Today I had one of those moments when I realized that I had been running very hard just to not lose ground. If you had told me several decades ago that the gains women had made in the United States could easily slip away I would have accused you of having excessive levels of cynicism. Today I fear I would have to agree.
Today women have less access to reproductive services than they did a decade ago. Legislation aimed at protecting women is being repealed. Institutions designed to service women are underfunded. More disturbing is the perception among many that "since feminism has served its purpose" feminists should fade away.
Is it wrong to feel that one should not have to fight the same battle year after year?
In my younger days I used to try to imagine what the 21st century would be like - I visualized:
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- rape and teenage pregnancy largely a thing of the past
- 50% of the world's wealth in female hands
- in TV ads and sitcoms and movies scenes of food preparation and child nurturing and house cleaning featuring men 50% of the time because that was what REAL LIFE was like, more or less
- the almost complete disappearance of words like policeman, fireman, chairman etc.
I wondered how close we would be to all this by the 21st century. Draw your own conclusions.
The Kidd