STOP WHINING, GIRLS!
‘‘Do two sexisms make a decency?’’asks author, critic and writer Elizabeth Farrelly.
Her column in Fairfax newspapers yesterday sported the headline: “The new feminism: if it’s girly, it’s good”.
Farrelly (left) says she swears off female-oriented websites and “girly” groups and organisations that attempt to address gender imbalance.
She says of successful architect Zaha Hadid, ‘‘She didn’t bother whingeing about work-life balance… She just did it … Build something brilliant, funny, sweet, enchanting, weird, crazy – I don’t care. Do it, and they’ll come.’’
It is seductively simple logic.
If your work is good enough it will be rewarded. And why wouldn’t it, because gender does not matter, right? Men and women are equal now.
Thing is, the statistics on gender bias in the arts (and nearly everywhere else) suggest the issue is not so simple.
Although statistically, women buy the majority of published novels, and although about equal numbers of women and men are published (yay!), women are still vastly underrepresented in awards and reviews.
In Australia, for instance, 70 percent of the authors reviewed in The Weekend Australian in 2011 were male, and of the authors reviewed in the now defunct Australian Literary Review in 2011, 81 percent were male.
Likewise, the Financial Review featured 79 percent male authors. These depressing stats are also reflected in major overseas publications.
The lack of female authors recognised by the coveted Miles Franklin award (ironically named for Stella ‘Miles’ Franklin, a woman who had to use a man’s name to be published) is so notorious that it recently spawned the Stella Prize for women.
As novelist Dr Kerryn Goldsworthy, a former editor of Australian Book Review and a former member of the Literature Board of the Australia Council, says, ‘‘Most of the unconscious bias I have seen in the literary world, and I have seen a great deal, has been to do with the male-centered values of a dominant culture whose values most people wrongly think are universal and gender-neutral.’’
What about film?
To quantify women’s representation in movies we can use something called the ‘‘Bechdel test’’, created (originally in jest) by cartoonist Alison Bechdel. To pass the Bechdel test, a movie simply needs to have at least two female characters who talk to each other at some point in the film about anything other than a man.
Easy, right? Except that a remarkable number of films (many I dearly love) fail this test. Out of the nine films nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars last year, only two clearly passed the Bechdel Test.
Gender bias is often unconscious, and it is not the fault of any one film, TV show, newspaper, radio program, editor or individual. It is not even the fault of one gender.
Though the Bechdel test has real limitations, when applied to groupings of popular or award-winning films it does illuminate the fact that the majority of movies are still made from the male perspective, with male characters telling stories about men’s lives.
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35 Responses to this article
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wendy james June 15, 2012
In the literary world, what’s considered to be ‘serious’ and therefore worthy of reviews is unquestionably filtered through a masculine prism. It always makes me laugh ( in a hollow kind of way) when ‘domestic’ fiction written by a man (Franzen immediately springs to mind) is hailed as a masterpiece, when domestic fiction written by women – no matter how beautifully, sensitively and compellingly written – is dismissed as middle-brow at best. Looks like we can’t understand or express our own lives as effectively as a man can — all to do with our high Ph and low IQ, I guess.
And when it comes to our own bodies – conception, contraception, all that jazz…pffft. We’re obviously clueless.
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Tara Moss June 15, 2012
I don’t see anyone asking for a ‘free ride purely on the basis of gender’, Midnightblue. Female-oriented websites (like this one) and women’s initiatives are attempting to give women a voice and address an existing and long-standing imbalance. I feel that is a legitimate goal.
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Robyn Oyeniyi June 15, 2012
I agree with Tara.
Let us see what happens with my memoir. written by me, a woman. Would it have a better chance if I were a man? Or is my husband was white?
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Robyn Oyeniyi June 15, 2012
Never type comments on smartphone keyboards. The above should of course read “Or if my husband was white?”
I had another thought about gender imbalance, which is not perhaps obvious at first glance.
When my husband’s visa was initially denied, one of the reasons given was that he had not sent me any money. He had not been allowed to work for two years in Australia, was returned to a third world country and had 4 children to support. I am a qualified professional in a senior position in one of the strongest (if not the strongest) economies in the world. Yet HE was supposed to send me money? I am reasonably confident had I been the man in the relationship and he had been the wife, that line of reasoning would not have been considered. I have no proof of that, of course, but think about it.
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In Tempore June 15, 2012
This gender-equality-amounts-to-50%-in-all-categories line is 100% counter-productive to your cause. It’s immediately dismissed as ridiculous by male logic: what, so we need policies to encourage more women to own utes and drink beer?! The innate differences in gender manifest differences in what we do. Yes, men have taken advantage of this, but you won’t overcome it your way. It won’t reform men and you’ll end up with an oversupply of ute-driving, beer-swilling women – which, perhaps, is the point of Ms Farrelly’s piece.
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Tara Moss June 15, 2012
In Tempore, I agree that 50/50 on every activity is not a realistic goal, though I hardly think a more equal voice in media and the arts should be dismissed as a legit objective. With regards to your example, perhaps you have forgotten that women were not allowed to drive (utes or anything else) or enter bars (to drink beer or anything else) before policies were changed? Isn’t it at least worth discussing what barriers may still exist and how we can try to overcome them together?
There is no doubt that this issue is more complex than numbers. But it is also more complex than traditional ideas about ‘innate differences in gender’.
It’s an interesting topic and I hope the discussion continues.
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wendy james June 15, 2012
That’s the thing – we’re all so different – complex & contradictory: “containing multitudes” as some famous fella once said. No reason you can’t read Hilary Mantel, design opera houses, drive a ute, watch the rugby, bake cupcakes AND attend a sewing circle…
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Jen June 15, 2012
The whole time I was reading this piece, I was thinking about Fair Work Australia’s equal pay ruling for social and community workers.
These workers have been paid much less than equivalent public servants and one of the reasons FWA cited was (their mostly female) gender.
These workers help and look after the most vulnerable people in our society. They see disadvantage in all its forms and yet they too have been discriminated against.
As long as these pay rises remain unfunded by government, the inequality continues.
I’m not a social or community worker, but I know lots of them and they’ve got big hearts and minds.
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Carli June 15, 2012
I have read the original opinion piece twice now and I don’t think I can go there again. I think she had some nuggets of truth in there but it was so overshadowed by her remarks on women writers and whingeing.
This argument that feminism subscribes to one ideal is beyond me and not helping the feminism cause if you ask me. I also think there are far more important issues to address. I loved Tara’s original piece on invisible women.
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Nat June 15, 2012
The premise that if you work hard it happens isnt that simple.
I work in a male dominated feild and a male dominated workplace. Mostly it is great- flexible, caring and supportive. Yesterday a clients secretary told me in her most patronizing voice “if he wants to call you back, he will make the effort to” despite me returning his call!
Then there are the requests to be put through to the scientist – cause clearly being female I’m not the scientist or engineer.
It doesn’t matter how good I am- I am always behind male colleagues in new clients eye. This has made me stronger and better because I don’t have the luxury of saying “I’ll check and get back to you” like I’ve seen my colleagues do. Doesn’t mean it don’t suck. -
shelley June 15, 2012
I like what Farrelly said about the architect not complaining but just getting on with it. That, in fact, is the crux of the conundrum. The ‘life/work balance’ is a construct applied by people who like to sum things up into a nice phrase. Working and being a mum has always been a juggle, once upon a time being a mother/home maker was a juggle. There are always too many things to be done in not enough time. The key, in my opinion, is the grace in which all these things are managed. There is no yardstick measure by which we have to comply, we are our own masters. Just please don’t whine about the juggling, it is a huge statement of the obvious. Here in the first world we have so many advantages but imagine your juggling included obtaining fresh water from a far-distant well, having to construct a fire to cook on etc. day in and day out. So yeah, when you think about it, just get on with it. Reward yourself, find your own happiness and try not to compare your life with that of others. Life is full of inconsistencies and things that do not seem fair. The challenge is how to make the best of it. Are you up for it?
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Keziah Hill June 15, 2012
I always worry about women who seem not to like women. I got to the bit where EF claimed she didn’t read women writers and got cross and impatient. Such a strange world view to have.
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The Huntress June 15, 2012
This is not really related, but I remember watching an interview with Tara on TV many years ago – with Andrew Denton perhaps? Can’t quite remember who, but I do remember thinking what an incredible woman I was watching on my TV screen. Intelligent, articulate, telling witty anecdotes and not to mention a wonderful radiating beauty (I know, not very feminist of me, but it’s true!). A true role model for women of all ages – keep up the great work Tara, it’s a pleasure to read your work, keep it up!
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Annie Also June 15, 2012
And we have not even touched on female playwrights, producers in theatre and directors.
This is the field of my eldest daughter.
Try sitting across the table from John Bell and expressing your newfound ‘speil’ for a Shakespearean production….
All of a sudden there will be a silence and a patronising nod.
You will be sent from the room knowing you have ‘failed’ coz you ‘didn’t play the game….We have a plethora of female playwrights and theatre practitioners in Australia and they are up against a brick wall…it is soooooo male controlled and the females are so competitive that the pain is excruciating.
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Valerie Parv June 16, 2012
“This is what more female representation in the media looks like. Get used to it.” Well said Wendy, and great article, Tara.
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Tara Moss June 16, 2012
Though I only covered stats on media and the arts in this particular piece, I cover this and other important issues like equal pay and parliamentary representation here, for anyone interested:
http://blog.taramoss.com/index.php?itemid=798 -
Valerie Parv June 16, 2012
Just tweeted your link, excellent blog, the stats are alarming, particularly “the million dollar gender tax.” I’m writing a movie at the moment, primarily a romance, but will run it through the Bechdel test and make darned sure it passes.
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Maddie June 16, 2012
I recently discovered the Hoopla site and think it is great. I couldn’t agree more with Wendy’s comments. I love politics, books, quality magazines and newspapers, films, sport and I care about issues that affect people all around the world. So this site fits the bill for me.
PS Wendy, so glad Amanda Keller is on Commercial AM radio, just like you she is gutsy, funny and has a heart. I just wish some of the younger women would listen to her rather than that other dreadful obnoxious and uninformed duo on 2pain fm.
Congrats everyone on your website.
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hoolee June 17, 2012
@wendy – I used to assist-produce an AM radio show with a female presenter, and we never ever had interviews about lipstick or girl’s bits. (Mostly it was gardening or theatre.)
I have been wondering for a long time if my book would get published faster if I withheld the irrelevant information that I am female from publishers. -
Kate June 23, 2012
Currently in my town in the Upper Blue Mountains west of Sydney that may be familiar to Tara Moss there are three different sporting clubs offering team sport for boys. There are ZERO sporting clubs for girls. Despite numerous of attempts our local council will not fund a netball court. It has been suggested that the girls can “join in with the boys” and play soccer. There is a cheerleading squad that they can join for the local rugby league team. Awesome hey?
When women’s voices are not heard in the media our experiences are lost to the mainstream.
It is all about the boys. We can “join in” but it is their game and their rules.
Go the Hoopla !
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blue July 7, 2012
“Stop whining, Girls.” Truly, I don’t want to read an article that is addressing women, but uses in it’s header ‘girls.’ Why are so many women so uncomfortable using the word ‘woman’ and use ‘girl’ instead. What are they really saying about how they want to perceive themselves and have others perceive them? Are they demeaning themselves? There is an early morning tv show that has a segment on it called ‘Girls on the Couch’ or somesuch. The few times I’ve watched it there has never been a girl amongst them. They were/are all women. This may seem pernickity but I can’t work out why women who have fought so hard to be treated as they should be; as equal and grown up, capable of adult thought and equal pay for equal work but who would want to refer to themselves and other women, as girls? That they don’t take pride in being women. Women can be funny, silly, entertaining, intelligent, thoughtful etc. and have a joke. So can girls. But if you are 30 or over you are a woman, not a girl. It’s demeaning, people. Two decades ago before the evolvement of our ‘youth culture’ I would have thought 21 turned you into a woman when referencing yourself or other women over that age.
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Tara Moss July 9, 2012
Hi Blue,
The headline refers to Elizabeth Farrelly’s comments (‘Stop self-obsessing, girls’ etc), as does the word ‘whining’. Hope that clarifies.
Best wishes, Tara
