Hard Times TimesHard Gender in Britain - The Long Road to Equality Issue 102 (2/2018) ISSN 0171-1695 www.hard-times-magazine.org Hard Times founded by Jürgen Enkemann Editors of this issue Anke Bartels and Ingrid von Rosenberg Hard Times Editorial Team Anke Bartels, Georgia Christinidis, and Dirk Wiemann Hard Times Advisory Board NFO Aileen Behrendt | Sebastian Berg | Dietmar Böhnke | Stefani Brusberg-Kiermeier | Jürgen Enkemann | I Jessica Fischer | Jana Gohrisch | Frauke Hofmeister | Michael Krause | Irmgard Maassen | Luke Martell | Ingrid von Rosenberg | Christian Schmitt-Kilb | Jörg Strehmann | Stephanie Sumner Please address any enquiries to Hard Times Magazine Prof Dr Dirk Wiemann Department of English and American Studies University of Potsdam Am Neuen Palais 10 14469 Potsdam UBLISHING Germany P or [email protected] Layout by Aileen Behrendt and Stephanie Sumner Images on front cover by “Votes for Women Parade for Womens Suffrage March 3, 1913” by Djembayz, licensed under CC BY SA 3.0 “Pride” by filmbetrachterin, licensed by Pixabay “Transgender Toilet” licensed by CC BY-SA 4.0 Cover Design by Laura Niemeyer Editorial i Anke Bartels and Ingrid von Rosenberg Remembering Feminist History “They Laughed at Danger”: Reclaiming Space in Sally 1 Heathcote, Suffragette Anke Bartels Hidden No More: On- and Offline Rewritings of the 12 History of Women in Science Christine Müller 22 “MY LEGIONARIUS” from Bernardine Evaristo’s Novel The Emperor‘s Babe (2001) Introduced by Ingrid von Rosenberg ONTENTS Current Gender Discussions 26 Poet-Novelist Bernardine Evaristo on Gender, C Sexuality, Feminism, Masculinity and Race F An Interview with Ingrid von Rosenberg 32 The Making of a Man in British Films: How O Masculinity Is Constructed in the Editing Room Wieland Schwanebeck 42 Summer School “Political Masculinities in Europe: New Definitions, Methods and Approaches” ABLE Thomas Gurke and Kathleen Starck T 48 Mainstreamed into Oblivion? LGBTIQ+ Cultures in the UK Today Rainer Emig 60 Jay Hulme: I Am A Man A Poem by Jay Hulme with an introduction by Ingrid von Rosenberg Women’s Realities Today Austerity, Women and Right-wing Populism: The Case 66 of Monroe vs Hopkins Kirsten Forkert Giving a Voice to Women on the Margin 75 Poems by Sabrina Mahfouz with an introduction by Ingrid von Rosenberg Human Rights Are Universal. Aren’t They? The 79 Precarious Situation of Women and LGBTIQ Refugees in Britain Fanny Rotino & Sophie Rotino The Times They Are A-Changin’: Black and Asian 90 Drama in Britain ONTENTS Gabriele Griffin The Turner Prize 2017 – A Turning Point in the Public C 99 Recognition of Black British Women Artists? F Ingrid von Rosenberg In the Flesh - The Politics of Abortion in Ireland O 114 Jennifer Henke (The State of) Feminism Today ABLE How to Be a Feminist in the Twenty-First Century 127 T Georgia Christinidis A Blog of One’s Own: British Feminism and Social 136 Media in the 21st Century Katalina Kopka TV Sitcom Fleabag: How to Be a Funny Feminist on 146 Television. Or Maybe Not Annette Pankratz EDITORIAL Gender in Britain - The Long Road to Equality ENDER has in recent years very Germany did the same as well as several Gmuch moved to the centre of other European countries, followed cultural and human rights debates, by the US in 1920. It was mainly in almost surpassing but also intersecting recognition of their efforts during World with issues of race. The #MeToo debate, War I, less as a result of their passionate starting in the US in 2017 and eagerly campaigning in the pre-war years, that taken up in Britain and other European women were finally trusted to judge countries, has made people realise that, and decide in democratic elections. The despite theoretically achieved gender moment was not especially early, but equality, not only in the world of film others – to be just – acted much later: and the media but in many areas of in Switzerland, who would believe it, working life as well as in their families women got the vote only in 1971, in and private lives women are still Saudi Arabia – less surprisingly and frequently victims of sexual harassment only hesitantly – in 2011. The trust of and attacks. At the same time the public the British male MPs in their female attention in the western world to the compatriots did not reach very far in problems of the trans minority has been 1918: the Representation of the People heightened thanks to the growing output Act, passed on 6 February, granted the of autobiographies, novels, poetry, films suffrage only to women over 30 who met and art by an increasing number of minimum property qualifications, thus impressively creative trans people. So the excluding 60% of the female population. state of gender equality in Britain had It took another ten years until the voting become a challenging topic to investigate right was extended to all women on equal for Hard Times, and 2018 was the obvious terms as men, including the age limit of year to start our research: it was the 21. Nevertheless the first step to women’s centenary of women’s suffrage in the UK. equality as citizens was celebrated in 2018 not only by the Fawcett Society he UK was not the only European and other women’s organisations, but Tnation to give the suffrage to women with innumerable events by public at that particular moment of time: institutions all over the UK, including Page i Hard Times 102 (2/2018) Editorial major exhibitions in the Museum of to articulate specific demands for a London and the London School of different society. In the revolutionary Economics as well as special events in atmosphere of the time (inspired by the the Tate Gallery, the British Library, etc. civil rights movement in the US, the anti-Vietnam war demonstrations, the Prague Spring and students’ protests in many countries as well as the emergence of a permissive counter-culture – which, however, did all not include women on their agenda or kept them at the side- lines) the second wave of the feminist movement in England was born. Feminists’ demands for equality in all kinds of political and social sectors were first articulated at a famous meeting in Ruskin College in 1970. Astonishingly enough, many of these demands still seem very familiar and timely to us. This second wave with the famous slogan “The Personal is Political” was anything but a homogeneous movement: radical, Suffragette memorabilia for sale in the Museum liberal and socialist branches flourished. of London. © Photo: Anke Bartels Still, black women were not included in a way that took account of their special espite these many instances of difficulties, which led to the emergence public remembering, most of the D of a specific black feminism. This then aims of this first wave of feminism were paved the way for what was later called largely forgotten in the following decades. intersectionality, an instrument of analysis The backlash after both World Wars once that has become increasingly popular again turned the majority of middle-class since the beginning of the 21st century. women into housewives, while working- class women mainly worked in the low- espite all best efforts feminism paid jobs considered suitable for them. Dbecame subject to yet another It was only in the late 1960s (and here backlash in the late 1980s, which was the Dagenham Women’s Strike of 1968 fuelled by a conservative turn in Britain marks another important anniversary to and the US. Just as it had happened be celebrated in 2018) that an emerging to their sisters at the beginning of the women’s liberation movement began Page ii Hard Times 102 (2/2018) Editorial 20th century, their ideals were largely critique of the heteronormative matrix forgotten while they were reduced to revolutionised the way we now think of “bra burners” in collective memory with gendered and sexual identities. The field feminism itself becoming the f*- word, of feminism also opened up to further the “thing” that could and should not be theoretical variations, e.g. to identity spoken about. Sadly, in a not uncommon politics and a perspective that was strong generational reaction, young women on multivocality and a nuanced analysis took achieved progress for granted and which takes specific contexts and trusted their “girlie power” to realise their histories into account while avoiding personal wishes, not realising how much homogenising and essentialising moves. they fell victim to commercial interests. et have the continued discussions udith Butler and other third-wave Yof unjust gender relations led to Jfeminists finally put the importance women’s equality in all areas of civil life? Far from it, as a glance at the most important areas will show. First of all, take a look at their financial situation. By law everybody has the same educational and professional chances, but women often do not achieve comparable careers and thus have to cope with a lower income than men. Though almost half of the working population (46%) is female, women still earn 21% less than men. This is partly because more of them work part-time (as single mothers or taking the bigger share of family duties), but also because they tend to be employed in lower paid jobs than men, especially in the five “Cs”; caring, cleaning, cashiering, catering, clerical work. Low pay translates into © Photo: Michael Alves (https://www.pexels. lower pensions, and the benefit cuts com/de-de/foto/draussen-erwachsener-fash- administered by the Conservative ion-festival-2313961/) austerity policy have additionally worked of gender back on the agenda, but havoc: thus female pensioners and single in a new way. The notion of the mothers are the social groups that run performativity of gender along with a the greatest poverty risk.