‘LET’S SHAPE A WORLD FOR ALL’
Broadcaster Mariella Frostrup believes feminism has brought women a long way. Now she wants both sexes to work together
There is less scepticism about women’s abilities than ever before. Definitely and happily, the tide has turned when it comes to women being welcomed into 99% of professions, and leading teams and companies. We are definitely on the right track.
Feminism is like communism, it is a slightly outdated ‘ism’ – and whether you agree with the principles of it or not, the world has changed. What we are talking about now is a drive for equality. It is a time when the world has become a difficult place for many people who feel disenfranchised. We need to shape a world for all of us – there are boys struggling as well as girls.
My husband is a great cook and I’ve now got my son, who is 11, to make meals for himself. I realised I was scuttling around the kitchen after him while my daughter, who is a year older, makes her own food. Now he is on course, which I feel is an enormous step in the right direction.
I think women of my daughter’s generation will have a different attitude to sex and how they express themselves. When I was choosing stories for my book, Desire, I discovered a lot of young women were writing erotica and it was fantastic to hear their voices. It’s much healthier than the Seventies idea that you were only liberated as a feminist if you were sexually voracious. Now it is much more holistic – it is about desire and what makes you feel good, and women are much more confident about expressing this.
When you get to my age you think any attention is welcome, and you feel really stupid that you turned it down in the past by thinking: ‘Don’t say that about me, I am a feminist.’ I think it is very important that women have confidence in themselves and in their own judgement.
HAPPILY, THE TIDE turned HAS