The World is About to Become a More Equal Place
“I love to see a young girl go out and grab the world by the lapels. Life’s a bitch. You’ve got to go out and kick ass” - Maya Angelou
For modern feminists, there’s much to celebrate.
After the decline of second-wave feminism in the 1980s, some have argued that third-wave feminism lacks a definite goal – the first wave fought for women’s right to vote, the second wave, equality in the work place and an end to legal sex discrimination.
However, even with the legal sex discrimination largely a thing of the past (at least in the Western world) there still exists a significant pay-gap and a lack of female leaders.
Women make up half of the population, and their under-representation at the highest levels means that, assuming women are just as capable as men, organisations are missing out on a huge untouched pool of talent. As Hilary Clinton put it, “Women are the largest untapped reservoir of talent in the world.”
But this may be changing. And that would be a good thing for everyone.
Inspirational young women are increasingly taking the limelight on the global stage, and in the process they are redefining the limits of what’s possible for women growing up today.
Emma Watson, for example, recently delivered a powerful speech about gender inequality at the UN. The speech, which marked the launch of the hugely popular HeForShe campaign, received plenty of media attention, and gave meaning to the word “feminism” to countless young people.
And Malala Yousafzai, the school girl whose unwavering belief that women have the same basic right to education as men caused the Taliban to make an unforgivable attempt on her life, has become, not only the youngest ever Nobel Peace Prize laureate, but an international spokesperson for women’s issues.
Such women do justice to their foremothers, women such as Emmeline Pankhurst, a British political activist who helped women win the right to vote, and Margaret Higgins Sanger, who paved the way for modern birth control allowing women to decide when to have children and live healthier lives.
Contemporary feminism doesn’t lack a goal. It seeks what it’s always sought: final and irrevocable equality for women. And we are getting closer to that goal every day.
Who are your female role models? Who inspires you? I’d love to hear from you.