On BBC Radio 4 the other day, I listened to an item about public statues. The main nub of it was that there is a dearth of statues that honour women.
I thought to myself - Well that's no surprise! Let me explain why. In past times, women had far fewer opportunities than men to become famous by leading armies, exploring the planet, making scientific discoveries, composing symphonies and becoming political leaders. Women invariably played supportive domestic roles - running households, raising children. There was little time left over to do anything else.
Besides, the way that societies were structured meant that men were the principal breadwinners. A woman's place was usually in the home. Here in Great Britain, ordinary women only got the vote in 1928 - less than a hundred years ago - which is like the blink of an eye in our history.
In World War One, my grandmother Phyllis White joined the war effort by working in a Sheffield munitions factory alongside hundreds of other young women. It was a dangerous, dirty occupation and yet it sent out a message to the British establishment. It said women are not stay-at-home wallflowers, they are vital players in our society and deserve equality. The times were indeed a'changing.
Next to Sheffield City Hall there is a statue called "Women of Steel" that recognises the key role that women played in munitions and steel production during the two world wars. See the picture at the top which I snapped in 2017.
Generally, I much prefer statues that honour ordinary working people rather than specific famous individuals. The domestic duties that women undertook and continue to undertake in the majority of homes should not be sniffed at. Such work enabled societies to develop, allowing men to fight wars, build houses, make political speeches, sail ships across the seas and till the soil. Without women quietly plugging away in the background far less would have been achieved.
Rather than scraping away trying to find individual women to honour, it might be better to make statues that memorialise the underpinning but unsung domestic roles that women have played through the centuries. Here are four possibilities - thanks to A.I.:-
Great topic. What is past is gone. what are we doing now but giving women another job besides the one they have at home. It's not that long ago that the teacher salary for women was less than men. It's not that long ago that maternity leave came in. With all the changes there is still not equality.
ReplyDeleteImprovement in women's rights happened so very recently in the course of human history. In the western world at least, we have come a long way in just 100 years.
DeleteI love your statues! Yet even now, in many homes, women still do the bulk of the housework even while holding down a full time or part time job. I know a few households where the men do just as much housework as the women, but equality within the house still isn't the norm.
ReplyDeleteI must admit that I am guilty too. My wife loves looking after the house and doing the laundry etc..
DeleteJust before I saw the statues I cottoned on and thought there should be a memorial to all the dishes we wash. And laundry. But mostly dishes. If I never washed another dish it would be too soon.
ReplyDeleteWomen provide the necessary back up to the people doing the more noticeable tasks
Dishes? Ever heard of a new-fangled invention called "the dishwasher"?
DeleteHere in Germany, incredibly enough we're still having a gap of about 20 % in payment for the same job done by a man or a woman - and that's NOT just because many women do not work full-time. This unjustice rankles with a lot of people but somehow companies still get away with it - everything else is so heavily regulated these days, why not this?
ReplyDeleteAlso, as far as I know, it was not until the early 1970s that women were able to take jobs and open a bank account without their husband's consent. Can you imagine?! And yet this is barely 50 years ago, at a time when humans had already flown into space and stepped on the Moon!
The inequality remains even more evident in the developing world. Women still have a long way to go.
DeleteI especially like the last one. With a nephew with toddler twins and a four year old, it isn't easy, and nor was it easy for my niece who had twins and suffered extreme post natal depression.
ReplyDeleteThere is an active programme in Melbourne to have more statues to honour women.
My partner's mother worked in a munitions factory during WWII, Vickers I think, while his father was in the navy in Singapore, admittedly as a ship cook. Winston must have called all the ships back as he sacrificed Singapore, as Sammy was never in danger.
R's brother in law worked at Vickers for most of his adult life. He retired but was asked to return for a couple of years, with good inducements. He did.
There's more to life than money!
DeleteWhere is the statue of Bianca the voluptuous and buxom barmaid and exotic dancer with her snake Eric who works Quiz Nights behind the bar at the Hammer and Pincers YP. Seriously great women statues. Not one Hoover in sight.
ReplyDeleteDrat! I should have asked AI to produce a woman with a hoover!
DeleteThey could be in pairs, accompanied by statues of men lazing on a settee with a bottle of beer, lounging in a pub putting the world to rights, sleeping in bed, "sitting on a park bench, eyeing ...". You could offer to pose as a model.
ReplyDeleteIn statuary there are already far too many men.
DeleteThere is already an Andy Capp statue in Hartlepool Tasker.
ReplyDeleteIt is not called Hartlepool Tasker, it's just plain Hartlepool!
DeleteI'm not sure about statues memorializing household drudgery, but I agree that more statues of women in general would be a good thing. There are many of women in London, including Florence Nightingale, Emmeline Pankhurst, Edith Cavell, Virginia Woolf and Boudicca. (Certainly more of men, I know.)
ReplyDeletePersonally, I prefer abstractions by the likes of Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth.
Henry and Barbara were both from Yorkshire you know so You have excellent taste young man!
DeleteI like statues that celebrate working men like coal miners so I wouldn't mind seeing a few statues of women going about their everyday labours.
I believe that there are probably plenty of women, many of them unheralded, who are worthy of statues that do not involve endless, mindless toil on their knees. Women scientists, doctors, inventors, business entrepreneurs, educators, heads of state, artists, writers, designers, mathematicians...
ReplyDeleteThe list goes on.
The fact is, is that under patriarchy women are taught from our earliest years that our true mission in life is to sacrifice and ignore the very things that men are encouraged to do and then honored for doing.
Even as I wrote this blogpost, I was wondering how you might respond because I was already aware of your strong views on the subject.
DeleteAnd trust me- I have done my share of all the things those statues represent but when it's all over, I really do not want to be remembered for ironing. Even child raising, which has been my most important achievement, is something that we are all, as humans who have reproduced, responsible for.
DeleteOne of my grandmothers worked during WWII, she really enjoyed it, but felt obligated to leave when the war was over.
ReplyDeleteWorking in wartime helped women to achieve greater equality.
DeleteThose AI generated statues really ought to exist! :) ... They also made me think of a statue of a woman with a handbag that has become quite famous in Sweden. You can read about it in English here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Woman_with_the_Handbag (Based on an individual story but has still grown to be regarded as symbolic too.)
ReplyDeleteHow wonderful that Danuta Danielsson has been immortalised by making a statue based on such a powerful moment in time.
DeleteI'm agreeing with Mary Moon on this. So many women did not get credit for their work and we've only been finding out in the last several years about all of the many contributions that they have made in all fields (not just the domestic field)!
ReplyDeleteI'm not too fond of those statues, Neil.
Nowadays women are making their mark in various fields but I do not think that we should dismiss domestic tasks as if they were not worthy of recognition.
DeleteOh, women have gotten plenty of "recognition" for domestic tasks. But in our society, we also need income which is earned through work. REAL work. Which housework and child raising is obviously NOT because no one pays us a cent for doing it. Everyone praises the mothers for their role in society but no one offers them a salary for doing it.
DeleteI'm happy to say that my sons with families are very involved in their domestic situations and don't leave it to the wives at all. It's not just women that can do these tasks. :)
DeleteBut historically, that is how it always was Ellen. Today, in our western world at least, we are further along the road to equality.
DeleteI too, agree with Mrs Moon.
ReplyDeleteOne of the "best" excuses about unequal pay that I was told, years ago, was that men should earn mpre (for the same work) because they had a family to support. In many cases it was not always true, but a way of keeping women's pay low.
Those AI statues are awful and look American rather than European, so not suitable for Sheffield. It will have to work harder to turn out international, or European, images! Had to laugh at the first one of the woman ironing the folds in her skirt!
I guess that the biggest strides in AI have indeed been made in America.
DeleteDoes the woman with the children have three arms? A third arm sure would have come in handy when I had toddlers!
ReplyDeleteHa-ha! Well-spotted Kelly! She does indeed have three arms.
DeleteA splendid tribute, Ne(AI)il.
ReplyDeleteI acknowledge your praise with typical equanimity.
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