Is feminism a thing of the past... or the future?

A number of high profile women have recently distanced themselves from feminism - but why should they do this when there is still so much to be achieved?

Lily Allen puts the case against feminism...

Lily Allen is right: feminism needs women to stop being horrible to each other

Mary Berry has also chimed in, but Jenny McCartney looks a little deeper to find that the social position of women is regressing, and often for reasons that did not originate with men. Feminism is an unfinished project, a feminism-to-come.

Feminism is still a thing of the future

 And this link looks more closely at the nature of dissent within feminism and its consequences.

Feminist dissent

In the image to the right - Caitlin Moran's riposte to the rejection of the word "feminism" and a call to reclaim it - and the one below, which is a collage of press cuttings to demonstrate just some of the challenges still embedded in some illusions and taken-for-granteds of 21st century living - we get a more populist punch to the perspective.

For those in the UK, the Fawcett Society last year took on the responsibility of producing the "Sex and Power" report previously done by the Equality and Human Rights Commission. It's a salutary reminder that any workplace advances have been largely confined to the lower and middle reaches of organizations, and that traditional constraints continue to be held in place by social attitudes that need a coordinated and policy led activism to shift. It's hard to think that we could have got this far without feminism, and that we could get any further without it - but what feminism means remains an open question. Feminism continues to be relevant because it is willing to contemplate and debate the possibility of its irrelevance.

Sex and Power

So....... happy IWD.

International Women's Day

 "I myself have never able to find out precisely what a feminist is. I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat" Rebecca West

" To those who can’t see the point of International Women’s Day: you are the very reason it exists. International Women’s Day is commemorated because gender inequality still persists. The day this ceases to be a reality is the day we can erase it from our calendars."

To those who can't see the point 

A few links to celebrate International Women's Day, and draw some attention to what we cannot yet celebrate.

Since the last IWD, country icon Loretta Lynn received the Presidential Medal of Honour from Barack Obama in 2013.  Lynn was outspoken but not partisan in that she at times supported and criticised both US political parties, especially with anti-war messages from Vietnam to Iraq. Whilst crediting feminism for raising important issues that otherwise would have remained suppressed, she criticised it for what she saw as its middle class concerns and neglect of issues affecting working-class women. In that vein she once charted a song warning other women to stay away from her hard-drinking womanising spouse unless they wanted a trip to Fist City; advised amorous partners not to come home from drinking with loving on their minds; and drew attention to the double standards faced by divorced women in Rated X (covered by White Stripes). The Pill was banned by a number of radio stations but its message of freedom from pregnancy within marriage (rather than simple sexual freedom) was misunderstood by those who didn't listen till the end. It was credited by rural physicians with spreading the contraception message amongst poor and dispersed populations who either weren't receiving or could not read government literature on the subject.

                                                            Loretta Lynn - The Pill

And extending our politicised country theme The Dixie Chicks were vilified for criticising the Bush administration and apparently disrespecting some of their fans in an interview. They weren't given the chance to start a debate before they received appalling death and rape threats and demonstrations at gigs put an end to their live performances for a time. Their brilliant comeback album pulled no punches, with tracks like The Long Way Round, Lubbock or Leave It (critical of their home town's attitudes), and the anthemic Not Ready to Make Nice which speaks to anyone not ready to take the easy option - but especially women who are so often expected to.

                                              Dixie Chicks - Not Ready to Make Nice 

And a few IWD specials from the Independent

International womens day-here's why it matters

The Guardian, which has 237 links including debunking myths about why there aren't more women at the top, feminist dissent and female techies.

The Guardian - International Womens Day

Google

Google doodle - international womens day 2014

And the IWD  homepage with many links and resources

International Womens Day Home

Time and Difference

Men and women work the same hours, but experience it differently.

http://m.europe.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304757004579335053525792432?mobile=y

City Women and Motherhood

This 15 minute BBC Radio 4 programme,  produced by Perminder Khatkar, was first broadcast on Tuesday 25 February 2014. 

Andrea Catherwood decided to give up her career as a foreign correspondent after she had her first child as leaving him for weeks or months at a time to report from the frontline was something she felt she wasn't able to do. Instead she moved into presenting the news.

Last month Nigel Farage (UKIP MEP) said controversially that if women in the City were prepared to sacrifice family life they could do just as well as men.

But there are now a number of senior City women who do combine their careers with motherhood. Charlotte Crosswell is Chief Executive Officer of the trading derivatives platform of NASDAQ in London and a mother of one, so how does she make it work ?

One to One: Andrea Catherwood meets Charlotte Crosswell

21st Century Work Life Balance? Apparently not.

Hello again!

As I'm on sabbatical, my course isn't running this year, but I felt the urge to reblog this post courtesy of Sheena Vacchani. It's depressing reading to see how unreconstructed some male executive attitudes can be.

Harvard Business Review study on work life balance