The Female Eunuch (Harper Perennial Modern Classics) [Paperback]

This book needs to be read in the context of the time in which it was written - late 1960s - early 1970s. Were things different then? You could be forgiven for thinking that not much has changed today. Yes we have anti sex discrimination laws and equal pay laws but have things changed for the better? More married women work outside the home - some of them in better paid jobs than they did then. Married women are treated as individuals by the tax system - whereas their income was treated as belonging to their husbands back in the 1960s and taxed accordingly. In 1964 it was enshrined in law that married women were entitled to keep amounts left over from the housekeeping money. Divorce was easier than it had been and women were generally awarded custody of children - because they were the ones who brought them up anyway - not much has changed as far as that's concerned today.

Full of shrewd comments on life as lived by women, this is an invigorating read. Greer points out how many men hate women and would do without them if they could. She criticises patriarchal society which assumes men have a monopoly of knowledge and are the only people who have the right answer to every problem. But she does not spare women and there are many comments on how women see themselves as victims when some of the answers to their problems are in their own hands. She deplores the concentration by women on their appearance, clothes and make up and castigates the manufacturers who are peddling impossible dreams at extortionate prices. These chapters apply even more to today's woman with the accessibility of plastic surgery and the desire to resemble a Barbie doll. These themes are echoed even more strongly in Nina Power's book - `One Dimensional Woman' published recently.

Greer's last chapter postulates a different way for organising society with women banding together to co-operate on sharing the chores they dislike with people who like doing them and points out that the nuclear family is a means to divide and rule. She also suggests that equality will never be achieved until men see the household chores as their responsibility as well as the child rearing. She paints a graphic picture of families - mother, father and children - living in their little boxes in suburbia and not mixing with the neighbours so that they are isolated in their own little world.

She suggests there are other ways of organising society which could be more beneficial to everyone - not just women. Some of the things she advocates do happen today - such as the alternative currency schemes which involve people swapping their skills - but they are the exception not the rule. She also suggests clubbing together to buy basic unbranded foodstuffs in bulk at discounted prices - which should appeal to today's credit crunch strapped families.

Above all this is a book about remaking society so that it is fair to everyone and to do that it may be necessary to think the unthinkable. Just because society has been set up by men to suit them does not mean it should continue in the same way. She urges women not to fight men but to work co-operatively to achieve a society which ensures everyone can lead a fulfilling life. This book is still an inspiring read for anyone who is interested in an age old problem

I bought this as a few feminists I respect had talked about Greer, said how funny and clever she was. I knew I was in trouble when I didn't even get through the updated foreword without being offended. Her views on gay people and transgender people make me feel deeply uneasy and I would not recommend that anyone with modern sensibilities read this book. I've had it for months now and am still only a few chapters in because I keep putting it down in disgust.

She has some valid points, if you can just get past her transphobia but I regret giving my money to support this hatred.

It's important to remember that this book was written in the 1970s when the workplace didn't look the way that it looks now. Women now may complain that they still don't have equal pay for doing equal jobs - but in the 1970s they didn't even expect equal pay. We didn't have girls doing better in schools than boys - it was a world where women genuinely saw themselves as second class citizens and many had a feeling of inferiority to men that was deeply ingrained. Young women leaving university in 2007 have very little trace of this and are aware that a woman's brain is in many ways and in many subjects better for many jobs than a man's is. It isn't that either is better - they are just different.

Germaine Greer wrote a book that influenced her generation and a stunningly written book it is too. She is erudite and full of passion and, much to my surprise - not really anti men at all. It was the status quo that Greer hated - the two up two down slavery that she saw enslaving women. (Wouldn't it be good to have someone whose job is to keep your house clean, bring up your children, have a meal ready when you get home and 'provide' sex whenever you want it. This book needs to be read in that context.. the alarming thing is that so much of what Greer attacks so brilliantly is still around us today. Despite her warnings - in some areas we have made very little progress.

This is a classic - read it. And you may need a dictionary. I did. :-)