BBC, Fleabag, and feminism

I know I am a bit late to the party, eight years late in fact, but I’ve recently started watching Fleabag (by watching, of course I mean binging the entire two series in two days). Fleabag is a highly renowned BBC sitcom that IMBD describes as “a series adapted from the award-winning play about a young woman trying to cope with life in London whilst coming to terms with a recent tragedy”, but that doesn’t quite do it justice, does it really?

My friends had raved about it when it first came out. “It is perfect, you’ll love it, you’ll totally get it, you’ll totally get her”. So why did I put it off for so long? It was about a single woman, in her mid-to-late 20’s, living in London – that would probably also be IMBD’s description of me back in 2016 too. So, I took the plunge. On goes BBC iPlayer.

Preamble over, this isn’t actually a review of Fleabag - sorry to lure you in with that, but I promise it helps with context.

Actually, my real point is that it’s International Women’s Day. The theme is “inspire inclusion” and “invest in women”, but what does that actually look like in real life? What practical and actual steps can be taken to improve society, to improve systems, to improve all aspects of life for women, but not to the exclusion of others?

In one episode, Fleabag mentions that her Dad struggles to communicate with her and her sister, instead he just “buys us tickets to feminist lectures and stopped calling”. That got me thinking about fathers, brothers, husbands, partners, friends, uncles, colleagues, the list goes on. Fundamentally, it got me thinking about men and their place in International Women’s Day, as well as their role in feminism and equality more broadly.

I have no doubt there will be an array of really helpful and informative events taking place over this week, I’ll probably even attend some of them myself. They cover topics about emotional intelligence and leadership, or empowering stories from the amazing women who have paved the way, but I can’t help but notice the people in those rooms are almost exclusively women. On one hand, I get it, the advice that’s being given at these types of events is going to most likely be helpful for women. But at what point do these kinds of events have diminishing returns if we’re just “singing to the converted”, so to speak? Whilst we’re equipping women with the tools and skills to enhance and advance in their careers, surely that can only take things so far without the men being on board too?

Talking of boards, women only account for 8.2% of CEO roles in large companies. It was only in April 2023 that women CEOs finally outnumbered the number of CEOs named John. Not men, John. Keep in mind that “Johns” make up only 3.27% of the population. So clearly there is something happening here. All the efforts by women to crack that glass ceiling are only going so far. Perhaps it’s the Johns, the CEOs, and men more broadly that need to be inspired to include?

So, like Fleabag’s Dad, sending your daughters to a feminist seminar is a great start. Companies hosting events covering important topics on gender equality is a great start. But for the next steps, can the fathers, brothers, husbands, partners, friends, uncles, colleagues show up too? Can they listen to what’s being said? Can they take on board things and implement small changes in their own life? Can they understand that women progressing in their careers isn’t taking something from them?

Imperfect progress is still progress. It’s still pointing in the right direction, and the more we all try to take those steps and make incremental improvements, the more we’ll all get there. Together.