Plus I am overdue for a long, hard look at myself and everything I believe in.
Many of my friends think it's quite funny that I now find myself 'working in the domestic sphere', or at least blogging in it and occasionally making a hashed up attempt to make things appear tidy and throw together some ingredients before they display obvious signs of mould into something vaguely resembling dinner.
I know this because they say things like 'look at you, all mummy and stuff!' and 'you call yourself a feminist!'
And while I know theyre kind of joking I also know also they're kind of serious, so it begs me to ask the question why can't women choose to be in the domestic sphere and also refer to themselves as feminists?
And why has feminism become such a dirty word?
Though a departure from the regular musings of bikes, bike racing, being pregnant and/or raising a kid and drinking coffee which is the usual foci of this blog, these questions actually have a lot more in common with this content than it would first appear.
Firstly, the different types of feminism.
I think this has a lot to do with the confusion around being ok with having a kid and being at home.
There are about a zillion potential types of feminism out there. If you want to be a pro-porn, cupcake-baking, motocross-riding, liberalist feminist then you just created a new type (probably, but if you identify with this type of feminism then I would love to get your details and maybe interview you for a blog post).
The reason that this kind of identity can exist is because of the history of feminism. First we have the first wave. This was way back when women wore skirts to cover their scandalous ankle flesh, in the early 20th century. Indeed, there was probably a lot of petticoats and parasols being bandied around equality pickets at this time.
The focus of first wave feminism was women's suffrage: the right to vote. Right on sisters, now we can gain a little bit of equality but there's a long way to go before we can thrust aside the corsets.
We fast forward past the bex-enhanced lives of many unfulfilled housewives up until the late 60's and then the early 70's when second wave feminism began to rock out.
This was a time of great change. We had the pill so birth control was a hot topic, and the scope of feminism was broadened beyond the legal rights of voting etc to more broad social issues such as sexuality, workplace inequality, domestic issues (birth control, as mentioned as well as divorce, and criminal issues such as rape and assault).
These were very important in the breaking down of women's place as the 'other', but second wave feminism also brought a fair bit of in-fighting to the fore, especially surrounding topics like pornography. Think labour party factions, but perhaps slightly more functional (don't kill me I am a lefty...).
We had socialist feminists on the one hand squawking about the inherent nature of inequality and gender division, using ideas of marxist feminists and their take on female oppression due to capitalist forces and the unequal division of wealth between the genders. Then we have radical feminism which again is similar but focuses mainly on the role of the patriarchy in female oppression.
Due to the nature of the debates that arose as a result of these feminist approaches, second wave feminism was often seen as a 'masculinised' form of feminism, think shaved heads, piercings, doc martens and the dismissal of the importance motherhood and constructs of femininity as we knew it.
By all means, this is an extreme example i'm depicting, but i'll argue that it's the one people conjure up when asked about feminism, even today. That or Germaine Greer on the telly saying something wacky (I do love Germaine, though).
Due to the in-fighting, especially surrounding the domestic sphere and pornography, third wave feminism developed, which is kind of like an appropriation of feminist values from different strands of feminism.
The take home message from third wave feminism is that of choice. It sought to assist in righting some of the pitfalls of the second wave and began in the late 80's.
So that brings us to the now, sorry for the history lesson. Back to my initial questions of why can't women be feminists and in the domestic sphere? Why is it that we (seemingly) relinquish the fire and fight to choose what we believe in and want to do with our lives when we work in the home? Why the heck is feminism viewed with disdain to the point where women today seek to distance themselves from the very notion of it, much less identify with the term?
Without having all the answers, I'll have a poke at this from my experience.
Women can be feminists and work in the domestic sphere. There's one question answered. The big difference between being a feminist in the domestic sphere or not is the choice to do so.
Many people, even feminists, have the viewpoint that to be a feminist you have to have an equal presence in the public sphere, it is after all what feminists have been picketing for for years. If you choose to have children the it is seen that the feminist will not give up her career for to automatically do so would be akin to relinquishing any power gained over years of struggle.
But it doesn't always work like that. When first wave, and to an extent even second wave feminism was around working in the home with children was expected. Opportunities were fewer for women to work in the public sphere so a huge chunk of feminism was about pushing women out there.
Come 2012, we have more women out there working. The politics of gender in the public sphere is still a very important topic that I believe needs continual refreshment in terms of equality (think we're there yet? We're not). However more and more commonly women have the ability to choose to work in the home.
The recent provision of paid parental leave in Australia has meant that it's a bit easier to make the choice to stay home, especially in a time when by many accounts the tide has turned and women are expected to be in the workforce.
Women can choose to work at home, if that's what they wish, while being a good feminist.
Being a stay at home mum doesn't relegate you to frilly aprons, baking brownies and taking Xanax to deal with it all. It can, though, if you want it to (but if the Xanax is prescribed due to the hatred of being at home I would perhaps argue that this isn't the best way to flex your feminist muscle).
I'm choosing to stay at home for a financial reasons, as a part-time worker and uni student can't cover the rent whereas my husband who works full time can. But we fully intend to have a reversal of roles in a few years, and that's ok too.
I choose not to bake brownies, though that would be a delicious thing to do, because for the most part I'm not that way inclined. I would rather read feminist blogs, get the shit done that needs doing, ride my bike and look after my kid.
So now that that ones answered (I think)... I pose the question of why feminism is such a dirty word.
As mentioned before, second wave feminism was super important however it was often the most extreme forms of feminism that got remembered. When talking about the patriarchy and capitalist oppression, I think it served to alienate the working and conservative middle class of the time.
What big words! The patriarchy? Rubbish, we don't have one of those!
Things were slowly getting better for women so we began to forget where we hailed from. These feminists were fondly remembered as 'man-hating bull-dykes' (not my term). While there were, without a doubt, a few that could perpetuate this stereotype around, it was by no means representative of the whole movement.
Nowadays, feminism is not often a hot topic, which I find rather sad. There is so much more that can be done, so much further to push. Why do women still get paid less than men for the same work? Why are female dominated industries paid on average so much less than male dominated ones? Why is contraception still largely a woman's issue? Hell, why are there sports with both genders represented in the Olympics, with the provisions for only a fraction of the amount of female athletes compared to male?
Feminism is where women have come from. It's why we can vote, work and show our ankle flesh. It's the reason we can choose to work in the private sphere. For me it's the reason I plan to race my bike domestically in the coming year, despite having a small child, and it's the reason that despite some people's best efforts: I don't feel bad about it.
