in brief: beyonce pens essay on gender equality
Image: Wikimedia Commons
Continuing on her path to becoming the Modern Day Saint of All Things Awesome, Beyoncé has penned a letter on the myth of gender equality.
Over the weekend, Maria Shriver, along with the Center for American Progress released The Shriver Report, a national research paper on the status of American women.
The report includes research and essays from prominent feminists, academics, female politicians, and celebrity philanthropists, focusing on ‘women on the brink’.
Shriver writes, ‘These are not women who are wondering if they can “have it all.” These are women who are already doing it all – working hard, providing, parenting, and caregiving. They’re doing it all, yet they and their families can’t prosper, and that’s weighing the U.S. economy down. Finding out why that is and what we as a nation can do about it is the mission of this report.’
Enter Beyoncé.
The singer instructs everyone to ‘stop buying into the myth about gender equality. It isn’t a reality yet.’
She goes on to encourage men to ‘demand that their wives, daughters, mothers and sisters earn more—commensurate with their qualifications and not their gender. Equality will be achieved when men and women are granted equal pay and equal respect.’
‘We have a lot of work to do, but we can get there if we work together. Women are more than 50 percent of the population and more than 50 percent of the voters. We must demand that we all receive 100 percent of the opportunities.’
Though many of these statistics are already widely known, it’s definitely refreshing to read the words of a celebrity who continuously empowers women everywhere.
For more wisdom from amazing females, The Shriver Report can be downloaded for free onto Kindle.
I think it’s actually counter-productive for feminism that, when a research paper compiled by a range of female academics, politicians and celebrities into the status of American women is released, the headline and story is all about the fact that Beyonce wrote one of the articles.
It sends the message that, if you’re a pretty and powerful celebrity, your views on feminism are more interesting and insightful than the views of the less glamorous. It’s also hard to take from a woman who wouldn’t be in the position she is in if it was not for her looks, it reminds me of when Jennifer Hawkins was promoted as a body image ambassador.
Idolise Beyonce as a brilliant pop star, by all means, but by idolising her as a feminist only perpetuates many of the problems (eg. body image) that feminism is trying to overcome.