2014: the year women won?
Women, hang-up your pant-suits! In 2014, we
won!
For the first time ever, 100 women were elected
to US congress. Emma Watson called the UN
to arms in the fight for equality. Malala
Yousafzai bagged the Nobel Peace Prize.
Sure, before getting her award, Malala had
been shot by the Taliban for going to school,
80% of the US senate is still male and Emma
Watson’s speech was answered with threats
from sweaty-palmed hackers to leak naked pictures
of her that didn’t exist... unlike the ones
of Jennifer Lawrence, that did.
But these are just details.
2014 marked an all-time high for female world
leaders - 22 countries were led by women.
Forbes ranked two women among the world’s
top 10 most powerful.
Two to eight. Twenty-two to one hundred and
seventy four.
That’s sort of equal, right?
In fact, in 2014 TIME magazine decided the
need for feminism had so passed, it asked
its readers to ban the word “feminist”
- along with other totally over words, like
“cringe” and “kale”.
So what did this new woman’s world look
like?
It saw Angelina Jolie launch a global crusade
against sexual violence. She and William Hague
hosted ministers from more than 120 countries
for the first ever summit to end sexual violence
in conflict.
On the day world leaders met, Isis fighters
conquered Mosul in Iraq and went door to door,
kidnapping and raping local women.
A female Saudi fighter pilot took part in
the first international air strikes against
Isis targets in Syria - and those feminist
champions at the Fox Network were there to
report the news, which they dubbed “boobs
on the ground”.
Would that be considered boobs on the ground?
In the US, Baltimore Ravens star Ray Rice
was caught on CCTV appearing to punch his
fiance unconscious in a casino lift. The NFL
was so outraged it slapped him with a two
week ban - and then he was suspended. Briefly.
That nastiness was all cleared up when the
NFL overturned Rice’s suspension after an
appeal and Mrs Rice apologised.
In South Africa, a young woman was shot four
times by her boyfriend when she got up to
use the loo in the middle of the night. Absolutely
no one was distracted by the fact her killer,
was a famous sportsman. Oscar Pistorius was
sent to jail - but could be out in ten months.
Egypt, which suffers what human rights groups
call an “epidemic of sexual violence”,
criminalised sexual harassment for the first
time.
In India, a wave of high-profile gang rape
murders prompted prime minister Narendra Modi
to call sexual violence a national shame.
But his message didn’t reach reality TV
audiences, at least one of whom thought it
was OK to slap the female host if her dress
was too short.
By and large 2014 was a bad year for lads
who think rape’s all shits n giggles.
UK broadcaster ITV2 axed Dapper Laughs’
second series of On the Pull thanks to a petition
of more than 60,000 people who thought training
in sexual assault wasn’t so funny after
all. He appeared contrite in a turtleneck
on Newsnight to straighten things out.
US pick up artist Julien Blanc - champion
of the choke-hold chat-up technique - was
barred from entering the UK and thrown out
of Australia by popular demand. Go Aussies!
Was that thanks to your self-appointed Women’s
Minister, Tony Abbott? The one smirking and
winking because a woman telling him about
her serious financial problems worked for
a sex-line… the one who said women were
"physiologically unsuited to leadership"?
Way to lead Tony.
When it came to the web, we all thought the
biggest thing to hit the internet was going
to be this.
But actually the most popular social media
campaign of the year was probably the hashtag
bring back our girls - an explosion of online
outrage after Boko Haram militants kidnapped
more than 250 Nigerian schoolgirls.
Michelle Obama was among five million people
who tweeted the hashtag. But almost all the
girls are still missing.
Maybe there’s some other way to help women
than selfies and hashtags? Like political
or maybe even military action?
But what do I know, I’m just a kale-eating
feminist.
2014! Best year ever!
