Days when we sang I Am Woman

IT was Helen Reddy’s 76th birthday last Wednesday She’s the one who had the monster hit in 1972 with the feminist anthem I Am Woman. You’re familiar with the lyrics… I am woman, hear me roar… I am strong… I am invincible… I am woman… and so on.

It was cheesy admittedly but those were heady days when women seemed on the verge of having it all. Now it feels as though the female sex is being disappeared all over again. The Foreign Office (yes, the Foreign Office!) advises that the phrase “pregnant women” should be replaced by “pregnant people” to save the feelings of the minuscule number who are pregnant but “identify” as men. Meanwhile at one of the great universities I’m told students are encouraged by the union to use the pronoun “they” instead of “he” or “she” for fear of offending those who are neither.

Then the other day I glanced at the details of a writing competition for women – it doesn’t matter which. But it was not simply open to women, it was open to people who “identify” as female. Which as far as I can see means anyone can enter, so why bother to flag it up as a competition for women in the first place?

Life shouldn’t be any harder for trans people than it already is. But I do feel a proprietorial attachment to my own gender. I don’t identify as a women for heaven’s sake, I am a woman.

I don’t suppose Helen Reddy’s gutsy song would be given air time any longer, for fear of offending etc etc… you know the rest.