Feminism rules OK

Posted by Barbara on January 8, 2024 in Blog, feminism, Human rights, Living today, Politics, Rants, Women's equality issues | 2 comments

What better way to start the new year than with a good old angry feminist rant?  Two things have happened to me in the last few days that have reminded me that every single vehicle that supports women’s equality and independence is as relevant now as ever before.

Instance #1: earlier this week the other half or OH (who is male and shortly you will understand why I am pointing this out) and I returned from a short break, whose final stage involved a short taxi ride from the station to our house.  The taxi was booked with the same company we always use. It was evening time, we were tired and also still suffering from heavy colds acquired over Christmas.

The driver wasn’t quite where we expected, but a phone call sorted that out. When he appeared there were a series of minor trials: I couldn’t work out how to open the passenger door of his cool Tesla, we had to ask him to open the boot for the luggage – he did not leave the driving seat or assist in any way. Once in the car I asked him to close the passenger door window and he shouted at me to close the door, which I hadn’t realised was still open. He started the engine, at which point the OH pointed out that the boot was still open, and it might be a good idea to close it. He then shouted at us both to fasten our seat belts

His GPS took us rather a long way round, but hey, but when we arrived in our street he tried to stop several houses down, although there was plenty of parking space outside the house. I asked him to move up a bit and he insisted on parking across the road. I commented that this wasn’t that helpful, and then he said it. He turned to the OH and said ‘She seems very tired.’ Shall I repeat that? ‘She seems very tired’.  How best to communicate my response? Let’s say I did not swear but told him in no uncertain terms that I had no idea how he viewed women, but in the UK in 2023 ‘she’ was only ever ‘the cat’s mother’ – a wonderful expression my mother always used.  I said a lot more besides and I did complain to the cab company.

Instance #2: as damesnet readers know, I am very active in the European Movement, running a local branch, serving on the National Council and also on the Executive. This last post is up for re-election and I was contacted by a male rep on the Council who wanted to vote for me but was curious to find out how I could help increase diversity in the organisation.  We arranged a call, and had an interesting conversation which turned to our personal politics. He said: ‘Actually I’m a member of a party that you probably haven’t heard of’. Sic. Genuinely intrigued I asked which one. ‘The Women’s Equality Party’, came the reply.

Collapse of stout party.  For the second time in 4 days I found myself having to sort out a bloke.  Oh the irony that his mansplaining comment came in a conversation he had initiated about diversity.  After I had replied pretty crisply that remarkably I knew rather a lot about the WEP he had the sense to apologise, and I had the grace to accept it.

Message to dames one and all – keep on trucking, we ain’t won yet. Happy New Year!