In a society that allows there to be more CEOs called John, than there are CEOs that are women; that allows there to still be a massive discrepancy between wages for men and women doing the same jobs; where "women's" magazines consistently serve to undermine and demoralise women, rather than empower them (as they purport to); where girls' toys are invariably pink, how can we begin to balance things out and move towards actual equality?
We can do it by being examples. By being conscious of the biases which are so ingrained as to often be subconscious. By accepting and acknowledging that we have been conditioned to think in certain ways that inherently devalue women and girls.
From an early age we are taught to accept without questioning - to accept that there are boys' pursuits and girls'. That there are acceptable career paths for men, and different ones for women. So much of the time we don't even realise it. When we reach that age where friends start producing progeny, we instinctively buy blue for boys and pink for girls. We push identities on to them based on factors that have no basis in logic, and no relevance in the society we live in. We encourage boys to be doctors and girls to be nurses, because a hundred years ago we didn't know any better. Now we do know better, but the mindset continues.
Every one of us has women in our lives who are important to us: our mothers, daughters, sisters, wives, friends, colleagues. They all have to work much harder than their male counterparts to achieve the same recognition.
All women face unfairness on a daily basis. They are seen as weaker than men, less able (or more suited to "traditionally female" roles), they are judged on appearance, by both men and women. We live in a society where the gender of the person carrying out a particular role is completely irrelevant, yet we are conditioned to accept these biases without a second thought. And it's bullshit. Anachronistic, irrelevant bullshit. And it's holding us back.
In many roles, even when women are able to succeed in spite of the inherent culture of oppression, it's often only by trying to fit in and be "one of the boys". Equality isn't about encouraging women professionals to be more like men, it's about encouraging and supporting them to show their own talent and innovation. So many industries are built on archaic, testosterone-controlled hierarchies and infrastructure, and we tolerate it because that's how it's always been and we are often terrified of change.
The way to evolve and thrive as a society is to allow every individual to shine and excel in their own chosen disciplines. If boys want to play with dolls and girls want to play football, encourage them. A great way to set someone on the path to failure is to try and push them into a particular direction for which they aren't suited, and in which they have no interest. This obviously applies outside the confines of gender equality, but nowhere else is it so prevalent, so ingrained in our collective consciousness.
We need to recognise and champion the fact that empowering women empowers everyone. Encouraging girls and young women to pursue the things they're good at, rather than the roles that tradition would have us believe they're more suited to, leads to a future workforce of real balance and efficiency. It leads to a better, more caring, more productive society. How much further would we have progressed if we hadn't spent centuries telling women that they can't be scientists, or systems analysts, or authors, or doctors? How many discoveries have we missed out on because women were expected to be home-makers?
The spread of the internet has started to give women a voice that they never had before. A forum to discuss things and share things that they could hitherto only dream of. The world now is a completely different place to the one I spent my childhood in. Anyone with an internet connection and something worth saying, can make their voice heard. We can read the opinions of real people, not just journalists. The concepts of viral media, blogging, youtube, Twitter have given us the power to tell things as we see them, and to not rely on the likes of Murdoch to effect change. But it's still not enough. Not yet.
For so long the plight of feminists has been a battle. Women have had to fight for rights that men take for granted. And the fact that it's always been almost exclusively women fighting the battles and making the sacrifices has only served to perpetuate the status quo. Even when they realise what's going on, it's been hard for men to stand up for women's rights because of the inevitable ridicule from their male peers, propagating ingrained misogyny, often without even realising it because of the extent to which we've allowed it to continue unchecked.
Being a real man isn't about being the alpha male. It isn't about earning the most or being able to drink the most. It isn't about belittling and undermining women. It's about taking the privilege you have always had, solely because of your gender, and using it to empower those we have for so long oppressed. It's about standing up to those friends you think will mock you for being a feminist, and pointing out how neanderthal their views are. It's about having the cojones to recognise and challenge the status quo. It's about respecting women because they *are* equal, not because you want to be seen to be doing the right thing.
The fact that we still need an international women's day is indicative of how far we still have to go to achieve equality. But the sooner we can all have the balls to openly challenge the current inequality, the sooner we celebrate the half of the population that has had a bum deal since time immemorial, and the better off we'll all be.
I am P4-810. I am HeForShe, and I believe in a society where we can all pursue our own dreams and goals, and where we can all benefit from the equal opportunity to pursue them.
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