Ten years ago, if I had asked an average person to describe what they associate with the word feminism, I’d hazard a guess there would be mentions of shouty women banging on about equal rights with unshaven legs and hairy armpits.

Twenty years ago the descriptions may be even more unflattering.

This week saw the Harry Potter star Emma Watson take the podium at a UN conference to kick off the campaign highlighting the need for gender equality.

In doing so, she has become an internet sensation, not least for the way she delivered the speech almost in character as the slightly haughty Hermione Grainger, but with just the right level of nervousness and wobble in her voice to relay her obvious passion for the subject.

At only 23 this must have been a daunting task and aside from the fact she is already a beautiful A-List film star who commands millions of pounds for every film and has the world at her feet, I think she made the point pretty well.

Someone asked me recently whether I would describe myself as a feminist.

For so long there have been negative connotations; a loud, slightly aggressive man-hater expecting special treatment.

A feminist being someone who believes in equal rights for men and women in all areas of life, and I guess the answer would be yes – it would be hard for anyone to not fly the feminist flag.

In the 1950s fewer than 10 per cent of women worked and women’s pay was often only two-thirds of the male equivalent.

A woman’s primary role was in the house; cooking, cleaning and raising children.

A generation later and there are very nearly as many women in the workforce as men but the pay gap still exists. There are still many more male MPs than female and even fewer women in the judicial system.

The working world may have woken up to women but still falls short of true equality.

Equal pay is just one part of feminism but the problem of gender equality goes much deeper.

I have been lucky to choose a career where there is no glass ceiling.

As many female dentists graduate each year as male and it’s a great job for women.

It’s not so simple for some of my friends who have given up careers because the demands of the careers they had were impossible to fit around a family life and their husbands have been unable or unwilling to make career sacrifices themselves.

I also have female friends who have chosen to forge careers and have made huge personal sacrifices in the process. In both cases, these friends themselves have daughters for whom they are hugely ambitious.

I am raising my three boys as feminists.

They see myself and Steve going to work doing the same job, sharing the household duties and being equally rubbish at DIY.

No one in particular has to take the bin out or cook the dinner. I take them to football, Steve takes them to rugby.

We both help them with homework, make their packed lunches and wash their clothes.

I honestly don’t think that our three boys would imagine there is anything that a man should have more entitlement to than a woman and that’s got to be a good thing.

Let’s hope that in their generation, they’ll look back at Emma Watson’s rousing speech and wonder what on earth all the fuss was about.

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