Hello lovely readers!
Wow it's been a while, I do apologies. I've had three weeks of essays and exams and it has honestly been the longest three weeks of my life. I've had time for nothing else between uni work and work, at one point I thought sleep was the only tangible think I was able to cut out. Needless to say I celebrated finishing my first year by having a nap... At work I'm on an "Up to 45 hours contract" - which is essentially a fancy word for a zero-hours contract, where I'm guaranteed anywhere between zero and 45 hours. Luckily my hours are more or less fixed, but it's still very tiring. Heavy lifting, long hours, running around like a blue-arsed fly. Still! Now I've got plenty of free time for feministing and seeing friends, I feel like I've rejoined the human race!
Anyway, a friend of mine shared this petition last week and I'm glad I became aware of it. My mam and aunty have done a lot of research into their family history and marriage certificates proved useless for finding out anything about other women in the family. Considering many of these women raised large families, as well as working tirelessly to provide for them, I think they deserve a lot more recognition than they get.
In the 20th and 21st centuries we have already made great gains towards equality in terms of legislation, the Equal Pay Act 1970, followed by the 2010 Equality Act, the 1991 Marital Rape Act (1991 - how did it take so long??) and many more. Women are still systematically left out if history and in 2014 it is ridiculous to think this still goes on.
By just using the fathers' names and occupations it also makes it look as though marriage is a transaction between the bride and groom's fathers. The last time I checked I wasn't a prized farm animal there as a bartering tool. Our marriage is between me and my fiancé, it isn't a business transaction. I love my parents and my out-laws very much, our mothers however were the ones who did the most bringing us up and surely they deserve the recognition for it?
So please, lend your voice to a good cause and sign the petition HERE!
