Shirley Manson says women’s rights have been eroded since 9/11
Shirley Manson has said that ‘women’s rights have been eroded since 9/11, and called for more vigilance to defend feminism and gender equality.
The Edinburgh-born singer, who fronts US alt-rock band Garbage, was speaking to Australian news show 7.30, when she hit out at the recent increase in conservatism – which she described as “a global movement towards eradicating women’s rights.”
“With September 11, I think the world got really conservative,” said the Stockbridge-raised Manson, “and whenever the world gets conservative, women get affected.”
She continued: “I think that’s a result, in some ways, of a generation that followed the ’90s, and women took for granted their rights, not really understanding that human rights get eroded constantly and you always have to be really vigilant to make sure that these rights that women have fought so hard for remain in place.”
Giving credit to strong female figures who are making a difference, she said: “whether that’s Michelle Obama, whether it’s Serena Williams, whether it’s Grimes… any successful athlete, any engineer, any producer, I mean, everybody’s at it.”
Mason also called to women to be less focussed on beauty and the superficial, and instead “to shift their focus onto something that creates a foundation for them as they grow through life.”
