There’s never been a better time to be a woman. Thanks to those feminists who fought for liberation, young women today have freedom and opportunities their grandmothers could barely have imagined. Girls do better at school than boys and are more likely to go to university. As a result, women are taking more of the top jobs and leadership positions.
However, many women still consider themselves disadvantaged and vulnerable; a new generation of feminists complain that women are victims of rape culture on campus, everyday sexism on the street and ‘mansplaining’ in the office. And while more women may be competing for the top jobs, new questions have even been raised over what was thought to be a disappearing gender pay gap and old-fashioned workplace misogyny.
In her new book, Women versus Feminism: why we all need liberating from the gender wars, Joanna Williams looks at the battles fought and won to give women today equal opportunities in work and life. She asks why, instead of taking full advantage of the freedom gained, the focus of much feminist campaigning seems to be logging complaints about how bad women feel, and promoting the idea that women and girls are victims of continued misogyny and male power. So do we need to be liberated from the gender wars, or are they an ongoing fight for liberation? How equal are women and men today? And is there still a role for feminism?
Joanna will present her book followed by questions and comments from our critical respondent before discussion is opened up to the audience.
