Another Lib Dem woman who inspires many – in fact, she makes a mission of Inspiring Women is Miriam Gonzalez Durantez.
She has written for the Telegraph about the need for men and women to work together to make life better for the next generation of boys and girls.
She outlines the threats to hard-won progress:
In the US, President Donald Trump is putting into question women’s reproductive rights; in Russia, laws are being considered to decriminalise some aspects of domestic violence.
Just last week, a Polish MEP declared that women should earn less than men because they are “weaker, smaller and less intelligent.” Breitbart, the right-wing website pioneered by Steve Bannon, now Trump’s chief strategist, has claimed that birth control makes women unattractive and crazy. And so on.
Women still suffer from society’s expectations:
Many still judge us, women, primarily by our commitment to set up and dedicate ourselves to our families, a commitment that is a truly personal one (and those who judge us often have not made such commitment themselves).
Most accept it as “natural” for women to be responsible for most of the domestic chores. Some think that throwing casually sexual remarks at women at the workplace is just “a bit of fun” – including, incomprehensibly, fun for us. There are still too many people who never measure a woman’s achievements, because they’re far too busy measuring her thighs.
There are signs of hope, though:
The marches for equality in the US and around the world, following President Trump’s inauguration in January, were full not only of women – but also men. And despite there now being 15 female Prime Ministers around the world, it was a man, Barack Obama, who said that Trump’s comments on women disqualified him from even running a convenience store.
In Iran, husbands are organising to fight for the rights of their wives. In Saudi men are taking to social media to do the same. Many do it for their daughters, sisters or wives. And many do it out of a simple instinct for justice, decency and respect.
She talks about a new campaign supported by her Inspiring Girls organisation:
This year Redraw the Balance is highlighting the lack of prominent female characters in animation – something that leads to children having an unbalanced view of society from a very early age. Only 29 per cent of all animated lead characters are women. Dora the Explorer is desperately looking for some new friends.
She concludes that the fight for gender equality is not just for women:
I do not want my children to live in a society where girls feel second rate, just as much as the fathers of those girls do not want the girls to feel second rate.
Delivering a society for the next generation, free of sexism and gender discrimination, is not about women against men – it is about women and men working together for boys and girls.
You can read the whole article here.
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