Araminta Hall on living post-MeToo
Is it time to admit we hoped for more, asks the author of our January Bookclub pick
A couple of weeks ago at The Shift Bookclub Live, Araminta Hall (author of our January pick, One of The Good Guys) posited the question, had MeToo, well, if not exactly failed, then flagged a little? The response from bookclub members was fascinating. Sadly we only had an hour or I think we would have been there all night. So I asked her to write a piece for The Shift fleshing out her theory.
Has MeToo failed? Does it need a second wind? I hate writing these words. I hate how click-baity they sound. I hate how annoyed they make me feel. But, the truth is, I am annoyed. More than annoyed. More like enraged. MeToo was an amazing moment, brought about by brave and inspiring women and yet, six years on, I’m starting to wonder what, if anything, has fundamentally changed about our day to day lives.
I come from a generation of women who have probably seen more change and debate surrounding what it means to be a woman than any other. I was born in the 70s, a time when women were meant to be creeping out of the kitchen, but rarely were. My parents were pretty liberated – my father certainly didn’t expect his dinner on the table or his shirts ironed, but that’s still what he got. And my fun, opinionated, blue-haired mother, who could have run a large corporation, had to be content with running a house.
My teenage years were spent under Mrs Thatcher’s gaze, a woman who had risen to the top but didn’t seem to, well, care about women. ‘Have it all’ was the mantra of the time, a weird phrase that basically just added to the female load. Who remembers that ad for, I think, a brand of tights, in which an immaculately coiffured woman ran along the street wearing a business suit and holding a briefcase and a baby? It’s insane to look back and think that was ever the goal.
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