Well Done Patriarchy - You've Had A Great Week!

So we all know about that overarching dementor-like thing that lurks over us women, pulling the chair out from under us whenever we feel like we are finally on top, smirking at us when we ask for a promotion or payrise and laughing at us when we "talk like men". Yep, I'm talking about patriarchy, who has had a fantastic week - so a round of applause for what good old patriarchy! *insert severely sarcastic tone when reading the previous sentence*

Reinforcing our lack of faith in our Criminal Justice System  

As most of you might realise, I am constantly glued to Twitter, whether it be to see what my favourite writers are getting up to, get some creative ideas or just to follow the news, I'm always tweeting away. So it was no surprise that I was online when the news of Ched Evans came up.

Initially, I was shocked, I fully believed that he was guilty, but I figured that there must have been overarching fail-proof evidence to allow for this verdict. So, you can imagine my disgust when I read that the crucial evidence against the girl had been given by two of her past sexual partners (neither of whom was present at the scene, might I add). In 2016, this should not be the way to trial a case, you should not base a rape verdict on whether or not someone enjoyed a certain type of sex in the past. That"evidence" doesn't mean she wasn't raped, the poor girl had a huge amount courage to make a claim against such a high profile player, she endured death threats and assault attempts when she spoke up. And to have her entire case dismissed based on her past sexual experiences? Well this, ladies and gentlemen, is the reason women who are abused don't speak up, why they remain silent and why the abuse continues. Whether you like it or not the CJS's response to victim's of sexual and physical assault directly correlates to the likelihood of people coming forward. Why would they? When they're so likely to be victim blamed and dismissed from the outset? There are countless examples of this, and just when you think things are moving forward something like this happens. Go figure.

Normalising Sexual Assault 

This one is pretty self-explanatory, but can someone please explain to me how we got to a point where we have a candidate running for The President of America who openly boasts about sexually assaulting women? Can we really go from Obama to Trump? Really? It seems unlikely, but then look at Farage and Boris, it could happen - it did happen.

I know there has been a lot of backlash over the Trump tapes, with several of the republican candidates pulling out of backing trump. Which on the one hand is good, but on the other hand, let's not forget that they are the same men who vote against abortion and equal pay. Trump has time and time again sexually objectified women, treated them as second-class citizens and even gone so far as to admit that he would sleep with his daughter. Yet still, the women who support Trump stand by him, and the men normalise, mitigate and brush his comments under the rug and good old patriarchy rules out again.

The one ray of light we got out of this was an exceptional and a heart breaking speech by Michelle Obama. In it she tries to reassure people that sexual assault isn't normal, it's not okay and it sends a terrifying message to children.

The Gender Pay Gap Continues 

And the cherry on top of the cake, and the one thing that really gets me is, of course, the gender pay gap. I call on the government to get every young girl in the same room and look at them in the eye and tell them: it doesn't matter how much you work, what grades you get or how you act - you will never earn the same as a man. Talk to them about how the plastic bag tax has raised billions for the economy but how they can't close the gap. Tell them they are worth less than those plastic bags. Because that is what it boils down to.

New research, shows that men earn up to £85,000 more than women by the time they reach their 50s. The study also shows that this starts as soon as women enter the workforce, thereby we are being screwed over at every opportunity. Just look at Asda, only now have the court ruled it applicable for the women to take the supermarket chain to the courts over unequal pay.

So there you have it, a smashing week for patriarchy. Less so for us women, but all we can do is let our anger fuel us, use it to fight against the normal and hopefully one day it will be the driving force behind us becoming equal to our male counterparts in every aspect of life.