Get Outraged!
Last night, I watched the feminist documentary ‘For Love or Money’ at my university. The documentary, created in 1983 by four prominent feminists at the time (Megan McMurchy, Margot Nash, Margot Oliver and Jeni Thornley), chronicles the working history of Australian women, and their contributions to both paid and unpaid labour from the years of settlement to today.
Watching the film, I expected to experience a sense of outrage for the past, and relief that things are so different now. Surely, I thought to myself, no working conditions could ever be that bad now. Women were working for less than half a man’s wage; relegated to ‘women’s work’, and marked as ‘unskilled’ workers; lectured on the importance of motherhood, and told that ambition is selfish.
Thank god things aren’t like that now! Right?
Wrong. As I sat there, waiting for the sense of relief and liberation to wash over me, I suddenly realized that every injustice suffered by our foremothers still exists today – it’s just dressed differently.
Women may not be working for less than half a man’s wage, but the pay gap between men and women is still at 17%, and female graduates from university can expect to be paid less in their first jobs out of their degrees than their male peers.
Certain areas of work are still culturally designated as ‘women’s work’, and treated accordingly. Child care, nursing, retail and teaching are just some of these areas, and they also have traditionally the worst working conditions.
And don’t even get me started on the whole career-woman vs mother debate! That women are expected to inherently consider the balancing of families and careers, and are judged according to their decisions, is a travesty, and one that can only be described as gender-based discrimination.
It’s enough to make me go a little crazy, and I spent the rest of the evening talking to my fellow feminist friends and getting more and more outraged. The worst part? Most young women aren’t even aware of these inequalities. Women’s liberation is thought to be over and done with, irrelevant, the domain of whining, unhappy girls with nothing better to occupy their time.
I know that, for many of you, all of this is nothing new. So why aren’t we doing anything about it?
Or, more importantly, what can even be done?
This is a fantastic point, it’s still there, dressed differently and it makes me think of that line in Mona Lisa Smile where Julia Roberts says “I’m sorry but from where I sit it’s just a different kind of corset”. I feel like this is a bit of a catch 22, you’re damned if you do and you’re damned if you don’t, especially because society can be so judgmental, even when it’s unintentional and it takes real ‘woman balls’ to stand up and be confident in our actions.
I recently watched dateline with a feature on The Pink Gang that I’d like to share and find it very appropriate for what actions can be taken about making a change. It inspires me.
One woman, Sampat Pal, making waves in womens rights in India, simply by standing her ground and demanding fairness. She leads demonstrations, converses between people of power, runs on the ground mediation and family conflict support and more. The group now has 40 000 members that are collectively known for their bright pink sari’s and fight for their rights in a new age.
http://www.sbs.com.au/dateline/story/about/id/600347/n/The-Pink-Gang
Dear Zoya,
thanks so much for writing about ‘For Love or Money’ last month and linking the issues to now (I have included a link to Ann Summers recent review of a new book; and she is also thinking about – then and now: what has changed and what hasn’t.
I am one of the filmmakers of ‘For Love or Money’. It seems to me we need to make Part 5! The film ends in 1983. Every IWD day the film is screened which is great. It is a classic, no doubt. It’s how you saw it. And in 2009 it screened at Avoca Cinema (NSW) to a capacity audience of high school students – and introduced by historian Lyndall Ryan (who was the consultant on the Penguin Book we did at the time).
But a film for the 21st century is required now. I have spoken to two of the other filmmakers on the team (we made it as a collective and it took 6 years) – we are still filmmakers, two of us also teach film at UTS, and we all agree – about making Part 5. So keep in touch with me on this. it would be great to get some input from younger feminists about what kind of film is needed. Maybe we can meet and discuss with you some-time.
with best wishes, Jeni Thornley
Ann Summers reviews : The tyranny of self-perfection; Living Dolls: The Return of Sexism by Natasha Walter
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/arts/anne-summers-review-living-dolls/story-e6frg8nf-1225856039481
Hi Jeni,
Wow, I’m glad you read the article and enjoyed it! It’s quite an honour to have one of the filmmakers of such an amazing documentary read my words.
I agree with you that there is a lack of feminist documentaries or filsm that focus on contemporary issues, and it would b amazing to have a Part 5 of ‘For Love or Money’.
I’m sure lip would be very keen to be involved in promoting or assisting with the project, if it does go ahead!