In The Persistence of Gender Inequality, Mary Evans focuses on the continued structural inequalities between genders that go against optimistic narratives speaking only of inevitable progress and emancipation. This is a powerful and timely commentary on the persistence of inequalities throughout society that shows how tough the fight for equality has been – and may continue to be – as we collectively work to redefine the contours of our gendered political and social landscapes, writes Caroline Henaghan. This review is published to mark International Women’s Day: a global day celebrating the economic, political and social achievements of women

Henaghan, Caroline

LSE Research Online

2017-3-8International Women’s Day (#IWD2017) Book Review: ThePersistence of Gender Inequality by Mary Evansblogs.lse.ac.uk /lsereviewofbooks/2017/03/08/international-womens-day-iwd2017-book-review-the-persistence-of-gender-inequality-by-mary-evans/In The Persistence of Gender Inequality, Mary Evans focuses on the continued structural inequalitiesbetween genders that go against optimistic narratives speaking only of inevitable progress and emancipation. This isa powerful and timely commentary on the persistence of inequalities throughout society that shows how tough thefight for equality has been –  and may continue to be  – as we collectively work to redefine the contours ofour gendered political and social landscapes, writes Caroline Henaghan. This review is published to mark International Women’s Day: a global day celebrating the economic, political andsocial achievements of women.The Persistence of Gender Inequality. Mary Evans. Polity Press. 2017.Find this book: Writing this review on the day of Donald Trump’s inauguration as the 45th Presidentof the USA, I cannot help but admire the perspicacity of the author of ThePersistence of Gender Inequality. While Mary Evans’s new book focuses more onthe gendered social inequities faced by women in the twenty-first century ratherthan functioning as a purely political feminist text, it is a topical, timely and valuableaddition to the arsenal of weaponry in the arena of women’s rights. Given recentevents, it may not be long before we again find ourselves thrown to themetaphorical lions in the fight for equality.  Whilst not explicitly provocative of such,this book may yet prove to be a warning to be heeded or even function as a tacit‘call to arms’.When you first pick up a copy of this new text, turn straight to page eight. You mightfind yourself smiling ruefully at Evans’s references to the recent US Presidentialelections, where she optimistically anticipates that, by the time of publication, thefirst woman – as opposed to just the First Lady – could be sitting in the WhiteHouse. But would this have been a victory for gender equality? Given HilaryClinton’s differential financial and social standing compared to most other womenacross the USA, Evans believes that this may not have been quite so. Perhaps then, at least, women in the UK canconsole themselves with the fact that here we now have a second female Prime Minister? Maybe; but again toEvans this could still represent an empty victory. Therein lies the rub of the social equality question and the threadthat runs through the course of her narrative. Who is it in No. 10 that’s now wearing the – very, very expensiveleather – trousers?So, despite its title, this is not a book about gender politics per se. Instead Evans puts a different slant on some well-known political and academic issues by shining a new spotlight on gendered social inequality and the material andpolitical disadvantages that still exist amongst some groups from the Global North to the Global South. Bothhistorically and following the more recent rise of neoliberal capitalism, she asserts that even longstanding measuresto allow for the legal equality of women, such as getting the right to vote, have really only served to act as what couldbe described as lip gloss covering a cracked facade beneath: that in fact ‘much social research suggests that, in theUK and the United States in particular, social inequality is actually increasing’ (16).1/3Image Credit: Women’s March, 21 January 2017, Chicago (Jonathan Eyler-Werve CC BY 2.0)Reading her book as a lawyer rather than a sociologist, I found the material, the methodological approach andEvans’s more nuanced arguments easy to follow and engage with. I appreciated her assertion that society has longassumed a steady march towards progress and equality from the works of Mary Wollstonecraft through to Simonede Beauvoir and beyond; but that actually patriarchy did not automatically disappear with the introduction of eitherthe Sex Discrimination Act 1975 or the Equality Act 2010.I also agreed with her claims that women everywhere now face even more threats to their position in society: withthe onset and pressures of new media technologies; the dynamics of an increasing capitalised society whereindividualism and competition is ‘King’; the austerity measures that have followed a global financial meltdown; andan increasingly fragile state welfare support system here in the UK. I understood also the importance and emphasisthat Evans places on the need to tackle the ‘Catch 22’ between a woman’s role as a supposedly free, emancipated(Marxist) worker and her assumed, residual commitments in the family home, where still little to no financial value isplaced on the vital role of care. All these responsibilities leaving little or no time for the modern woman in her pursuitof the ‘body beautiful’ and the ‘good life’ which, as Chapter Three points out, the media constantly encourages her toparticipate in at every turn.Thus are the arguments that Evans provides to guide us through the early sections, but it is Chapter Four – ‘EnterFeminism’– that drew my attention the most. On reading the proposition that ‘in some important ways [feminism] mayassist the various forms of social inequality that support and sustain gender inequality’ (76) at the outset of thechapter, obviously I was keen to learn more. It is here that Evans provides us with a whistle-stop historical accountof feminism right through to the 2014 campaign of T-shirt-wearing activists who told us: ‘This is what a feminist lookslike’.It is here, too, that one senses a change of tone, and it is here that I depart a little from Evans’s more forthrightviews. She suggests that when it comes to historical – and ongoing – perceptions of the movement, ‘feminism issomehow the location of a particular form of female failure: that of attracting male approval’ (94). ‘Approval’ here notonly in a sexual sense, but also that approval which allows us to become a member of the educational or political‘Old Boys’ Club’. This comment jumped off the page for me: particularly as it is contextualised only with regard toEvans’s exemplar assertion that it is still the case that ‘women within educational institutions conform to maleexpectations, and do so in order to receive forms of approval derived from the masculine’ (94). I struggle somewhatwith this. It seems to me to be too sweeping a dismissive statement, too nihilistic a tone for my tastes, leaving no2/3room for the argument that women, whatever their background, might just want to achieve autonomy – not approval– in its own right, much as men already do.I accept Evans’s argument that in fighting the good feminist fight against misogyny, some feminists may havemissed the proverbial boat of attempting to tackle social inequality at the same time. However, is this not a sign ofthe particular times or maybe missed opportunities, rather than an abject failure on the part of individual feminists orthe ideology itself? That being said, it was that one statement in particular that drew me in to keep on reading, and infact to specifically re-read her ‘Enter Feminism’ chapter, in order to fully appreciate Evans’s arguments: the key oneconcerning how ‘the importance […] of writing a feminist narrative which unites work on social inequality with therecognition of gender equality is now urgent’ (112). In a nutshell, this is the main theme – almost the manifestostatement – of the entire book, and one that is difficult to argue with.Regardless of your gender, for those of you considering picking up a copy of The Persistence of Gender Inequality , Iwould suggest that you do so. From the outset the book does apply a somewhat pessimistic tone to the currentsocial status quo, stating that ‘there is no country where gender equality has been achieved’ (viii) and carryingthrough to the text’s closing comments about a pressing need now for an ‘abandonment of fantasies aboutemancipation and progress’ (138). However, my reading and interpretation is that this was Evans’s primary aim: toprovide an unapologetic, assertive commentary on the persisting social inequalities facing all in society, but mostparticularly the twenty-first-century woman. That she has certainly accomplished. The book is also a cry for aredefinition of the contours of the gendered political and social landscape, even if it does not contain a complete setof architectural plans for the project.What Evans has done is provide us with a powerful and timely – if, on occasion, resolutely bleak – reminder of howhard women have already had to fight just to come this far in the feminist war.  Perhaps even more importantly, inlight of recent global events, Evans’s book may prove to have been a stark prediction too –  that there could yet beworse to come for the post-postmodern woman on the frontlines of social justice and equality.Caroline Henaghan is a Graduate Teaching & Research Assistant and Doctoral Candidate in the School of Law atThe University of Manchester.  With a professional background in law, her works focuses on issues of gender in thecriminal law. Currently engaged in research on gender-specific criminal defences, Caroline is an enthusiasticadvocate of women’s rights and tweets @ThePMDDDiary.Note: This review gives the views of the author, and not the position of the LSE Review of Books blog, or of theLondon School of Economics. Copyright 2013 LSE Review of Books3/3

International Women’s Day (#IWD2017) book review: the persistence of gender inequality by Mary Evans

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

LSE Research Online