"There is 0.1% chance this was all organic" (and four other stories)

Five reads on gender (in)equality and the backlash against feminist progress.

Happy Tuesday, dear readers. It’s grey and rainy here in London. Is it spring yet where you are?

Here are the reads…

1) The referendum on a woman’s place

On 8th March, International Women’s Day, Irish voters rejected amendments to Ireland’s constitution related to the status of women and families. In the Financial Times, Pilita Clark writes:

The offending section declares: “The State recognises that by her life within the home, woman gives to the State a support without which the common good cannot be achieved.

“The State shall, therefore, endeavour to ensure that mothers shall not be obliged by economic necessity to engage in labour to the neglect of their duties in the home”.

Voters were asked to scrap this archaic guff and approve a new clause saying the state would aim to support caregiving “by members of a family to one another”. But voters did no such thing.

Clark puts together this latest news with the available research showing that Gen Z men are more likely than boomers to think that the feminist struggle has gone too far:

Ireland is one of 31 countries covered by new research from the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at King’s College London and the Ipsos polling group that found several things I did not expect to see in 2024.

When it comes to giving women equal rights with men, a sobering 53 per cent now think things have gone far enough in their country, up from 42 per cent in 2019. The swing is evident from Thailand and Peru to Sweden and the UK.

2) “There is 0.1% chance this was all organic"

Between April and June 2022, the internet was captivated by a televised trial in Fairfax County, Virginia. Hollywood star Jonny Depp was suing his ex-wife, the actress Amber Heard, for defamation, and it seemed like everyone had an opinion on it. It was disturbing quite how much of that opinion focused on Heard, who alleged that Depp had been a violent and abusive husband. In 2020, Depp had lost a libel suit against The Sun newspaper, which published an article calling him a “wifebeater”. The UK judge found that 12 separate incidents of domestic violence had taken place. But in 2022, the US trial by jury found in favour of Depp. As the trial progressed, the internet was awash with abuse of Heard, who was accused in the court of public opinion of lying. If the #MeToo movement had made any gains, that summer it looked like those gains had vanished.

In a new podcast series, Tortoise investigates “Who Trolled Amber?” Were the extreme amounts of online vitriol against Heard the result of an organised disinformation campaign? This is fascinating in itself and well worth a listen. But what is also noteworthy is how the series is framed.

Before getting a tip-off that the mad virality of the trial was perhaps the work of organised trolls and bots, host Alexi Mostrous tells us he wasn’t interested in Depp vs. Heard. This was just a celebrity story, he says. But understanding that there was a potential disinformation campaign, he changes his mind. "If this is a movie,” he says, “it's got my attention.” Now “it wasn’t just real life Jonny Depp fans giving her shit.” The ganging up of an entire world on one woman alleging abuse, the widespread threats of violence, the clear misogynist tinge to the toxicity — these were not of interest.

I was struck by this lack of interest. Was this an insight into how hard it can be for a man to see the humiliations women face? Was it a reflection of the ease with which we overlook?

3) Surrogacy’s ethical dilemmas

I am late to this excellent long read in New Lines Magazine on a proposed ban to commercial surrogacy in Georgia, one of the most popular global destinations for the practice. Would the ban be good or bad for the women labouring as surrogates? It’s a thorny question. As Caitlin Allen writes:

…outsourcing pregnancies and childbirth raises serious ethical questions about paying women who are in need of cash for the use of their bodies, and feminists are often divided on the issue. Some view the practice as a means of gaining financial autonomy, while its critics blame the industry for taking advantage of the vulnerable and exploiting the poor.

And also…

the legalization of commercial surrogacy in some U.S. states is often framed as a progressive step, facilitating LGBTQ+ family building and freeing couples from the burden of infertility. Conversely, the restrictions on same-sex couples elsewhere provide a glimpse into the future of the industry if right-wing governments use the issue for ideological gain and bans continue to happen.

P.s. Pragya Agarwal’s book (M)otherhood: On the Choice of Being a Woman goes in-depth on this issue, and its attendant controversies, through the author’s own experience of surrogacy.

P.p.s This piece on “The Joy—and horrror—of surrogacy” from December last year is also worth a read.

4) UN Secretary-General warns of reversal of gains for women

The UN’s 68th Commission on the Status of Women started on 11th March at UN HQ in New York. Opening the proceedings, Secretary-General António Guterres highlighted the suffering of women and girls in “wars waged by men”. According to UN News:

He emphasized the appalling situation in Gaza, where over two-thirds of those killed and injured during Israel’s offensive are reportedly women and girls. He also noted shocking testimonies of sexual violence against Palestinian women in detention settings, house raids and checkpoints in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

In Israel, he added, last week’s report released by UN Special Representative Pramila Patten highlights horrific sexual violence against women and girls and indications of sexualized torture during the terror attacks launched by Hamas and other armed groups on 7 October.

He also noted what women face elsewhere:

“In Afghanistan, the Taliban has issued more than 50 edicts suppressing women’s and girls’ rights. In Sudan, scores of women have reportedly been subjected to rape and other forms of sexual violence in the ongoing conflict,” he said.

5) Men can have better sex (by closing the authority gap)

I recently spoke to Mary Ann Sieghart, author of the very brilliant The Authority Gap for the New Statesman podcast. We talked about why women are still taken less seriously than men, why not even achieving the heights of power shields a woman from this, and — crucially — what can be done about it. Listen through to the end to find out what is the one thing she thinks would most impact gender inequality.

And if you haven’t yet, read Mary Ann’s The Backlash Q&A from last year.

Bonus: An exchange of essays in New York magazine on trans rights and gender-affirming care (here and here)

Thank you for reading. See you next time.