Lucy Ward Wednesday July 2, 2003 The Guardian
Feminism and the fight for sex equality are seen by the public as outmoded concepts which are failing to address the strains of modern lives, according to research published on the 75th anniversary of women winning equal voting rights.
A study commissioned by the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) and published today found that feminism is regarded virtually unanimously in negative terms, ranging from old-fashioned to "ball breaking".
Those questioned felt women were more equal than ever before and believed that issues such as women's greater domestic role or concentration in lower-paid jobs are the result of individual choice and natural differences between the sexes which had to be addressed by individuals rather than, as the women's movement argued, society as a whole.
The findings of the Future Foundation study, Talking Equality, have sent shockwaves through the EOC, a government-funded body charged with promoting sex equality; it considered withdrawing parts of the report but then decided to publish.
The commission is today also highlighting other research stressing the continued existence of inequalities such as the 19% pay gap between men and women and the strains caused to the lives of both by changes in employment.
The study found terms used by sex equality organisations, such as gender equality, pay gap and work-life balance are widely misunderstood or thought to apply only to "high flying" women. The organisations' work and that of other equality bodies was seen as being too rigid, out of touch and at risk of protecting, and even promoting, those who were not the most vulnerable.
Those questioned were particularly wary of any form of positive discrimination, branding it discriminatory. "Very dangerous because it breeds resentment," one young man told researchers.
Backlash
The findings, which are based on a sample of 35 selected individuals and are billed as "indicative rather than representative", are certain to be seized on by critics of equality campaigns as evidence that "political correctness" has created a predicted backlash.
In fact, however, the results are more complex, revealing that almost every individual questioned had some personal experience of inequality, and identifying widespread concern that social inequality and discrimination continue to exist.
While the study hammers another nail in the coffin of the term feminism - one woman interviewed suggests it has "become as outmoded as the suffragettes" - it also uncovers a strong feeling among respondents that society is still sexist, particularly in the workplace.
Though there was some confusion over the meaning of the term sex discrimination - "Jordan on the telly and using her sexuality and stuff like that" said a man in Glasgow - and an antipathy to the word equality, people supported the idea of fairness and equal chances.
A key challenge for the EOC and other bodies campaigning for gender equality is the apparent resignation among those questioned to inequality in the workplace and elsewhere. "There is a strong sense of needing to take personal responsibility for problems faced, and to get on with life," the study says.
One single mother said: "You'd be on Valium for life or Prozac because you'd be there thinking I'm so hard done by. Whereas you just think, oh well, such is life - I'm healthy, my kids are healthy." Women also told researchers they would not challenge discrimination in the workplace for fear of personal repercussions.
Sue Tibballs, co-author of the report, stressed that it had not identified an end to inequality. "It is almost a fashion thing. It is not that the experience has changed, or that people think everything is solved, but the idea of inequality has become old-fashioned. The challenge for those promoting greater equality is almost one of communication."
Equality bodies would have to respond better to the fact that people now saw their identities as complex, and did not want to be targeted as part of groups, such as by gender, but as individuals, Ms Tibballs said.
Disillusion with the capacity of campaigns and mass movements to change things reflected a wider shift away from political ideologies and disengagement from the traditional political process.
The EOC's chairwoman, Julie Mellor, said the Future Foundation report confirmed commission findings that most people have experienced discrimination at work. She argued that apparent resignation over changing things reflected the fact that individuals could not address barriers such as costly childcare and the pay gap on their own, rather than a "vindication of traditional roles".
"Seventy-five years on from equal votes, it is about removing the barriers that constrain people's choices, so that if women want to work or work part-time it should not mean they have to have lower wages."
The Fawcett Society, which is also marking the equal votes anniversary with a call for more effort to address the pay and pensions gap and women's under-representation in public life, warned against "over-interpreting the report".
Its director, Katherine Rake, said the EOC and other organisations should not take a fatalistic view that people were content to suffer inequalities or skewed gender roles, but should work harder to show people how their individual lives connected with a bigger picture which could be changed.
Special report Gender issues