The state of the femi-nation

I've been musing recently on the state of feminism among women today, and it strikes me it's in a pretty bad place. I can't think of any other grassroots cause that is so hated and so abhorrent to so many of the people that it aims to serve. Most young women today not only feel that they owe nothing to the feminist movement, they also seem to reject the very idea and ideals of feminism and see it as totally outmoded in today's society. Balkan Witch talks about it very interestingly here.

Now clearly, part of the problem is the name, and the backlash against it, and most importantly the lack of accessibility of the more academic understandings of the political philosophy of feminism. But let's face it, the basic principles of feminism aren't hard to grasp, and the concept of equality for the sexes can't be argued with by anyone who isn't prepared to be seen as a total misogynist. So what's the problem?

Well, for a start, it isn't being taught at school and it isn't really discussed in the mainstream media agenda. Sure, you can listen to Women's Hour on Radio 4 - but that's a very limited target audience, and I'd argue that it's preaching to the converted. And yes, there's the women's section in the Guardian, but it faces much the same problem: one of reaching those very people who could most benefit from understanding the issues.

And that seems to me to be symptomatic of most of what feminism now seems to be achieveing in the world: lip service. Sure, some things are better, and significantly so. But look at what's not: remuneration and packages for women are still consistently lower than for men; employers and the government in the UK continue to discriminate against working mothers (preferring to identify the issues of childcare and how we handle the balance between parenting and work responsibilities as a problem for women, rather than one for society generally. Why are work creches and childcare vouchers considered benefits for women?); women are vastly under-represented in almost all walks of both public and corporate life. The fact that issues of gender equality are, as a rule, not in the accessible mainstream debate are both a cause and an effect of the clear need for feminism in our society right now.

And it's not just women who stand to benefit: look at the numbers of men now suffering eating disorders, obsessing over the latest beauty products full of faux-scientific ingredients and paying for cosmetic surgery. We could have told them it was all a bloody airbrushed con ...