What is going on?

[Sofasurfingsally]

It is a shit time to be a woman. That is all.

@twicemummy Please do not put words in my mouth or twist what I say. Did you miss the first paragraph where I said "there are still many equality battles to be won & plenty of mindless fools out there trying to turn back clocks" and I finished with "there is still lots to strive for". Would I be on this board if I thought we were all equal now?

@FreeFreesia No that's fair enough, you didn't say everything was fine now. But I simply chategorically disagree that things are better for us now than they were in the past and the reason I get so emotional about this is because films, books and tv dramas lie about women's history and lead women to believe this is the best we've ever had it, and the reason this lie annoys me so much is because men ( and women) very often say we've got nothing to complain about, especially as western women.
I'm so sick of anti feminists pointing to women in Bangladesh or wherever and saying "see how good you've got it, see how many rights you have today, see how far women have come" when the truth is we have lost so much

The resurgence of fundamentalist religion and its creep into political life. Its power to influence policy making and education are the root of this backward slide in the freedoms and advancement t of womens lives.
Austerity and an overall conservative right swing also disproportionately impact women.
I don't know if more women in political positions will change much, I think grass roots campaigning will force things. Political life is so corrupted that even the best intentioned MP is compromised by party infighting and business interests having way more influence than is fair or observable. Behidnthe scene chicanery.
The polarised parties means there can be no consensus on anything that might enhance women and children. Such policies are nothing more than window dressing

@lolaflores I think that's all true.

spfasurfingsally I'm so glad u agree because sometimes I feel like I am fuckong talking to myself about this. Any suggestion of this and one is deemed a frothing, man hating feminist.
Which is certainly a part of me, but we wouldn't be so angry of we were listened to.

Sorry but it’s always been this bad. I grew up in the 1970s. Girls did cooking and sewing; boys did technical drawing.

Guess which skill makes you more money?

In many ways it’s better. If you’re openly feminist in the workplace you don’t get called a “man-hating lezzer” any morethetes maternity leave.

There’s lip service to sex pay equality. I can remember the court hearing which brought in equal pay.

You don’t have to resign from the civil service or teaching if you get married.

You don’t have to have your father with you when you open a bank account at age 18. Yes that happened to me.

I could go on.

Just to add further detail: I also grew up in the 70s too. Went to a Catholic school. In the North of England. In a pretty poor town. Both boys and girls did woodwork, metalwork, needlework and cookery. My dad taught me how to sew. He was born into poverty in the 1920s. He cooked too.

I think the sense that it’s bad today is because a lot of 40 year olds and younger preferred to believe that they didn’t need to be feminists.