rights, women could expect to be paid the same as a man for a job of equal worth. True autonomy would mean your teenage daughter could go out without you worrying about her safety. Respect would mean that we value — and pay — those who look after our children more than those who look after our cars. Choice would make it unremarkable to see a woman managing an English premiership football team, or a male nursery nurse.
This world, which feminism could deliver, is one many ordinary men and women want to see. To make it happen, we have to reclaim the fword, show what we are really about and unite for change. If we do, we can put a stop to feminist-bashing forever. — Â