Country Life magazine has its own version of a page three girl in which women are pictured in pearls in an attempt to find a husband. The BBC documentary series Wonderland tracked down previously featured women and attempted to find out if the aristocratic life they are bred for had become a reality. A product of its time, the programme was a product of its class. Within the first five minutes, we were told repeatedly that a woman’s place is in the home. Shockingly, these comments didn’t even come from the husbands but from the women. The depressing fact is that most of the women have not ended up happily married but divorced – despite all their riches and the expectations. Of the featured marriages, only one is still going, another woman is widowed and the rest have all seen their relationships disintegrate.
Camilla, who is still married to her husband, almost left him on the day of Diana and Prince Charles’ wedding, but realised she had no other place to go since they live in rural Cumbria. The other stories are even sadder. Catherine married and moved to the third biggest estate in Britain, but her marriage ended after just eight months.
As one of the women commented, they were simply doing what was expected of them – even though they didn’t know what it was. So they were married off, sent to live with their husbands and expected to run their estates, despite having little knowledge of how to do so. Camilla, for example, didn’t even know her husband lived in Cumbria, until they returned from their honeymoon and he told her to pack up so that they could move to his 5,000-acre estate. (Yes, 5,000 acres.) The women in the documentary are in many ways a product of upper-class sexism and the belief that they and women like them should find a rich husband and settle down to raise a family. The eldest daughter of one of the women won’t see any inheritance, as it will all go to her younger brother – the first son. And this is the 21st century.
The most shocking fact is that, even after the rubbish marriages and horrible husbands, these women still believe a woman’s role is to be a wife and mother – as if you needed another reason to hate the rich Tories of this country.
The Only Way is Essex is a new show on ITV 2 and, although it is 2010, still has the sexist traits of yesteryear as depicted High Society Brides. It follows a group of women, who I assume are friends, living in, well, Essex. I found the programme quite difficult to follow as all the women looked exactly the same – blonde and seriously tanned – even though Essex is not equatorial.
The programme reflects many of the problems in our society. For instance, in one scene alpha male Mark spends more than £3,000 on a watch just because he feels like it.
This is a truly appalling programme. The women are depicted as stupid and self-involved. A big problem is that it is very difficult to grasp what they are staying, as they talk so quickly – and I am someone who can easily understand a heavy Scouse accent.
In the wake of last week’s savage cuts, which are likely to affect women disproportionately, you might be hoping for a revival of feminism. The fixation of these Essex women with what men will think of their outfits, haircuts and the colour of their nails was deeply depressing. And the way men treat them is truly sexist and terrible. One even says breaking up with his girlfriend of nine years was like having a pet dog that had died.
What has happened to feminism? Emily Pankhurst must be turning in her grave.
