This week, Liz Truss became Britain's third female prime minister. Feminists in the United Kingdom and beyond -- even those who disagree with Truss's policies -- will likely appreciate her appointment for the message it sends: There is no longer a "glass ceiling" within British politics.
Truss, however, is not known for her embrace of gender solidarity. Like Britain's first female prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, Truss's loyalties appear to lie first and foremost with her party, not her sex.
Her lack of solidarity with other female politicians was on display this past month, when Finland's Prime Minister Sanna Marin was subjected to criticism after a video of her partying with friends surfaced on social media.… Seguir leyendo »
In the post-Harvey Weinstein era, every institution and public company in Britain has been piously claiming to be concerned with how women are viewed, heard, treated and paid. And yet last week, 360 rich and powerful men in Britain were happy to pay £2,000 a head (about $2,800) to attend an evening fund-raiser hosted by the Presidents Club Charitable Trust, during which their female peers and partners were excluded, and the only women in the room were there as miniskirted sex objects whose explicit duty was to serve — and stroke the egos of — the men.
You didn’t need to see or expect the harassment that followed to find this arrangement deeply suspect.… Seguir leyendo »
The UK actively promotes gender equality both at home and abroad but it falls short of defining itself by a feminist agenda. At a time when it is not clear what does define UK foreign policy, other than the looming exit from the EU, promoting a feminist foreign policy could be an opportunity for the UK to provide leadership and to promote its human-rights based values abroad at a time when both are being challenged on the world stage.
Gender equality features prominently in some parts of UK foreign policy. The International Development (Gender Equality) Act 2014 for example, promotes gender equality when providing development and humanitarian assistance to countries outside of the UK.… Seguir leyendo »
It's about time Britain was led by a “bloody difficult woman,” as the new leader of the Conservative Party and prime minister, Theresa May, was described by a Tory grandee.
The term “boys’ club” seems to have been coined for the men who led Britain so clumsily to Brexit, without predicting the result, thinking through the consequences or mapping out a plan. Their résumés are studded with all the hallmarks of privilege: Eton College, Oxford University and the Bullingdon Club, the secretive student dining society, notorious for its right-wing politics and legendary debauches. The former prime minister David Cameron, the former mayor of London Boris Johnson and the former chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne were all members.… Seguir leyendo »
Prime Minister David Cameron announced at the recent NATO summit in Warsaw that the ban on women serving in ground close combat roles in the British armed forces is to be lifted. The announcement follows a recommendation from Chief of the General Staff General Sir Nick Carter and extensive research into the physiological risks to women serving in such roles, and brings the UK in line with its major allies.
While the decision is a welcome one, it marks the beginning of what will need to be a well-managed process to ensure that the integration of women into ground close combat roles is a success.… Seguir leyendo »
Canada has recently appointed their first female general from the combat arms trade. The UK meanwhile is yet to take the decision to allow women to serve in ground close combat roles, and while a decision is expected in 2016, it is still yet to actually be made. When that decision is finally taken, it will mark an important milestone for the British army, as it continues to adjust to meet both the operational requirements of today and the values and expectations of the society it serves.
There are clear advantages to broadening the recruitment pool, as without a diverse pool of talent from which to draw, the army risks being hampered by how effectively it can engage and operate at all levels.… Seguir leyendo »
Of all the hard-gotten rights that have been, or are about to be, granted to women, I'll confess that the ability to kill an enemy at close quarters is not one that has preoccupied me much. Joining the army was never on the agenda, and in general my friends' interest in soldiering is limited to the sexual – "I'm one marine away from joining a choir," said one recently, though I'm not sure if Gareth Malone's singing military wives would accept the unmarried and promiscuous. Nevertheless, there are thousands of women who want to be soldiers who will be pleased that their options may be about to expand.… Seguir leyendo »
Shafilea Ahmed's unhappy life was brought to a violent and premature end at the hands of her mother and father. It is an extreme and tragic case, but in many ways she was just one of many girls who struggle to reconcile their British identity to the cultural values of their parents. Trapped within their homes, hidden from the rest of society and coerced into silence, we need to ask why so little has been done to help these women.
The Crown Prosecution Service began keeping statistics on "honour"-based violence in April 2010 and prosecuted 234 cases the following year, over half of which were successful.… Seguir leyendo »
In an age when women have broken through the glass ceiling in most professions in Britain, it is strange that they still face discrimination in a church that believes there is "no male or female" in Christ. Women can become judges, surgeons, chief executives and heads of state, but in the Church in Wales - which waited until 1997 to ordain women as priests - they are as yet unable to become bishops.
I do not see how, having agreed to ordaining women to both the diaconate and priesthood, the church can logically exclude women from the episcopate. That is why I and my fellow bishops will be asking members of the church's legislative body today to vote in favour of a bill to allow women clerics to become bishops.… Seguir leyendo »
This newspaper recently made a stand for professional equality by deciding that both men and women who appear on stage and screen will be termed "actors". But, in showbusiness, fairness of opportunity and income having largely been achieved, language remained the final gap. In tennis, it was the other way round: though granted a unisex job description - players - men and women have played under different rules for widely divergent prizes.
Yesterday's announcement that the 2007 women's champion at Wimbledon will receive the same cash as (let's madly dream) Andy Murray finally removes a 39-year insult that began when, in the first open Wimbledon, Billie Jean King received a cheque two-thirds smaller than that handed to Rod Laver, her partner at the champion's ball.… Seguir leyendo »
There is an old Monty Python sketch in which four Yorkshiremen, dinner-jacketed and sunk in their armchairs, cigar and brandy in hand, recount their humble origins. Starting with the observation that “we was glad to ’ave the price of a cup o’ tea” and proceeding by stages to the glorious apotheosis of working-class victimhood, who has to “get up in the morning at ten o’clock at night half an hour before I went to bed, drink a cup of sulphuric acid, work 29 hours a day down mill and pay mill owner for permission to come to work.”… Seguir leyendo »
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