When Durham High School was founded in the City of Durham in 1884, one of its objectives was to provide an education for the future wives of the Church of England clergy in the North East of England. Fast forward to 2023 and the school, although wedded to its Anglican foundation and ethos, has, unsurprisingly, ceased to have this aim as one of its fundamental educational objectives.
Although we would be delighted if any of our students decided to marry into the clergy, we would be equally thrilled if an ex-girl decided to become an Anglican priest herself, or even a Bishop, considering that Durham has one of the finest theological colleges in the UK in Cranmer Hall.
However, in my recent chats with my Year 6, it doesn’t look like we have any budding vicars in this year group. Top of the list is veterinary surgeon, and other prospective professions include GP, dentist, engineer, Formula One driver and professional netballer. Good luck to all- many of them will probably hold down a number of ‘portfolio’ jobs in their working lives, with jobs that probably have not been invented yet.
The sheer vivacity and optimism of the glorious Year 6 girls, so full of prospects and with no concept of a glass ceiling, made my heart sing with joy and I truly hope that their pathway in life will not be stifled or curtailed because of their gender. However, for this to be true, it is, unfortunately, the case that, in the third decade of the 21st century, we still have some way to go. This was brought into focus during our Independent Schools’ Inspection last termExcellent (the highest accolade) in all categories, by the way- where we were requested to show our resources on the issue of misogyny and how it fits into our PSHCCE programme. Moreover, senior schools throughout the country have been asked to provide teaching resources in PSHCCE to broach the subject of Andrew Tate and his multitude of social media broadcasts. I am sure that I don’t need to go into detail here about some of his more despicable outpourings; needless to say, they are very disturbing and upsetting topics to be discussing with teenage girls. However, it is essential that they are made aware of the misogyny that underpins them, lest these views become normalised in any way.
Interestingly on the topic of misogyny, I found myself agreeing with Madonna’s calling out of the patriarchy when discussing the media backlash against her suspiciously smooth face and bloated lips at the Grammys. Like many people, I was shocked to see that she now has fewer lines than when she first burst on the scenes forty years ago, self-consciously controversial, and gloriously ‘thrift-shop’ chic. However, after reading her perspicacious Tweets in response to the faux outrage, I felt ashamed that I had become part of that ‘Group Think’ and I acknowledged that I had unconsciously internalised the misogyny that she was railing against. It is a truth, albeit not universally acknowledged, that when a famous woman changes her appearance drastically, her looks are microscopically examined, and vilification often ensues. On the other hand, male celebrities such as Tom Cruise- who unless he really does have a portrait in the attic has most definitely had a huge amount of cosmetic surgery over the years- are praised for ‘keeping their youthful looks’. I still prefer Madonna in her ‘Papa Don’t Preach’ glory days, but I aver that she should have the right to look how she wants, and who I am to judge?