EMAIL FOUR, KIRSTY TO JOANNA

Hi Joanna,

The article about Sheila Rowbotham in the Guardian on 22.10.08 reminded me about the "four still hugely relevant demands of the movement: equal pay; equal education and opportunity; 24-hour nurseries; free contraception and abortion on demand.

I have been pondering my lapse of memory in the previous email and agree with Sheila that what has happened in reality since the 1970s is "in some ways much more than we imagined and, in some ways, very much less." I am struck by the collapse of apparently straightforward idealism. The trouble with equal pay is that comparisons were, and still are, often made by those with traditional patriarchal attitudes. Society itself regards merchant bankers until very recently as apparently worth eye-watering sums of money, whilst those involved in child care are still as badly paid as in the 70s. Yet, does monetary reward bring happiness? Not necessarily. On the other hand, thousands of people desperately need more money for the basic necessities of life. Legislation on equal pay was an important first move on this topic but improvements iin the lot of women in the face of the rampant capitalism of recent years have often been few and far between.

24-hour nurseries - would we want them? What about the growth of the nanny state?

Equal education and opportunity. I went to a cousin's funeral this week. I was struck by the fact that most of the women who attended the funeral had not progressed beyond O levels at school. Many were in low-paid, dissatisfying jobs. Here I think there is some cause for optimism, for real change crucially in the expectations made of women have taken place.

Free contraception and abortion on demand are again, relatively speaking, success stories, although the recent stories in the news about the position of women in Northern Ireland, makes us realise that there is still much to be done and that these are rights that many women in diverse countries of the world still have to fight for.

So Kirsty, I find myself thinking, why did you have that lapse of memory? Perhaps it is something to do with the concreteness of these demands. Women are still brought differently from men with damaging results. My interest in psychoanalysis postdates my interest in feminism. Lapses of memory are rarely, if ever, accidental.

Over to you again Joanna!

Love Kirsty