The woman who made a career change against all odds. The mother who struggled to keep her job, and still did it. The most admirable women are not those who portray a carefully curated image of themselves to the world, but the real life women who are everywhere: in the neighbourhoods of girls, in their schools, in their families, on their streets. Some of those famous and powerful women are indeed admirable, but many of them simply subscribe to feminism as the newest fashionable thing and do not really practice what they preach. I wish I could persuade those girls to look for the amazing female role models who live around them, because there are so many. Through my Inspiring Girls campaign - which connects girls with female role models - I see young women all around the world looking up to famous women they see in films, on social media, and in the pages of glossy magazines women with an aura, who speak long and often about 'empowerment'. When you hear famous women (and increasingly also men) in the arts, business and political world talking of feminism, just ask them: what do you actually do in practical terms to advance the cause of women beyond just talking about it? The key is not just in talking feminism, but in practising it challenging the current division of power in politics, in business, in your communities, in your house, in your daily life. As women are confidently claiming the power they never had, famous women, actresses, singers and top business women are rapidly subscribing to the feminist brand.Įven in the world of fashion we see the influence of feminism’s success: women’s clothes now have volume and take up space, instead of being the skinny narrow clothing that reduced us to invisible nothings in the past. There is no self-respecting woman who would not identify as a feminist now and even many men declare - proudly and rightly - that they are feminists, too. Most point to the #MeToo movement as a pivotal moment in changing this, though I suspect the real tipping point was the election of Donald Trump, which made something click for many women, not only in America but all around the world: the realisation that, even in developed countries, women’s rights may not just stand still, but actually go backwards if we did not fight for them.įeminism has become the latest fashionable brand. In fact, some would not even dare to say ‘feminism’ and referred to ‘the f-word’ instead. When women confessed we were feminists, it felt like admitting to a dirty secret. Feminists were supposed to burn bras, refuse to shave and passionately hate men. I am old enough to remember the time when feminism was not fashionable.
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