I’m tired of being told that discussing gender inequalities is from another time. Because by burying our heads in the sand on the subject, so-called inequalities persist, right under our noses. Do you feel them?
Some people turn a deaf ear. Yet it is obvious, like the nose in the middle of the face. There is even a certain Taylor Swift who sings it loudly on her song The Man. (I suggest her excellent clip, which she also directed and in which she plays a man, under her facial prosthetics and clothes). Let’s hope that the younger generation who attends his The Eras Tours concerts will not turn a deaf ear. This song by Swift is also found in the credits of the documentary Girls State (2024, directed by Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss), where we discover a political program given to young girls in Missouri in the United States.
These young, trendy women leaders from different backgrounds dive with fervor into this immersive experience of building a government. We want to prepare them to be interested in politics; hearing them talk about abortion, Roe v. Wade and other topics that concern them, is fascinating. Then, we quickly learn that the Boys State (which was also the subject of a documentary four years previously) is much better financed and respected, because they are the (real) leaders of tomorrow. What annoys these teenage girls the most? The injustices! The girls at Girls State are told what to wear and that they must walk in pairs for their own safety, while at Boys State it is freedom. Beautiful democracy.
Speaking of double standards, take the documentary series America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders (2024). Through 7 episodes, we follow the journey of young women who dream of becoming cheerleaders for the prestigious NFL club the Dallas Cowboys in Texas. From auditions to training camp and the NFL regular season, we follow the young women as they try to get (and keep) a coveted spot on the team. Under the cover of (false) solidarity, these young women are invited to create a team. In its search for the excellent one, the selection team justifies itself by excluding certain girls based on their physical appearance. What’s more, once they have completed the training and when they try on the uniform, they can be
quickly thanked, according to the size of their breasts, their buttocks, their weight, etc.
This physical criticism, within a sport based on appearance, is not surprising. On the other hand, what is surprising is that these athletes (beyond their makeup and their costume), must demonstrate shameless dedication, while they are far from being remunerated according to their efforts, their time of practice, or even according to the physical risks they assume (several end up in surgery – hip, knees, etc. – when they are not even 30 years old). The women in the series are nurses, lawyers, students, etc. Then, in the evening, they train to participate in the championship. All this while being poorly paid because “it’s prestigious to be a cheerleader for the boys club…” According to sources, young girls are paid $12 to $20 per hour for practices and $400 to $500 per hour. $ for games (and the NFL league pays the best…) Meanwhile, NFL players are paid millions of dollars. In 2024, Dak Prescott signs an extension to his contract at a cost of $240 million until 2028. At the top, a cheerleader is paid $70,000 and must try again every year, in addition to working 9 to 5. Great egalitarian team!
Of course, when looking globally, America’s small stories of gender equality pale in comparison to other countries. Consider the new laws regarding Afghan women. Now deprived of their right to education, women must cover their entire bodies in public, including their faces. What’s more, women should not be heard talking or singing in public. In short, if you walk around Kabul, you will see men and ghosts in the streets…
Becoming a shadow of themselves, women are condemned. The Taliban government, under the guise of the Ministry of Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, deprives half of the population of their basic human rights. Women are compared to animals, slaves of modern times (although their barbaric laws are not modern)! Recluse to the domestic sphere, they must do everything for the man and are prisoners (domestic and sexual slaves) of a regime which venerates men and considers women as objects. Ironic if we consider that it is these women who “carry” the offspring of men.
Having so little respect for women’s rights ultimately means having little respect for oneself. And this, in the name of “faith”… “A bird can sing in Kabul, but a young girl, a woman, cannot do it in public”, as Meryl Streep sadly pointed out. If the subject interests you, the French journalist and novelist Kamel Daoud has just published the book Houris, finalist for the Goncourt prize. In this work, which tells the story of a mute young woman in her twenties, Daoud condemns in particular “the complacency towards the misogyny of Islamists, which is wreaking havoc in Algerian society” (1).
That said, the West is not much better. Take this news item (and incredibly tragic) where a man
Now in his 70s, he drugged his wife in her sleep, then invited dozens of men to rape her for nearly a decade. Today the attacker and the fifty others plead guilty before a French court. (2) This is the horrible story of Gisèle Pelicot, but how many other stories like this remain silent?
