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Feminists and Flourbombs
Then and now
What is feminism?
'Feminists are women
who don't want to be treated like shit,' Su, an Australian interviewed
for an anthology, DIY Feminism.
'Feminists encourage
women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practise witchcraft,
become lesbians and destroy Capitalism,' Pat Robertson, preacher and former
US Presidential candidate.
'The advocacy of women's
rights on the ground of the equality of the sexes,' Concise Oxford
Dictionary.
Then…
'Looking back, the
early 1970s were years of incredible optimism in Women's Liberation; we
believed we could change the world, and had not yet understood or analysed
the extent of the forces ranged against us,' Lynne Harne, writing in '68,
'78, '88 From Women's Liberation to Feminism.
'What I miss most
about 1968 and 1978, is the sense of optimism. We believed we could and,
in fact, did change society. I am a little short of that sort of belief
nowadays,' Penny Holland, in '68, '78, '88 From Women's Liberation
to Feminism.
Demands and challenges
Feminism may have
been around, in various guises, for centuries, but in the 1970s it started
to take shape as a movement. In 1971, the first National Women's Liberation
Conference was held at Ruskin College, Oxford. It was the first time women's
groups from across Britain had met in a single place to discuss their
demands and the challenges they faced.
By the following year,
the Women's National Co-ordinating Committee had worked out four basic
demands with the aim of uniting as many women as possible in the new struggle
for equality. They were:
There were demonstrations;
direct action was an important element in political protest. The
demonstration at the Miss World competition was just one manifestation
of this.
Women's Liberation
in the early days was full of argument, and discussion was evolving fast.
You could not ask a woman, as you could today, 'Are you a feminist?' The
question was not specific enough. Are you a feminist? What kind? Socialist,
Marxist, radical, liberal, revolutionary, lesbian, anarchist?
New ideas
Women were trying
out ideas — 'the personal is political', 'consciousness-raising groups',
'sisterhood is powerful' — and forging deep friendships and developing
new ways of living which were not patriarchal or phallocentric. They also
explored language and found new, non-sexist ways of expressing their ideas.
In the process, they developed their own rules, some of which were radical
and separatist. One strand of feminists referred to women who married
or lived with men as 'hostages'. Others, who did not advocate separatism,
grappled with the difficult issues raised by 'living with the enemy'.
Women have made huge
gains as a result of feminism in the 1970s.
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In 1970, the Equal
Pay Act was passed, stipulating that women and men should receive
equal wages for equal work.
-
In 1975, the Sex
Discrimination Act was passed, outlawing discrimination in the workplace
on the grounds of sex or marital status.
-
In 1976, the Domestic
Violence Act was passed as a result of feminists campaigning and establishing
a network of refuges under the umbrella of the Women's Aid Federation.
Perhaps the most significant
achievement though, was the way in which feminism in the 1970s thrust
women into the political and social limelight. Women supported each other
in the demand that their voices be listened to, and they were heard. The
way in which men and women think about each other changed irrevocably.
Now...
'For women today,
feminism is often perceived as dreary. As elitist, academic, Victorian,
whiny and passé, Susan Jane Gilman in Kiss My Tiara.
'I am not interested
in protest anymore, I want to be involved in actual change,' Jo Somerset,
writing in '68, '78, '88 From Women's Liberation to Feminism.
The sense of optimism
and idealism that permeated the 1970s women's movement is long gone. Yet
so have the restrictive rules. I can wear a bra, paint my toenails, wear
lipstick, shave, wax, even get married and still call myself a feminist.
Feminism is not about body hair, nor about who opens the door for whom
(couldn't the first person to get to the door open it?). But while it
is easy to say what feminism is not, it is perhaps more difficult
to define what feminism at the start of the 21st century actually is.
Although activism
is alive and well, its focus now is the environmentalist and anti-capitalist
movements. Feminist direct action is rare: porn magazines are occasionally
removed from shelves and female students still march to Reclaim the Night,
but protesting on a 1960s and '70s scale is not how progressive women
spend their energy.
Hard-won gains
There are feminist
campaigns about issues such as violence against women, but while some
of these campaigners are explicitly pursuing feminist aims, others argue
that they are simply drawing attention to a criminal act, such as domestic
abuse.
Yet feminism has made
advances recently.
-
Girls expect to
achieve as well as boys at school.
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Good, reliable
childcare that enables women to do paid work is high on the political
agenda.
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Women can control
their own fertility, though the provision of contraception and abortion
has been under attack continuously since the 1970s.
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There have been
a few legal gains, such as the 1991 House of Lords ruling that rape
within marriage should be made illegal. This followed a 15-year campaign
by the group Women Against Rape.
Modern attitudes to
feminism are more complex, and this creates difficulties for feminists
as Susan Jane Gilman, the American writer, sums up: 'Women of my generation
have acquired all the responsibilities that come with sexual equality
(ie, earn your own pay cheque), but few of the equal benefits (again:
see pay cheque). We're encouraged to be "empowered" but
vilified for being feminists. We have more career opportunities than ever,
but somehow we still get the message that a bustier, not a brain, is the
real source of "Girl Power''.'
The Backlash
'Feminism is
a towering edifice of bullshit,' 'Neil Lyndon, No More Sex War: The
failures of feminism.
The backlash against
feminism has gathered pace over the past 20 years, and it has not come
only from men. Women are encouraged by other women to surrender to their
husbands, to follow The Rules, to stop being aggressive and asking
for what they want.
Male critics meanwhile,
have argued that feminism has emasculated men, and turned women into career-minded,
husband-starved loners with nothing to do when they get home but feed
the cat.
Proponents of the
backlash argue that women are not really so badly off, that reports of
rape and domestic violence are exaggerated, and that it is men who are
now oppressed, particularly over issues such as custody of children after
a divorce.
Does feminism
still have a role?
Some men may protest
that feminism has done its work but the following statistics show otherwise:
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More than 30 years
after the Equal Pay Act, women in Britain in full time work are paid
18% less than men. Women who work part time earn 39% less than men
in full-time work. In the United States, women earn an average of
25% less than men.
-
Every 10 seconds,
a woman in the UK is either beaten, raped or murdered in her own home.
Around half the 100 women murdered each year in the UK are killed
by partners or ex-partners. In the United States, the most common
cause of death among pregnant women is murder. One in five deaths
of pregnant women follows an assault, usually by a partner.
Across the world,
twice as many women as men are illiterate.
The struggle goes
on.
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A
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The
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Then and now
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