International Women's Day - yesterday

Why do we need International Women's Day? To highlight problems such as female genital mutilation, lack of education for women in some countries, lack of freedom, forced marriages, equal job opportunities, equal pay for equal work, violence both by and against women.

There are still problems out there which need to be solved. I can't remember the exact figures but I think over the whole world women own less than 10% of the world's property and wealth - so inevitably they have less freedom and fewer opportunities. That in itself would be enough of a reason to have such a day.

It is also 40 years this year since the first publication of Germaine Greer's The Female Eunuch - which acted as a focus for the women's liberation movement in the UK much as Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique had done in the US in the 1960s. It is this anniversary which has prompted - I think - the publication of Natasha Walter's Living Dolls, Kat Banyard's The Equality Illusion and later in the year Catherine Redfern's Reclaiming the F Word. There was also Nina Power's One Dimensional Woman which was published at the end of last year and looks at women and the consumer society. So 4 books on various aspects of feminism and women today in the UK. Then there is a US offering from Susan J Douglas - Enlightened Sexism: The Seductive Message that Feminism's Work is Done.

This is an ideal time it seems to be interested in feminism.

The Equality Illusion - part 2

The Equality Illusion: Women and Men Today by Kat Banyard is excellent reading. It covers some of the same areas as Natasha Walter's Living Dolls. I would have liked to see more about the way stereotypes and conventional expectations adversely affect men - especially in view of the title but that said there is some excellent material here. It highlights the fact that we still do not have an equal society and that women's bodies are treated as men's playthings far more than they were prior to the rise of feminism.

I found the chapter on pornography very disturbing. Not being someone who searches for it on the Internet I had not realised the violence and sheer nastiness there is in much pornography on the Internet. The author only looked at the top 10 hits on Google and these were horrendous. I am in general anti censorship but this sort of stuff needs to be kept away from children as it seems to be fuelling some very unpleasant behaviour among teenage boys.

The sexual harassment girls are subjected to at school was truly shocking to read about as well - and yet teachers' reactions were - 'boys will be boys'. They did not take it seriously. But are boys subjected to the same treatment by some girls? The book is silent on this point.

The chapter on domestic violence was interesting though it did not shed any new light on the subject and omitted to mention violence perpetrated by women on men - suggesting that any such episodes are a merely self defence. I would have liked to have seen a bit more about violence can affect men as well. Domestic violence is serious - whoever is the victim.

There is a useful list of the organisations connected with the fight for equality and comprehensive notes for each chapter together with a short reading list. A well written book though the author omits to mention that while the Sex Discrimination Act has the date of 1975 on it, it didn't come into force until - I think - the end of 1976. I was applying for jobs in 1976 and I can remember being asked questions about my intentions as regards having children because I was newly married. These questions were not illegal at the time.

The Equality Illusion

Kat Banyard's The Equality Illusion: The Truth about Women and Men Today covers some of the same ground as Natasha Walter's Living Dolls. I've read about 60 pages of it so far and it is really interesting - and thought provoking. She wrote it as a result of interviewing over 100 people about equality issues.

The book is arranged as though the reader is living through 24 hours and showing how women spend time doing things which men never need to do. She talks about eating disorders and how they affect women's lives - over 90% of eating disorder sufferers are women. We see how even young girls are expected to go to school wearing make up. Which made me think about what happened to school rules which banned makeup? I can remember the deputy headmistress standing over girls while they scrubbed their faces if they dared to go to school with makeup on. It usually earned people at least a detention.

I will review the book at greater length when I've finished it.