erinnorman

The fact is that although thankfully a large proportion of the population do believe that men and women are equals, this is by no means universal.  And too often, when equality is there to be had it is seen as some sort of grace; a gift from those in power to those who are not.  Human rights do exist and they are valid – but they are bestowed on the lucky rather than distributed to all. 

I sat down the other day to begin reading “Can You Forgive Her” by Anthony Trollope.  I picked up the copy in a charity shop while I was on holiday, and it was printed in 1973, an edition to commemorate the mini-series made by the BBC.  The foreword was written by Simon Raven, and until Saturday I had not heard of him, not having grown up in this country or read his work.  I gather since doing a bit of research he was quite the fellow.  He says that by the end of the book “you will long for Alice to be hit on the head with a mallet and then raped.”  I realise this was written in 1973, and also written by a man who cared not at all for being politically correct, although the term wasn’t around at that time.  But it upset me, because it exemplified an attitude that has always existed, and still sadly thrives: women are there to be kept in line, and even rape is an acceptable punishment for the unwieldy.  In the case of the foreword written by Simon Raven it is a fictional feeling for a fictional character; but that does not diminish its unpleasantness when you are on the receiving end of that line of thought. 

Human Rights is a goal still, not yet a reality for many in the world; sadly wherever there is oppression it is the weakest in society who will be at the lowest ebb – usually this is women.  Human Rights are outlined as having the following basic conditions:  civil and political rights, equality before law, economic, social and cultural rights, and the right to food, work and education.  In the United Kingdom today we still do not have equality based on these standards, but elsewhere in the world the crippling gulf between the haves and have-nots is even more apparent.  Here we have unequal pay and employment opportunities, but in parts of Africa women are brutalised and suppressed in every way.  For these women it would be a luxury to be on a lower pay band than their male counterparts; they are not able to even care for their own bodies and children as they wish.  Always though we as women feel as if we are lucky to have what we do.  Just behind us in the UK is a relatively recent suffrage, and even in our mothers’ generation some police were advising women who filed rape reports to just lay back and get it over with more quickly.
 

We are still, as a sex, struggling to escape a vicious circle that has existed as long as history.  In 1879 social psychologist Gustave Le Bon wrote “There are a large number of women whose brains are closer in size to gorillas than most developed male brains… They excel in fickleness, inconstancy, absence of thought and logic, and incapacity to reason.”  This quote may be well over a century old but the sentiment behind it is still not out of date in some circles, both here and abroad.  It is so preposterously blind and ignorant I do not even feel the need to defend my sex against it but yet in a subtle way, I am.  I am saying women have the right to be regarded on the same footing as men.  Why would I be writing this and why would the 6 Degrees group exist if it were as obvious in practise as it is in theory?  The fact is, it is a doctrine written by those it serves – not anything based in truth, bravery or reality.  It has always been in the oppressors’ best interest to maintain oppression.  One simply feels lucky if they are not unfortunate enough to be trodden under foot. 

It is in truth, a weakness in a man to feel the need to force his will upon a woman.  To me it signifies that he is insecure in his masculinity, and believes only force and violence will keep him leader of the pack; not his merit or his own intrinsic worth as a member of the human race. 

Equality in each of its guises needs to be fought for, both by its victims, and also those who could victimise if they chose – but do not.  There are more than enough good men out there who do not resort to these tactics in order to gain a foothold in the world.  They need to engage in this struggle alongside women, because without their help it will forever be seen as “us against them.” 

We are simply one human race, with two different sexes, and an infinite number of traditions and cultures.  We can not exist without working together; our need for each other is obvious with each baby born and each baby is born with Human Rights.  It is up to us to turn a gift, into a given.

In the UK only 15 of the 100 richest publicly traded businesses have women on their boards. This means that while the FTSE 100 holds approximately 81 per cent of Britain's market value, only 15 per cent of the decision making bodies have any female input.
 
ActionAid’s latest project  called 6 Degrees is fundraising and raising awareness for the really serious injustices facing women in the developing and developed world - including rape, trafficking, domestic violence and poverty. It works on the basis that there are only 6 degrees of separation between individuals.
 

While the workplace inequalities faced by women in the UK are a far cry from the many horrors ActionAid is trying to tackle, the impact of such inequality is direct because ActionAid and other charities work in corporate partnerships between rich and poor nations- something which the FTSE 100’s decision making has a real fiscal bearing on.
 
Recent research by MWM Consulting shows that 62 per cent of Britain’s wealthiest 250 quoted firms employ no women at all at non-executive (or board) level. Of the rest just 9 per cent of the non-executives are female.
 
Not only is this unequal it is also un-commercial if you believe research by Catalyst from 2007, which suggests that companies with three or more women at board level have an 83 per cent greater return on equity than companies with the lowest female representation. This amounts to a 73 per cent better return on sales and a 112 per cent higher return on invested capital.
 
Seven out of 10 of the world’s poor are women and girls. If ActionAid’s 6 Degrees project is about connecting women around the world in the fight for equal rights, then better representation in developed economies might help. Who knows, maybe if there are more powerful female decision makers in the UK’s boardrooms there will be more decisions made to help tackle the grave problems facing the world’s women.