Monday, January 19, 2015

Women's Views on News

Women's Views on News

What David Mellor’s taxi rant tells us about classism in the UK

Posted: 18 Jan 2015 04:02 AM PST

taxi photo: taxi photo28.jpgDavid Mellor’s foul-mouthed tirade directed at a London taxi driver shows us that, unsurprisingly, classism is still alive and well in the UK.

As someone who grew up working class, Mellor’s taxi rant was frustrating but not unexpected, purely because I now do not expect anything resembling respect or understanding of the working class from anyone who is not a part of it. We live in a country that still has a monarchy – to me, this blatant celebration of people who are in people simply because they were born into wealth is a grim sign that Britain has a long way to go when it comes to class equality. Why In a time where mainstream society seems to be making an attempt at confronting social issues – see Beyonce performing in front of a giant sign reading ‘Feminism’, or the ‘Stop page 3′ campaign – why is it that classism still seems to be an acceptable form of discrimination?

During his rant, Mellor told the taxi driver this: “You’ve been driving a cab for ten years, I’ve been in the cabinet”. He then went on to list his other various achievements, before asking the driver if he thought that his life experiences in any way shaped up to Mellor’s. When listing his various perceived accolades and successes, Mellor seems to be conveniently missing out one important piece of information – the reason that he has acheived so much in his life is directly linked to his wealthy upbringing and his class status.

The highest paying, most secure jobs in our society require that an individual is educated to a high level, more commonly not just to Undergraduate degree level but to Masters degree level. Even though education is now meant to be accessible to all, those who are privately educated and can concentrate fully on their studies without worrying about having to work at the same time generally fare much better. And due to this, they generally get into good universities, or any university, and do not have to worry about the financial issues that plague young working class people. And what do these degrees (multiple, because usually an Undergraduate degree is followed directly by a Masters, and then a PHD – something that is just not viable if you do not have wealthy parents or savings and have to support yourself) lead to? Good, secure, well-paying jobs. The predictable cycle of the wealthy being rewarded for being wealthy is continued, despite the adding of bursaries and grants and scholarships to ‘even out the playing field’. Imagine that you come from a working class family, and you see this cycle being repeated every day, in every avenue of life. It makes you frustrated and disheartened. It makes you feel like your life is worth nothing. Then, to add more insult to injury, someone like David Mellor comes along and makes a comment that you know, secretly, a vast majority of Britain probably agrees with.

Because in this country, it is becoming more apparent that we what reward is not what deserves rewarding. Take, for example, a recent article in the Guardian written by a domicilary care worker, in which the author states that their basic rate of pay is £5 an hour. What does this say about the country that we live in? Many social care jobs, despite being intrinsically important and often regarded as the backbone of our society, do not require degrees or years of internships, and are therefore often populated by the working class – those who could not or would not pay thousands for an education. Because of this, society has deemed it appropriate to put a low price on their heads- this is despite the majority of care workers carrying out work that is often extremely challenging and requires a lot more knowledge than being academically educated can afford you. It is also important to note than many of the jobs that are vastly underpaid tend to be not only social care or public sector jobs, but also jobs that were traditionally viewed as being for women. As a working class woman, frankly, I despair.

I also despair about feminism, and its continued ignorance of working class women. I am and will always be a feminist, but I resent the idea that in order to talk about womens rights and feminist issues you have to be highly educated and academically-inclined. In Feminist Theory: From margin to center, writer bell hooks states that “There will be no mass based feminist movement as long as feminist ideas are understood only by a well-educated few.” For all of its attempts at inclusion, current feminism still seems to be for the well-educated – for those who have the time and leisure to research and discuss feminist movements and critiques, and approach the subject in an academic way. I fully support this kind of feminism, as I’m sure it works for a specific type of person – however, it should not be lauded as the only kind of acceptable feminism. As a working class woman, I can no longer count the amount of times I have felt belittled and just plain stupid when talking about feminism or issues that affect me as a woman. Feminism should not be reserved purely for the articulate and the well-educated but until working class woman are allowed their voice, that is what it will be reduced to.

From TV shows that seem to be set up purely to laugh at the working class and enforce demeaning stereotypes (looking at you, Benefits Street), to the fact that jobs in the care sector are vastly underpaid, Britain seems intent on widening the already chasmlike divide between the rich and the poor, the have and the have-nots. The fact that the vast majority of our government have been privately educated and born into sturdily middle or upper middle class families is not earth-shattering, mind-blowing information. The fact that we still live in a society where being born wealthy means that you automatically get a better quality of life is not earth-shattering, mind-blowing information – but it should be.