History is not Herstory - Village Magazine

5 0 March 2016

CULTURE

History is

not Herstory

Herstory is the

Future

by Michael Smith

It was an unequal world when they made God a

Man, it was unequal in 1916 and it’s still unequal

because women earn less, are less powerful

and have less autonomy than men. The point

is to change that by counterbalancing

essthan30%ofthewritersinVillage

arewomen.Andonly30%ofthearti-

clessubmittedforpublicationcome

fromwomen.

What’sgoingon?

Village is politically correct and right-on.

Uniquelyitnever,totakeanexample,markets

magazinesbyputtingattractivewomenonthe

cover.Villagetakesprogressivesocialtheory

seriously.Itconsistentlytakesthemost‘liberal’

stanceonabortionandreproductiverights.

Mostofall,andthisiswhatdeterminesso

muchofitsstance,Villagebelievesininconven-

ientandpricklyequalityofoutcome,notshiny

andfriendlyequalityofopportunity.Inother

wordsnotjustopeningupforall,butgivingthe

worse-offanactualleguporaquotatocom-

pensatefortheiniquitiesofhistory.Thisapplies

towomenasmuchtoanygroup.

ThenewDáilwillhaveonly35womenoutof

158.Thisisamore-than-50%improvementsince

2011andthenumberoffemalecandidateswas

upto163from86in2011whenityielded22

womenoutof166(upfrom3in1973and22in

2002and2007).Nationally,theaveragenumber

ofrst-preferencevotespermanwas4,205.For

women,itwas3,260.Villagehasgivenagood

bitofofspacetowomenwhowanttochange

this,tomovetowardsftypercentfemalerep-

resentation in parliament. The Electoral Act

2012,amusinglypromotedbyPhilHoganand

opposedbyFiannaFáil,appliedagender-quota

rulethatpartieshadtohaveatleast30%candi-

datesofeachsexortheylosehalfoftheirstate

funding.AllpartiesexceptDirectDemocracyIre-

landappliedtheirquota.Villagesupportsthis.

Isupportthis.That’spolitics.Weshouldpush

forimmediateprogress,everywhere.

Historyandculturearedifferent.

TheAbbeyTheatregotintotroublerecently

becauseonlyoneofthetenauthorschosenfor

its1916commemorativeprogramme,Waking

March 2016 5 1

theNation,wasawomen.Othertheatresand

lmbodieshavetakensimilarak.

Arecentratherunconvincingevocationofthe

Rising,Rebellion,madeeffortstoportraythe

eventsofthaterawithwomentothefore.

Idisagreewiththeseapproaches.

AstotheAbbey’sProgramme,whatifthe

womentookbog-standardanti-feministposi-

tions,wouldtheystillmeritadvancementinthe

programme? Is it that a third of the writers

shouldusuallywritepro-feministpiecesorisit

thatthethirdshouldhavewrittenpro-feminist

piecesinthisinstance?Shouldtherealsobea

certainnumberofworksproducedthathave

beenwrittenauthors from racial minorities,

from theyoungandtheold,from LGBT and

straight?Shoulditbethesamewiththeactors?

Whatabouttheaudience?Theanswertomuch

ofthisisNo.

Andasregardshistory,you’retryingtorecord

thewaythingswere:history.

Youshouldn’t,andyoudon’tneedforany

politicalreasonto,distortit.Allyoucandowith

historyisacknowledgeandletitinform,though

neverdetermine,yourpolitics.Forthesame

reasonthatyoudon’tmaketherulingclasses

workingclassesoryoungerthantheywerein

theinterestsofsomeperceivedcorrectness,

youdon’tpretendthatwomenweretheprotag-

onistsintheRising.Unfortunatelytheywere

not.

Ialsodisagreemoregenerallywithdistorting

thefactstosuittheideology.Theideaunder-

pinning politics is to resolve the facts

objectivelyandthenapplytheideology.Notthe

otherwayaroundunlessyouthingyourideol-

ogyissoweakthatitwon’ttcertainfacts.In

whichcasechangeyourideology,itwaswrong.

Whenthefactsdon‘tsuityourideologyitis

timetondanewideology,orstayquiet;and

morepreciselytorealiseyoushouldhavehad

abetterideologyintherstplace

Thedebateonwomen’srightshasbecome

unintellectualised,entrenchedandsometimes

underinformed. For example a recent only

partly-correctedUnaMullallyarticleintheIrish

TimesmisreportedthatFiannaFáil’spolicywas

tohave“uptoathirdofitscandidateswomen”.

Sheridiculedthepolicyeventhoughthepolicy

did not, and legally and logically could not

have,saidthis.Itwouldcertainlyhavebeen

niceforthoseofuswhobelievethatthepoint

ofthatpartyisonlyevertoadoptprogressive

agendas,attheverylastminute,ifFiannaFáil

hadgotitsoskewed,buttheyhadnot.Between

UnaMullallyandheremployertheycouldnot

bring themselves to correct the article

properly.

Thereasonforthepoliticsofwomen’sequal-

ityisthatithasbeenanunequalworld.

It wasanunequal world when they(men)

madeGodaMan,itwasunequalin1916andit’s

stillunequal because women earn less, are

politicallylesspowerfulandhavelessauton-

omythanmen.Onlyafoolwoulddenyit.

Becauseofthelegacyofthousandsofyears

of suppression women have not written as

good,orindeednearlyasmany,playsasmen.

Womenalsowritedifferentlyfrommen,largely

forsocio-culturalreasonsbutalsosometimes

for reasons based in their physiological

natures.

Thepointistochangethatbycounterbalanc-

ing.Women oftodaywho want it andshow

talentshouldgetmoretraininginplaywrighting

paidforbythestateanditsinstitutions,than

thatavailabletosimilarmen,particularlytrain-

ingthathelpsthembreakdownprejudicesand

thatfacilitatesovercomingsexistobstaclesto

success.

Anadmirablerecentlyannouncedinitiative

fromtheIrishFilmBoardisdoingroughlythis.

Suchinitiativestendtogenerateequalityof

outcome.

Regrettablyintheartsitwillbesomegenera-

tionsbeforethevolumeofbrilliantworksby

womenrivalsthevolumeofbrilliantworksby

men,createdovertheaeons,evencontrolling

for the heightened relevance of

contemporariness.

Itisdifferentwithpoliticswhich,unlikehis-

tory,doesnotorshouldnot,tradeinthepast.

Itispossible,indeedimperative,topushfor

progressivechange.Itis,becauseofthenature

of thediscipline,andtheperiodinwhich it

trades – the past, not possible to push for

changeofanysortinhistory.

Politicaljournalismisperhapssomesortof

hybridofpoliticsandtheculturesofitswriters.

The appropriate imperative for the former

suggestsequalityofrepresentationisagoalin

itself;theappropriateimperativeforthelatter

thattheculture,includingthepoliticalculture,

ofwritersismoreimportantthantheirsex,par-

ticularly in an aggressively anti-sexist

magazine.

PerhapsVillagediceswithhypocrisyinpub-

lishingsofewarticlesbywomenauthors.Italso

receives far fewer unsolicited contributions

fromwomenandmanyofthosedealwithcul-

ture, feminism or reproductive rights. The

reasonisprobablythatVillageisaggressive

andoften‘adhominem’.Ifsomeonelies,Village

willcallthemaliar,notallowthemspaceto

explainthelie.Ifthereisanyessentialdiffer-

enceoftendencybetweenmenandwomenitis

theirrespectiveapproachestoaggressionand

nailingpeople.

Assumingyouareindeedwhatyouread,Vil-

lageisnotJohnWatersanditmaynotquitebe

Una Mullally but it is certainly not Jennifer

O’ConnellorRóisínIngle.

It is never weakness to recognise reality.

Indeedwecanneverarrestinequalityuntilwe

recognisewhereitfallsandhowextensiveits

reachis.

Butsocietyshouldmovetogenerateheight-

enedparticipationimmediatelytocompensate

fortheiniquitiesoftheages.

So… in politics, advance women through

genderquotas.Intheartsandpoliticaljournal-

ism, advance women with education, and

traininginhowtoovercomesexistobstacles.

Meanwhileifyou’reawomanwhowantstonail

ourmale-drivenpoliticalclassorthecorrupti-

bleregression-monsterthey’vecreated…the

addressisontheeditorialpage.

...and less aggressive, according to the Editor