But whilst some women are fighting to change this, others are diluting the cause by reinforcing the notion that women should be seen and not heard.
Equality for women is still a major issue and one that should cause concern for universities that are attempting to widen participation, a UK-wide agenda today. Yet, at the University of London, it seems, they may have lost sight of this.
Their decision to allow a Miss University Contest has caused controversy among women who believe it is wrong to perpetuate the notion that women are only good for their looks.
In the name of women
The event, which saw women being rated by men, resulted in a protest led by students at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS).
Elly James Women’s Officer at SOAS Students’ Union spoke out against the event, stating that women taking part in the competition were degredating other women.
“At university we are meant to be on an equal platform to empower us through non aesthetic or sexual means, and I see this pageant is part of a backlash against the fragile gains that feminism has won,” she said.
“This is an outside entertainments company, making profit out of putting our students on a platform and judging and criticising them as a sexual object. It is paying male students to objectify female students, measuring them as cattle at a market. The student that best fits the commercial stereotype wins a dress designed for her! and the title of “Miss SOAS”, a student representative that we have not elected. This systematic degradation of women is being done in our name. It has to stop now.”
Free from oppression
Katie Curtis, NUS National Women’s Officer agrees that women should not be objectified.
“It’s not good enough that women’s lives are blighted by sexism and misogyny in almost every walk of life, and it’s not too much to ask that women be afforded the right to feel free from oppression whilst in education,” says Katie.
“Once again, this contest highlights that no where is off limits and we need to fight to stop all forms of objectification.”
Reinforced concrete
According to research, women are still breaking down barriers when it comes to employment and the glass ceiling has been replaced with reinforced concrete. Women must still qualify their place in society and work harder to climb to the top of the career ladder.
Women are not equal in the home, workplace, society or even in education, a fact that many women are working hard to change. It’s important, therefore, that we continue to fight for women’s rights.