Dr Who, what!
WHEN the producers of the quintessentially British TV series
Doctor Who, revealed the next Doctor was to be Jodie Whittaker, pictured, even Whovians were divided.
A woman, some cried, surely not!
Even past Doctors were at odds with each other over the role going to a woman after 12 males piloting the Tardis over a period of 50-odd years. Peter Davison, the fifth Doctor, lamented the loss of a role model for boys after Jodie’s elevation to the most desirable job on UK television. He said: “As a viewer, I kind of like the idea of the Doctor as a boy but then maybe I’m an old-fashioned dinosaur — who knows?”
Well, Colin Baker, 74, the sixth Doctor, knew exactly and said of Davidson’s thoughts: “They (boys) have had 50 years of having a role model. So, sorry Peter, you’re talking rubbish there — absolute rubbish. You don’t have to be of a gender of someone to be a role model. Can’t you be a role model as people?”
It pretty much matched my thoughts to a tee. The bastion of the British Empire, good old Aunty BBC had finally given, not only tacit but actual and definitive approval to the concept of gender balance. To us aficionados of the program, the Doctor represents a higher being, a non-mortal in the accepted sense of the word.
His regeneration is accepted understood and considered quite normal.
Its inclusion in the script was actually accidental, and caused by illness to the first Doctor, William Hartnell, necessitating bringing in a new actor to complete the series.
I’m rambling here a little, but we all have a little extra time to muse over the Christmas break.
The point is, I thought that with the BBC’s casting of a women in a traditional male role this was some sort of acceptance that the world at large is casting off the old preconceived concepts of male and female in those circumstances where it is applicable. And, no, I can’t and don’t think I could accept a female James Bond, of course.
So with the Beeb as my measuring stick of what is accepted as the new norm, I thought I would have a look at how gender equality is progressing in Australia and around the World. Surprise, surprise, despite the imprimatur of the most conservative broadcaster in the world, gender equality simply isn’t progressing in any meaningful way. To give you some indication of how badly gender parity is going, let me quote from the opening statement of the 2017, World Economic Forum: “The global gender gap has widened for the first time since the World Economic Forum’s report was first published in 2006, bringing to an end a decade of slow but steady progress towards improving gender parity. This year the average gender gap stands at 32 per cent, compared with 31.7 per cent last year. This reversal has been driven by declining gender parity in both the workplace and in political representation.
Iceland has led the international table for gender equality for the past nine years with a ranking of 88 per cent towards the ultimate goal. You will also not be surprised Scandinavian countries occupy three other spots in the top five.
Despite Australia ranking as first for educational attainment for women in the World Economic Forum Global Gender Index, its overall ranking in gender equality has dropped from 15th in 2006 to 46th in 2016.
Australia ranks 42nd in women’s economic participation and opportunity, 72nd in health and survival, and 61st in political empowerment. Not a happy scenario for those who care, and I think we all should. But don’t take my word for it, look at what Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary-General said in 2015: “The world will never realise 100 per cent of its goals if 50 per cent of its people cannot realise their full potential. When we unleash the power of women, we can secure the future for all.”
So, unusually ahead of trends, let’s hope the BBC’s example can inspire others to do something about the gender gap we have so much trouble addressing, and do something for a change.