This week, Emma Watson (or the 'silly little Harry Potter girl' as she called herself) took to the podium at a UN conference to present the 'Heforshe' campaign. The campaign aims to target men, and encourages them to support and advocate feminism. Not feminism in a form which is pro-woman and anti-man, but feminism which recognizes that all humans are equal, and therefore all women should be treated equally, with no gender perceived better than the other. Rather than most campaigns of its kind, it targets men to make the difference, rather than only aiming to evoke 'empowerment' in women. It's revolutionary; aiming to address and resolve the problem of gender inequality, rather than only helping women to 'cope' with the problem.
Emma spoke about 'inadvertent feminists' as being those who didn't necessarily openly campaign for feminism, but who made Emma feel as though anything was possible, and didn't treat her any differently because of her gender. Because of this she describes herself as 'lucky.' I have to say I am also one of the lucky ones, guided by inadvertent feminists through life. My parents brought me up so I had absolutely no clue that being a woman had any disadvantages. My Dad encouraged me from a young age to work hard and achieve my best, and never once was there any suggestion that being a girl might mean I was given less respect or had less credibility than a male. My teachers at primary school treated us all equally, and going to an all girls' school for my secondary education meant I was guided by both male and female teachers who strongly advocated feminism i.e. equality of the sexes.
It was actually probably only when I went to Oxford University that I experienced true sexism. I was challenged by my male counterparts on a weekly basis, who openly gave my views and feelings less respect because I was a woman, and often spoke about their desire not to have an intelligent woman as a wife, but rather wanted a woman who would cook and clean and stay at home with their children. For some of my male peers, I would go as far as to say that they would have preferred it if women weren't at the University at all. If there was ever an argument I would be dismissed as 'emotional' and 'silly', or if I stood up for myself I was 'aggressive' and told to 'pipe down.'
You would think that in a world class University, where people are incredibly intelligent, sexism wouldn't even figure. How can people who are so smart and so well educated still hold these ancient, backward and just downright wrong views?
Whilst Emma's speech really resonated with me, I do have one issue with the campaign, and that is that it ONLY targets men. I went onto the campaign's website and it was only possible to sign up to it if you ticked the box saying you were a male. If the sexes really are equal, then why can't women also show their support? I suppose only allowing males to join perhaps places more pressure and focus on them, but as Emma said in her speech, sexism isn't only about women being treated as a lesser gender, it's about both sexes being treated equally in every way.
In fact, in a recent discussion with a male friend I realised that sexism works and occurs both ways. I made a joke to him about him carrying the heavy shopping bags 'because he's the man.' In response, he said something extremely interesting, which is 'why are you allowed to say that I should do a certain thing because I'm male, but as soon as a man suggests that a woman should do anything that has traditionally been done by a woman like make the dinner or do the ironing he gets his head bitten off?' He told me that all too often he's dated girls who openly believe and suggest that it is the man's job to go out and earn the money for the family, do the manual labour jobs and be the 'perfect gentleman,' but they shouldn't have to do any of the traditionally female jobs because that's 'sexist.'
I'd never really thought about that before, but he's completely right. Sexism works both ways. Women can't argue they want to be equal until they also stop telling men that they still have to carry out the 'male' roles. There must be no job that is either dedicated to a man or a woman. As Emma said, men need to be free to be able to show their vulnerability and their sensitivity and we need to stop suggesting that all males need to be 'alpha males.' Sexism works both ways, so it's not just about targeting men or women to change. We ALL need to change. And as Emma said, we ALL need to take responsibility for changing the social, economic and political status quo surrounding gender equality.
So ladies – carry your own bags, put together that bookcase and take the bins out. And gentlemen - cook dinner, do the washing and change the childrens' nappies. And finally ladies and gentlemen – go out and work hard to earn a living. Because if not me, who? And if not now, when?
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