Often, an interviewer will ask me to name a woman who inspires me. They expect, I think, to hear famous names. But whenever I am asked that question, I immediately think of names that are unlikely to be known to the general public. Names like Rowan Miller. Or Seyi Akiwowo. Or Ellie Cosgrave. These are not famed media figures. They are not being showered with awards. They are unsung heroes. Women at the coalface – women who are working tirelessly, often thanklessly, day after day, to make the world better for other women in their own unique ways. That might mean, respectively, running a regional sexual assault support service, fighting against a wave of vile racist and misogynistic threats to represent their community as a councillor and campaigner, or working tirelessly as an academic to support other women in science and engineering.
I am inspired by the grit and determination of the women who dedicate their lives to making other women’s lives better. The Rape Crisis staffers whose professional lives are an endless cycle of uncertainty as they scramble to find next year’s budget from an ever-shrinking pot of public funds. The charity workers who face heckling and abuse as they raise their voices about new inequality research or point out the unpopular reality of the crisis in refuge provision or social housing. The campaigners who dedicate their own lives, unpaid and un-thanked, to fighting for the rights of refugee women and those in detention. The clinic escorts who endure threats and loathing to support women exercising their right to reproductive healthcare.
I draw strength, too, from the hordes of people speaking out about these issues in their daily lives, whether sharing their stories with the Everyday Sexism Project, raising issues at home or work, or boldly putting their heads above the parapet on social media. Those who suggest it is lazy or ineffectual to speak out online have clearly never experienced the barrage of abuse that this so often brings.
But among the hate and the harassment, nothing makes me smile like the stories from women and girls who are taking matters into their own hands. At one school I visited, girls had noticed on Twitter that the students at the local boys’ school, who were due to join them for my talk, were resistant to the idea of a discussion about sexism, and planning to be as disruptive as possible. Determined to see a productive session go ahead, the girls left their lessons five minutes early and, arriving at the auditorium ahead of the boys, spaced themselves out so they were sitting in every other chair. Forced to sit interspersed between the girls and denied the dominant dynamic of a dissenting bloc, the protesters had the wind taken out of their sails and even found, to their surprise, that there was far less to object to than they had anticipated.
What’s even more exciting is the ever-increasing number of young people, including boys, who approach me after school talks to ask for advice in combatting sexism and setting up school societies to tackle the problem. Reports suggest that over 200 new feminist societies have been set up in the past few years alone at UK schools and universities, and ever more young people feel comfortable associating themselves with the label.
And for anyone who honestly still wants to argue that we no longer need feminism, I no longer spout endless statistics to try and convince them, I simply present them with these two quotes about women.
‘It is the law of nature that woman should be held under the dominance of man.’
CONFUCIUS, CIRCA 500 BC
‘I think that putting a wife to work is a very dangerous thing . . . When I come home and dinner’s not ready, I go through the roof.’
DONALD TRUMP (NOW PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES), 1994
Clearly, we still have a long way to go.