Whilst true gender equality hasn't been
reached in this country despite the hard work spanning centuries of
countless women I've slowly begun like many others to embrace a new
way of thinking. Though not disheartened enough to believe that I
could have no personal impact upon gender inequality, it's fair to
say that I alone am unlikely to succeed in changing certain
perceptions where so many others before me have not. My reasoning and
subsequent approach has therefore become somewhat different. Rather
than enter into long winded debates and discussions with those whose
views will never change I have begun instead to embrace their
prejudices and turn them on their head in order to use them to my own
advantage.
It has always been frowned upon for a
woman to use her looks, femininity or sexuality to her advantage.
We've all heard the jokes and seen the disrespect shown to women,
often by other women, for seeming to achieve success through
abandoning their principles. There is no place for empty principles
standing in the way of a woman achieving success. Progress and change
can often only be made from the inside, and I for one applaud women
who don't allow sexism to get in their way or make them feel inferior
irregardless of how they chose to do so.
This leads me onto the subject of a
woman that I respect very much; former managing director of
Birmingham City FC and current vice-chairman of West Ham United
Karren Brady. She started that first role at the age of 23 having
convinced David Sullivan to buy the club and let her run it. It has
been (strongly and quite possibly correctly) rumoured that she 'slept
her way to the top'. Indeed David Sullivan himself commented that as
a young attractive female she would undoubtedly attract publicity for
the club.
Whenever I heard these rumours I found
myself not wanting to find out if they were true or not but instead
just not caring. For me it seems silly that as a society we accept
that men in powerful positions may sleep with younger,
more-attractive females below them in the employment hierarchy
(simply because they can), but we judge the female in this
circumstance to be a moral-less floozy. Between her arrival at the
club and her departure in 2008 Brady demonstrated that it was
possible for a woman to be just as able as a man in the world of
football, and greatly increased the female percentage of her
workforce- she both changed perception and changed the statistics; if
she did sleep her way to the top I would applaud her for sidestepping
the barriers in her way and going on to remove them from within.
Eleanor Roosevelt said that nobody can
make you feel inferior without your consent; words I try to remember
at all times but more importantly words that are important for all
females to remember. Actions speak louder than words. For me, burning
bras or self sacrifice has never appealed; I feel no sense of shame
in making the best of a bad situation or furthermore turning a
negative situation into a more advantageous one. Whilst there is
still gender inequality, seizing upon what positive discrimination we
receive is not a back step at all. It is instead a way of bypassing
the system and achieving what you want from life. I'd rather have and
embrace the opportunity for me to prove myself and my worth than to
never even be allowed the chance. Ideally I wouldn't want there to be
a choice between one or the other, but I don't think we can safely
consider ourselves at that stage yet.
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