Why Feminism is Ruining My Career

So, whilst aimlessly trawling TV I found myself watching ‘Black Girls Rock Awards’. Black girls do indeed rock, but does having an awards ceremony dedicated to woman, and more specifically black women, hinder or help the cause for equality? I personally find them to be hindering. That being said, as a charity I love what ‘Black Girls Rock’ do- on the most part, and as I’m so pale that I glow in the dark, I also feel that I’m not in a position to comment fully on the Awards. However, I can comment on Woman Only Awards.

Whilst I’m not aware of any white ‘Woman Only’ Awards ceremonies, I am painfully aware of women having separate awards in more mainstream ceremonies. Here would be a good time for me to mention that I completely understand having separate awards for Male and Female athletes/sportspersons. Woman and men, in general, are physically different and on different levels within sports for various reasons from funding to general physical differences.

Having awards that differentiate men and women in fields such as business, music and journalism however, is not just upsetting, it’s offending. Whilst competing for a place in college, my gender was not taken into consideration. When I applied for university, my gender was not taken into consideration. My whole academic life, I have not had to just complete against women to get where I am, I’ve had to compete against anyone else whose wanted to be in my position. So WHY once I finally get to the height of my career am I then being forced into a category for being a woman?

This isn’t just a man made position either, within every institution on every level, there are women pushing for this gender separation that isn’t just pushing the gap between men and women, it’s encouraging it. If you’re a student like I am, look at your college or Universities Union, I bet they have a women’s officer. The NUS (National Union of Students) has a full time PAID woman’s officer. They pay a woman, to be a woman, to talk about being a woman to other women. How is this ONLY offending me?

Equality is something that throughout history people from all over the world have fought for. Woman’s equality has been a battle that has been hard fought and is still going. There are so many inequalities between genders for example: there is still a pay gap between men and women in positions of power, sexism is still something I witness on a daily basis, there are still states in America, cases in Ireland and places all over the world that refuse abortions.

Equality is something that we have to strive for together regardless of sex, ethnicity or sexual orientation. So while we still have officers for Women and awards for single sexes nothing will ever change.