A woman’s free life

By Agnette Friis, 
Student of Journalism, member of the women’s network of the Danish Social-Liberal Party

At the threshold of the new millennium there is apparently nothing that can shake this ancient fact. The right and possibility to acquire property is closely tied to the right to make decisions about yourself and your own life. That is why it has been revolutionary for women in Denmark and Scandinavia to have over the centuries become economically independent. Contrary to women in other parts of the world, we have both got a permission and a real opportunity to leave the home, get an education, work and above all – earn money. The right to own property, the right to vote, run one’s own business and become educated have been important preconditions for the fact that Scandinavian women today have such great influence on their own lives. But the legal rights have only gained importance because they have been combined with free access to contraception, public day care and compared to other countries, a liberating absence of religious and cultural dogmas regarding women’s behaviour. None of these things alone would give women many chances to break out from the traditional woman’s role and thereby gain economic independence, but the combination of these factors has given women in Scandinavia a rare opportunity to take control of their own lives. I do not mean to imply that the struggle for equality in Denmark is over, but just that we now have got a solid foundation to fight from and I can only hope that the new millennium will give women around that world the same opportunity.

  The road to Danish women’s economic freedom began nearly a hundred years ago when the first women’s movements began to stir and demand the right to vote. In  1915 the right to vote became reality for women; my grandmothers were born 5 years later. They are both intelligent women, but much like most women of their generation they left school at the age of 13, got a place in the house until they were married, had children and a career as housewives. In that way their lives were no different than their grandmothers’ who lived at the time when voting alone was not enough to change women’s fundamental living conditions. Work in the home with childminding, washing, cleaning and cooking was at that time still so extensive and troublesome that it usually required full time work. In the 1940s, home and children were still considered to be a woman’s most important responsibility, but change was on the way.

The large number of children, which dominated families at the beginning of the century became more rare and in return made it possible for women to leave the home for longer periods of time. Family planning became a reality and my mother’s mother with her two children had time and energy to work part-time at times. That feeling of coming home with her own money was a great experience for her and she can still show those things she chose to buy with them. My grandmother was a housewife with four children, but when the youngest one moved out she got her high school certificate and took some courses and the local business school.

It was without doubt the time of changes, but it was still the man who was the main breadwinner. The jobs women could get outside the home were usually badly paid and were not associated with the same kind of prestige as men’s jobs. That is why most women of my grandmothers’ generation were strongly dependent on the man’s income and in reality they had very little to say regarding economic decisions. The woman only got the influence, which the man decided to give her. It goes without saying that that did not really guarantee the woman’s power of co-decision.

My grandmother still tells, with great contempt, of the time my grandfather gave her 100 kroner, which she thought were to be deposited at the bank.

“I was so happy because I thought they were going into our account. But he wanted me to buy premium bonds instead. I thought we could save that money for something we really needed but he said no. Even though I asked him several times. I was very upset then”, tells my grandmother.

There was nothing wrong with the logic. Grandfather had earned the money and it was his word that counted with regards to their joint money. Large and small decisions could be made without most women’s consent. My grandfather was not a domestic tyrant, but domestic tyrants did exist and they did thrive in large numbers. They could without any repercussions take their whims out on women and children. The women were still dependent on the men and were therefore weaker in the relationship, than they are today.

For my generation of women that kind of tutelage is almost unthinkable. We have taken over the responsibility for our own economies and should we not be able to earn money we are not dependent on our spouses. The state has taken over the role of the breadwinner and in that way the man’s grip in a woman’s existence has weakened substantially. That has, in my opinion, given more space for an equal relationship between men and women. More than anything else it creates markedly worse conditions for potential assailants and domestic tyrants. We no longer have to stand violence, humiliation or tutelage. If a woman today really wants to leave her husband she can do so without risking financial and social bankruptcy. An important fact when you look at a woman’s realistic opportunity to gain influence over her own life. Money is power.

I feel lucky as a woman when I look at the developments in Denmark over the past century. I am aware that the degree of equality which I enjoy today is not a given. It is more likely a result of a large number of lucky coincidences, which unfortunately are not as present in other parts of the world. The economic upturn of the 1950s and 1960s enabled us to afford sending both girls and boys to schools. One no longer had to choose and put their money on the safe bet – the boy. It gave girls in my mother’s generation a whole new chance. They got educated in large numbers, got jobs and passed their lifestyles onto their daughters, which was the most natural thing in the world. But we should not forget how lucky we really are.

Women’s economic independence and freedom to decide over their own lives can only be achieved if the legislation, the practical conditions and cultural tolerance are all present at the same time.

There are countries where women have equal rights on paper, but where a simple thing such as contraception is not available. There is no economic independence for a woman who goes through 10-15 pregnancies in the course of her life. She does not have the opportunity to earn money and will irrespective of legislation be strongly dependent on her husband’s income. Dependence creates ideal conditions for suppression and violence.

There are countries where due to religious and cultural reasons women’s equality is not recognised and where the legislative system itself forces women into submission. It is possible that they cannot have the opportunity to file for divorce, do not have jobs or do not own anything, do not have the opportunity to move freely. These women will once again be left at the mercy of their fathers, brothers or spouses and will only have none or just limited power of co-decision over their lives.

In other places women have both the right and opportunity to get educated and to work, but it is practically impossible because of the lack of day-care for children. Although these women can have the joy of education and work, they have no realistic opportunity to be economically independent should they choose to have children – and most will do.

It is true of all of the abovementioned models that poverty worsens the situations of women who traditionally are rendered weaker than man in all societies. It is the combination of these factors that in most countries creates the opportunity for suppression or discrimination against women.

We make up one half of the world’s population and are therefore the largest single group, which is exposed to such massive differential treatment. That has unfortunately not changed for most women in the world. If the situation does not improve it is necessary to start working on several fronts. It is not enough that the legislation is in place, if freedom is still practically impossible for the woman.

That takes me back to the domestic arena, where in my opinion we still need to win a few more battles for equality in Denmark. We have too many times focused on all the legislative victories since the struggle began a century ago. We have equality, many will say, while they triumphantly point at the Danish legal texts.

But there is anyway no one who will deny that the great leaps for women came when we were practically able to change our living conditions. The economic upturn, introduction of contraception, childcare institutions, retail-clothes and not the least the washing machine have in reality been easier to register through job statistics than the legislation, which initially gave us those rights. That is why we must maintain that Danish women in the future can improve the practical conditions so that we come closer to a more equal division of life’s income and influence in all of society’s organs of power. We should have the same opportunities as the men in order to unfold our full human potential, but I do not think we have reached the goal yet.

There is in the mean time no doubt in my mind that we have already taken the biggest step out of suppression. We have economic freedom and are therefore capable of taking responsibility for our own existence. That freedom does not necessarily make us happy, but it does give us the possibility to be so. Can a person really ask for more?

Translated from Chinese to Danish by Hatla Thelle
Translated from Danish to English by Seila Redzepi