Congratulations to Victoria Williamson (Year 13) who gained Second Place in the Dawn Ibbotson Essay competition.

Victoria's essay is worth a read and is printed below. This is the same competition that Audrey Hayes came Third Place in; Audrey's essay was published last week.

What IS this thing called equality?

Through the years, my idea of equality has always been a chimera, a hoped for, but out of reach ideal that I, and my fellow young people, have longed for. It is a perfect word for a perfect world; one without discrimination of gender, race, or sexual orientation, a world with equal opportunity. This world is impossible when the human condition itself is rife with flaws; greed, aggressiveness, selfishness. However, I believe that our generation of young people is actively striving to bring New Zealand, and the world, closer to this ideal. I can not address every point of inequality in our world, but in this essay, I will focus on the concept of equality from a feminist perspective, as the feminist movement has unquestionably contributed to today’s idea of equality. I shall also share my personal journey with feminism, and address the question central to the question of what equality truly is: equality of opportunity, versus equality of outcome.

I was 13 when I turned against the feminist movement. With an oversized blazer and my hair in a tight ponytail, I was defiant in my views and proud to show it. It was not cool be a feminist amidst a plethora of “Feminist gets owned” “Triggered Feminists” “Feminist cringe compilation” videos widely available to every young person on the internet, churned out in the thousands by dubious accounts. The same message was re-enforced throughout: that feminism was not about the struggle for equality, rather, it was about the superiority of women. Looking back on that time, I realise how incredibly toxic it was for a young person to see such a limited viewpoint of feminism. The videos belittled the feminist movement by pointing a finger at the minority of radical feminists and exclaiming “Look how crazy these women are! Look how stupid their movement is!”. However, the more subtle, underlying sentiment within these videos, and perhaps the more dangerous one, was that while early feminism was valid and a step towards equality, it was now obsolete as equality had been achieved.

As I grew older, my opinions on the feminist movement developed. When I was 15 I delivered a speech against feminism and, at the time, came to the conclusion that third wave feminism had ‘gone too far’, though acknowledging the work of early feminists. However, in recent years my views have become more nuanced as I have gravitated more and more towards the ideals of modern feminism. When I look back on my feminist journey, I am extremely glad for the unique experience, as I let myself see sectors of the movement which I disagreed with and thus partook in debates which are ongoing within the wider feminist movement. One of these debates, is that of equality of opportunity versus equality of outcome.

Equality of opportunity is included in many definitions of general equality. By itself, it is defined according to the Collins dictionary as the policy of giving everyone the same opportunities for employment, pay and promotion, without discriminating against particular groups. But what does equality of opportunity really look like? In a world where perfect equality of opportunity is achieved, it would mean all barriers to equal opportunities, such as wealth inequality, discrimination based on sex, race, age, sexual orientation or other characteristics, would have been eliminated. It would mean laws against discrimination but also, taking into account people’s inherent prejudices and the systemic discrimination within our society, using affirmative action to provide educational access to underrepresented groups. There is a notion that affirmative action is directly contradictory to the idea of equality of opportunity. However, I do not subscribe to this notion.

Affirmative action provides access to education to those groups who are underrepresented due to not being afforded the same opportunities in life - perhaps, as they have been born into a position of lesser privilege. Affirmative action ‘levels the playing field’ and affords the opportunity for more underrepresented groups to break their ‘glass ceiling’. For example, the historic oppression of women has led to their underrepresentation in traditionally male professions such as Information Technology. The push towards more women in tech is a direct consequence of this inequality. Otago University describes its application of affirmative action as “all other things being equal, membership of an under-represented group will be taken into consideration.” and goes on to say that their use of affirmative action is to “break down barriers to equality of opportunity in employment and education.”. I therefore concur that affirmative action for education should be seen as symbiotic with equality of opportunity.

In contrast, equality of outcome is a concept which does not have a very clear definition. However, it is essentially the political idea that people should generally have similar economic conditions in their lives. Equal opportunities do not always lead to equal outcomes, simply because people are not the same - they have different talents, work ethics, ambitions and cultures. Equal outcomes are never achievable in a free society, where people are able to make different choices and these choices can contribute to their economic conditions. The idea of wanting ‘sameness’ of people is undeniably dangerous, as it encourages the repression of those who differ from the status-quo, but also provides an incentive to lower the bar of personal achievement and not strive to achieve optimally.

The European Institute for Gender Equality states on its website under equality of outcome that “equality of opportunity and equal treatment may not be enough to redress the historical oppression and disadvantage of women”. As a woman and feminist, I can recognise and accept that the historical oppression of women has contributed to the institutional sexism in our society today. However, to say that having equal opportunities would not be enough for women is not only untrue, but also exceedingly demeaning. This narrative is scarily similar to some of the paternalistic discourse of men in the 1880’s New Zealand Parliament, which I came across when I read Judith Devaliant’s biography on Kate Sheppard. MP Moss, an opponent of women’s suffrage is recorded as saying “Sorry I should be to contemplate for one moment that women, whose mission it is to raise us, to refine us and purify us, should have the experience we all have to go through.”

The road to the vote for women in New Zealand was long and fraught, but it was achieved by our great grandmothers. If these women achieved such great social strides against prevailing attitudes of the weakness of women, we modern women can achieve even more from a society which, despite its flaws, aims to give all genders equal treatment.

It would be naive to say that everyone has an equal opportunity to success in this world, and it would be a lie to say that women have already achieved equality to men; that 3rd wave feminism is unnecessary. When I look at our world today, when I see the disgusting ‘Heartbeat’ Bill introduced in Georgia, USA, when I see the figures for sexual assault of women, when I see that women are underrepresented in leadership, I do not for one second believe we have achieved equality with men. I believe it is our right to have equal opportunities, and this discourse is incredibly important not only within our society today but also within the feminist movement. We live in a time of change, a time when my generation is rising up to hold the older generation accountable for driving our environment to the brink of collapse, when we are starting to to address the underlying current of racism in our country, and I believe that this discourse of equality must be a part of the cultural shift of our time.

Bibliography

Collins English Dictionary. Equal opportunity definition and meaning. Retrieved from

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/equal-opportunity

Devaliant, J. (1992) Kate Sheppard, a Biography: The Fight for Women's Votes in New Zealand-the Life of the Woman who Led the Struggle, Middlesex, England.

European Institute for Gender Equality. Equality of outcome. Retrieved from

https://eige.europa.eu/thesaurus/terms/1108

Ministry for Women (January 31, 2019). Women in leadership. Retrieved from

https://women.govt.nz/leadership

University of Otago, New Zealand (Council, August 1994) Affirmative Action Policy. Retrieved from

https://www.otago.ac.nz/administration/policies/otago003035.html