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| 'I'm grateful to the Tory who said feminists need a good slap' | 'I'm grateful to the Tory who said feminists need a good slap' |
| (5 months later) | |
| I’m grateful to Stewart Green the Tory aide who labelled feminists a bunch of “whingeing imbeciles” who "need a good slap”. His comments earlier this month offer a timely reminder that the fight for equality still has a way to go, even in this so called bastion of democracy and emancipation. | |
| For women further afield its sticks and stones, not names, which cause pain and suffering. Only 30% of all girls worldwide are enrolled in secondary school, one in 4 women worldwide suffers domestic abuse during their lifetime, one in five will be raped and in quite a few nations both acts are yet to be designated crimes. That’s the reality for millions of women beyond our borders while here we connect to the sisterhood by reading “How to be a Woman”, and snapping make-up free selfies. | For women further afield its sticks and stones, not names, which cause pain and suffering. Only 30% of all girls worldwide are enrolled in secondary school, one in 4 women worldwide suffers domestic abuse during their lifetime, one in five will be raped and in quite a few nations both acts are yet to be designated crimes. That’s the reality for millions of women beyond our borders while here we connect to the sisterhood by reading “How to be a Woman”, and snapping make-up free selfies. |
| Five years ago I sat in a refugee camp in Chad listening to a woman recount the terrible tale that had brought her to this impoverished community of people, displaced by the Sudanese war. In this part of the world – Stewart Green take note – many women get far worse than a good slap, even if they’re not feminists. This blank-eyed mother with a baby on her lap described how her last child had been decapitated in her arms by the militants who held her for three weeks at a camp where she was abused by tens of men. The little girl in her arms was the product of that experience and yet when I asked what we could possibly to do in the face of such unimaginable brutality all she wanted was an education for her daughter. In this godforsaken camp in the scrubland, where collecting water meant risking rape, education was the passport to freedom, an unimaginable Utopia. | Five years ago I sat in a refugee camp in Chad listening to a woman recount the terrible tale that had brought her to this impoverished community of people, displaced by the Sudanese war. In this part of the world – Stewart Green take note – many women get far worse than a good slap, even if they’re not feminists. This blank-eyed mother with a baby on her lap described how her last child had been decapitated in her arms by the militants who held her for three weeks at a camp where she was abused by tens of men. The little girl in her arms was the product of that experience and yet when I asked what we could possibly to do in the face of such unimaginable brutality all she wanted was an education for her daughter. In this godforsaken camp in the scrubland, where collecting water meant risking rape, education was the passport to freedom, an unimaginable Utopia. |
| Full of rage after that trip to Chad, I co-founded The GREAT Initiative, to shine a light on some of these injustices. When idiots like Green speak, I’m thrilled because it clears column inches for a rebuff. Feminist rhetoric otherwise is apparently only palatable when it’s funny or sexy. | Full of rage after that trip to Chad, I co-founded The GREAT Initiative, to shine a light on some of these injustices. When idiots like Green speak, I’m thrilled because it clears column inches for a rebuff. Feminist rhetoric otherwise is apparently only palatable when it’s funny or sexy. |
| Last week we – and more importantly millions worldwide touched by Britain's £11bn aid budget – had a major breakthrough. We’ve been working with Bill Cash MP (an unlikely feminist icon but we embrace friendship where we find it) on a bill to put gender equality at the heart of UK development policy. On 5 March that bill defied the odds – only one in 10 private members bills ever actually make it – and became law. It's up there with the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833 in terms of its potential world influence, meaning future UK governments must factor in gender rights when doling out overseas investment. This new act failed to make the news pages of one British newspaper. | Last week we – and more importantly millions worldwide touched by Britain's £11bn aid budget – had a major breakthrough. We’ve been working with Bill Cash MP (an unlikely feminist icon but we embrace friendship where we find it) on a bill to put gender equality at the heart of UK development policy. On 5 March that bill defied the odds – only one in 10 private members bills ever actually make it – and became law. It's up there with the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833 in terms of its potential world influence, meaning future UK governments must factor in gender rights when doling out overseas investment. This new act failed to make the news pages of one British newspaper. |
| Beleaguered women in the developing world are clearly not considered headline material but at GREAT we’re committed to making them so. Thankfully we are not alone. I recently met an inspirational young woman called Elsa Hammond who is aiming to be the fastest women to row solo across the Pacific. She is dedicating each mile of her 2400 mile row to one woman, nominated by you. Whether it’s your mother or your teacher, your best friend or any other of the long line of forgotten women in history, you can buy them an oceanic mile of fame. Elsa will be braving rough seas, dodging sharks and burning 8000 calories a day to get to Hawaii on time and I’m honoured she’ll be supporting GREAT in the process. | Beleaguered women in the developing world are clearly not considered headline material but at GREAT we’re committed to making them so. Thankfully we are not alone. I recently met an inspirational young woman called Elsa Hammond who is aiming to be the fastest women to row solo across the Pacific. She is dedicating each mile of her 2400 mile row to one woman, nominated by you. Whether it’s your mother or your teacher, your best friend or any other of the long line of forgotten women in history, you can buy them an oceanic mile of fame. Elsa will be braving rough seas, dodging sharks and burning 8000 calories a day to get to Hawaii on time and I’m honoured she’ll be supporting GREAT in the process. |
| The F-word is briefly fashionable again and yet we still haven't delivered human rights to near 50% of the global population. To change the status quo we need the support of men who need to be as animated about injustice as their mothers, sisters, wives and daughters. None of us can afford to stop campaigning until women across the globe know that their daughter's opportunities in life will be equal to their son's. I’m hoping that in my lifetime (and we need to hurry up because I’m no spring chicken), the sort of lazy sexism evidenced by the likes of Stewart Green will be considered as morally repugnant as racism. Then I’ll have a chit chat about underarm hair. | The F-word is briefly fashionable again and yet we still haven't delivered human rights to near 50% of the global population. To change the status quo we need the support of men who need to be as animated about injustice as their mothers, sisters, wives and daughters. None of us can afford to stop campaigning until women across the globe know that their daughter's opportunities in life will be equal to their son's. I’m hoping that in my lifetime (and we need to hurry up because I’m no spring chicken), the sort of lazy sexism evidenced by the likes of Stewart Green will be considered as morally repugnant as racism. Then I’ll have a chit chat about underarm hair. |
| @mariellaf1 | @mariellaf1 |
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