Crises have a habit of shining a light on members of the public we need the most. During a pandemic, our NHS workers became our heroes. Correction: more people realised they are the heroes they've always been - they've just never been thrust into the spotlight like this before. Supermarket shelf stackers: thank you for risking your life for the convenience of our bog roll purchases. Charity volunteers helping the homeless: what would our streets look like without you? And whilst these previously unsung heroes are helping or even saving lives in different ways, one commonality is their gender.
Women, due to our biology, tend to be the natural caregivers in life. Whether or not we are actual mothers, there's usually a maternal instinct - expressed either as the care of a younger sibling, an adopted niece, a family pet, or even a doll growing up. When it's time to sacrifice ourselves and perform our duties for others, we tend to not say no.
Sure, at least part of this is also down to social conditioning. (My goodness, can you imagine what people would say if a woman declined to care for someone or something else other than herself? What a selfish woman. A man? Hey, it is what it is.)
So when you throw career, ambition, and entrepreneurship into the mix - this makes for an incredibly taxing situation. When faced with the realities of our financial imprisonment, more often than not, the idea of running a successful business quickly dissipates into a pipe dream for a lot of women.
The fact that we've slid back in time for feminism after so much fighting is a thought that's more than I can bare.
Last night, I watched Dallas Buyers Club for the first time (don't judge). Set in 1985, in one scene the protagonist (alright alright alright) asks to see a doctor, not a nurse. The doctor is a woman and she asks him what's wrong. He asks her if she's fucking deaf, she tells him she's a fucking doctor. This exchange would NOT be out of place in 2021. 1985 is before I was born. How much longer is this going to go on for?