BU Research Blog

“The story of women’s struggle for equality belongs to no single feminist nor to any one organization but to the collective efforts of all who care about human rights” Gloria Steinem

8^th March was International Women’s Day. First observed in 1911, it is a national holiday in many non-western countries (full history here) and has its roots in the struggle for women’s rights.

International Women’s Day is a day of reflection and celebration.  Women have made considerable advances in contemporary society.  Women now vote, have been and can be Prime Minister. Women now work and have historically unparalleled legislative rights. Indeed so successful have these gains been that it is not uncommon to hear it said that women now ‘can have it all’.  Recently released UCAS  data suggests that applications from UK girls outnumber boys at undergraduate level (and across most areas of study).  Mary Curnock Cook has warned that young men risk becoming a ‘disadvantaged group’.   Yet, to look at these statistics in isolation from the wider context is fundamentally misunderstand the nature of power in our society. Numbers of applications may well be declining for young men, but that doesn’t seem to stop men being over represented in the major institutions that dominate our society. Indeed, 88% of MPs in British Parliament are male. 80% of board members of  FTSE 100 companies are men.  86% of UK Vice Chancellors are male. Advances in education are not translated into advances in the corridors of power.

At the same time, in the last week we have seen reports that tell us over half of British women have been physically or sexually assaulted in the workplace .  In the UK, there has been an increase in numbers of rapes of adults and children.  This takes place in a wider educational and political context where the issue of consent is not understood by both politicians and young people alike. There is not yet a legal requirement to discuss consent in  sex education in schools.  This lack of awareness is situated in a wider media and cultural context: Robin Thicke’s ‘Blurred Lines’, also known as the  ‘rape song’ includes the lines ‘you know you want it, cos you’re a good girl’.  This song has been banned by some politically active student unions around the country, but it is indicative of a wider set of cultural problems endemic in what is increasingly labelled  ‘rape culture’.  And from popular culture to state sponsored violence – rape is still a weapon of warfare which remains largely unprosecuted (Sheppard, 2009).

This handful of examples, suggest that yes,  we do need a day to highlight the importance of women and their interests whatever their ethnicity, class or geographical location.  We also still need to ask questions about the structural disadvantages that women still face.  Women are over represented in (British) educational contexts.  Yet, in 2014 we are still needing to ask why are women and their diverse interests still under represented across the social, political and economic sectors across society? Stopping to reflect on the nature of power, invites us to reflect on ways in which we might challenge it. A central aim of the feminist agenda has been to do just this in a multiplicity of ways. Dissent within and without being part of a healthy dialogue. Feminists are often presented as humourless (perhaps by those who do not wish to have their interests challenged?).  In direct response to that charge, and to the question recently raised at a WAN committee meeting – is it possible to be a feminist and enjoy burlesque? Nadia Kamil provides us with a resounding  humorous and serious ‘yes’.