Mostly
when women didn’t have the same roles and rights as men, and were
effectively private property (a societal legacy that still influences
our oddly-upheld traditions of a bride being “walked down the aisle” and
taking her husband’s last name.)
Women didn’t have access to the workplace, so needed financial security. Men had income, but needed heirs.
For many centuries (and for many reasons) critically acclaimed creative
genius has generally come from a male perspective. As theater director
Jude Kelly points out in this passionately reasoned talk, that skew
affects how we interpret even non-fictional women's stories and rights.
She thinks there's a more useful, more inclusive way to look at the
world, and she calls on artists — women and men — to paint, draw, write
about, film and imagine a gender-equal society.
