Persist and Prevail!

How many people realised, noticed or even cared that March 8th was International Women’s Day, or that the whole of the month of March is designated as Women’s History Month?

The Radio Times

The covers of the Radio Times during the first two or three weeks of March 2023 didn’t offer many clues. In fact, any passing alien looking at some of the front covers, would be hard put to know that women even existed.

It wasn’t much better once you looked at the programme menus inside the RT, which, remember, does seek to inform much of the population about the multitudes of viewing and listening opportunities available every week.

If you searched the pages covering March 8th (International Women’s Day), you might have noticed the occasional nod to it – Film4 screened ‘Little Women’ and Radio 3 valiantly celebrated forgotten women composers. BBC Sounds and Lucy Worsley did their very best too,  But there was not much else going on unless you believe that a repeat of  The Six Wives of Henry VIII has any validity.

Little attention was drawn to the many events happening throughout Britain and the rest of the world. There were few high profile references to issues affecting women or how to donate to the charities dedicated to supporting them. Iran, Afghanistan, reproductive rights, domestic violence, poverty, equal pay and online abuse were pretty much absent from the headlines. And apart from Radio 3 doing its bit, there was no special celebration of women’s achievements. Just the same old stuff.

Comic Relief

But now, jump forward to the front cover of the Radio Times for the following week. Once again only men were allowed here. But there was something else too, for at the top of the page was a reminder of Comic Relief, with a picture of a red nose and a quote from Richard Curtis. And inside, for March 17th , gosh, a whole page of photographs of celebrities, with sections on how to donate, a big interview with Richard Curtis and a full evening of programming from 7pm onwards. Comic Relief T-shirts could easily be picked up in TKMaxx. Plastic noses were everywhere.  Unlike IWD T-shirts, which required a patient internet search.

What is going on?

So, almost everyone knew about Comic Relief, but how many people knew or cared about International Women’s Day? And as for Women’s History Month, does it really happen in the UK or is it on halfhearted loan from the States, where it has a bit more heft?

Of course, during this March, thousands of women have attended joyful events, have joined in important discussions and have written and read perceptive articles. Important and relevant new books are being published and issues like violence against women and girls are receiving serious attention.

Perhaps there is something  more  complicated  going on here. Has it simply been the case  that no-one has wanted to take it on, to amplify it, to make it a major non-missable annual event like Comic Relief? Has big business decided that there is no real commercial value of the kind so readily associated with Valentine’s Day or Mother’s Day? Or is there some trepidation about opening Pandora’s Box?

‘Humankind cannot bear very much reality’*

Recently, Gary Lineker’s tweet about the refugee crisis transfixed the United Kingdom. It dominated the headlines, provoked arguments, caused amusement and indignation in equal parts. Questions were asked in Parliament amid much pompous huffing and puffing. There was a ‘Spartacus’ moment from his co-workers. The focus quickly shifted from the harshness of the treatment of refugees, towards the BBC, and a for-or-against mini drama was played out in public.

Comic Relief raises millions of pounds not because it relentlessly emphasises searing details of poverty and deprivation, but because the pain is tempered by the entertainment.  Well known comedians amuse people, show compassion and distract from the awfulness of things by making us laugh. It is all carefully crafted.

In ‘‘Hard Times’ Dickens creates a world of the circus, a joyful and chaotic place which contrasts starkly with the grim fact-driven world of industrial Victorian Britain. Mr Sleary, the lisping circus master, tells the hard hearted Mr Gradgrind:

‘People muthd be amuthed. They can't be alwayth a learning, nor yet they can't be alwayth a working, they an't made for it’

But the huge issues affecting women can’t easily be made cosy, or turned into a feel-good evening’s viewing. We are talking here about half of the world’s population and the intractable problems faced by so many. As this blog is being posted, Louise Casey has released an excoriating review of the Metropolitan Police, which will be a hard and terrifying read for us all. Life for women and girls in Iran and Afghanistan is not improving, and many American women have lost their reproductive rights. Misogyny is rife. But perhaps some things are simply too tough for many people to dwell on.

‘Nevertheless she persisted’

This three word rallying cry has been adopted by women working to break barriers and bring about change. It was originally used by Mitch McConnell as a criticism of Senator Elizabeth Warren when she was silenced by the US Senate, but it was pounced upon by the women’s movement and used to refer to all the other women who are being silenced or ignored – not McConnell’s intention at all!

It’s an inspirational phrase, and it reminds us of the powers of persistence and fortitude. It’s certainly not comfortable to hear about misogyny, rape, coercion, exclusion and the other horrors that women can be subjected to. But we have to keep banging on about them. And at the same time we must applaud, celebrate and learn from all those extraordinary women who are doing their level best to bring about change. 

It’s unlikely that any of them will ever appear on the front cover of the Radio Times (Kiefer Sutherland has already pinched this week’s spot) but their legacy will be much more permanent.

*T.S.Eliot. The Four Quartets