Generation gap?
As the backlash outlined by Susan Faludi continues, there has been a rush of articles about the new feminism. Well known — or soon to be well known because they are well publicised by the establishment media and academic world — feminists issue controversial rhetoric about the generation gap faster than the speed of sound.
Older feminists claim the new generation has given up the fight, and younger feminists claim older feminists did us wrong. We've heard from Camille Paglia and her younger protege Kate Roiphe. In Australia, Anne Summers' "Letter to the Next Generation" accuses young women of rejecting the banner of feminism and all that the second wave fought for.
The impression you get from the latest addition to the debate about contemporary feminism, an article in the Australian entitled "New wave feminists defend the faith" is no different. The article featured young women — presumably representative — who declared the "fact" that feminism had moved beyond the public sphere into the realm of the private.
The feminists chosen to repudiate Summers' accusations that young women just don't care about feminism any more were an interesting bunch. They included the president of the Victorian branch of the National Union of Students, Liberty Sanger, and a national industry research officer with the National Union of Workers, Natalie Sykes.
The problem is, neither really did repudiate Summers' assertion. Sanger claimed the anger that had fuelled Summers' generation had dissipated. I'll have to remind myself of that next time I get harassed walking down the street, or next time a friend gets sexually harassed in her workplace, or next time someone can't get a job in a non-traditional area because of discrimination in hiring, or next time a woman gets raped, or the next time a women's service loses its funding, or the next time — Sorry, I get angry sometimes.
Sanger says what women are working for today "cannot be achieved through legislation, it's about relationships, it's subtle". She also declares "targets such as child-care have been won." I'll have to remember to tell that to my neighbour, who lives in a resource-poor neighbourhood and finds it nearly impossible to organise activities that involve children in the area because the facilities aren't available. I'll tell her Liberty said so.
Sykes didn't have a great deal to offer young feminists either. Feminism, apparently, can now consist of telling your arsehole boyfriend not to be so much of an arsehole. Leaving aside the question of those who do not have boyfriends, it's not much of a strategy for tackling the broader issues.
It is true that the expectations of the new generation of women are higher. Things have changed a great deal. We do have more opportunities in many ways than our mothers had. But this doesn't mean the fight is over, by any means.
It is important to know that the gains we enjoy now were won through struggle. It's also important to recognise that it's not over. In order to prevent the erosion of the gains we have won, and to win those that have not yet been won, we must continue to build a strong women's movement that recognises the systematic discrimination against and oppression of women and organises against it. That's how we'll have a third wave.
By Kath Tucker