Women’s rights: Yes, we do still have to protest

“I can’t believe I still have to protest this fucking shit.”

This was the slogan held by a woman in one of several marches being held across the United States to protest the hate and bigotry that Donald Trump displayed during his presidential electoral campaign.  A beautiful woman with white hair and whose facial expression said “I’ve seen it all, are you kidding me? I STILL have to fight against this crap?”

Her slogan resounded strongly with me as I replayed several of my recent conversations. Conversations I had with both men and women about the need for continued vigilance in the fight against prejudice and bigotry of all types…race, gender, religion, disability, you name it.

For me, a working Mum who has faced countless obstacles whilst trying to attain that elusive “balance” between work and home, the particular issue of equality for women is something I am passionate about.  Don’t get me wrong, I am incredibly grateful for the progress our society has made in achieving greater rights for women all over the world.  I am thankful that I live in the current age and possess the opportunities that, even two generations ago, would have been considered unthinkable.

I know my grandmother, raised in a tiny village in Greece, would have been laughed out of town for even thinking about going to anything beyond primary school.  In a modern Western society, access to education simply goes without saying for all girls.

Appallingly, however, there are still countless women and girls who are still oppressed, controlled by the men of their culture and treated as objects.

Fortunately for me, living in the “lucky country” of Australia, it is not the big issues I must fight for.  It is the subtleties that affect me the most.

For example, why is it that a brilliant friend, zooming up the corporate ladder, has to try and “fudge” a job interview question about her personal interests? This is because, in her own words, “I have a baby and a four-year-old and I’m a working Mum…I currently HAVE NO TIME for personal interests beyond that!”.

Another highly intelligent and super-successful friend explains that “at work, I just had my third baby. I didn’t need, nor expect, a send-off, but nobody cared.  In fact, I sensed an attitude from my employer that they were simply executing their legal obligation by sending me off on maternity leave, but not exactly thrilled about it (being the third time around).

However, a male in the office became a father, and the fuss was unbelievable! And what did he do? He didn’t have a four kilogram human performing Olympic level trampolining on his bladder and he didn’t have to push a watermelon out of his tiny orifice. What gives?”

I’m incredibly fortunate to work in an environment where my role as caregiver and employee is given the value it deserves.  However, closer to home, again the subtleties get to me.

For example, why is it that many men joke about being able to “get a rise out of me” about feminist issues?  Of course they get a rise out of me, and so they should! Women are still underpaid in relation to their male counterparts, still grossly underrepresented in parliament and senior leadership jobs, damn straight it’s easy to get my heckles up!

And why is it that sooooo many women still do two jobs all day, every day? They work at paid employment, then come home to the chaos of picking up kids, cooking dinner, overseeing homework, mediating sibling disputes, laundering school clothes, arranging family social activities, getting kids to bed, settling crying kids, getting them BACK to bed……….and then of course they’re still ‘on call’ all night in case of any illness, bad dreams, full bladders, excessive thirst….I think you get my drift.

Once again, this is not to discredit the many men out there who take initiative without question and do their equal share. It is heartening to see more and more partnerships where this true division of labour exists. But still can you say that, across Australia, equality exists in this area?

Can you really say that, of everyone you know, all the men take on an equal burden to the women around the home? And that all the women are given the thanks and gratitude that they fully deserve?

So I say to the white-haired protester holding her slogan……”I hear ya sister!”.  And I applaud all the women, men, children of all ages who marched for such a worthy cause. Because complacency will get us nowhere.

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