When Discrimination Targets the Privileged

[laylalex 7,300]

This is a really interesting long form article in The Atlantic which I think strikes a good balance between not wanting to feel a lot of sympathy for Lady This or the Viscountess of That, and the reality that the system of male primogeniture is a sexist one which is affecting the composition of a governing body. 

Quote

 

In 2015, Charlotte Carew Pole gave birth to her first child, a daughter she named Jemima. Having her was “a bit of a struggle,” she told me, with some understatement. Carew Pole had been through miscarriages and IVF before Jemima arrived, tiny and blonde and—to her mother—utterly perfect.

 

“We were absolutely delighted,” she said, over coffee and biscuits at her family’s home in Cornwall, southwest England, “but I was surprised by some people’s reactions. Even if it was tongue-in-cheek, people said, ‘What a shame’ … ‘You must try again,’ and ‘Don’t worry, it can go to your nephew.’”

 

Ah, it. Charlotte’s father-in-law, Sir Richard Carew Pole, is a baronet, an aristocratic title bestowed on his family by King Charles I in 1628. Like many English titles, it can be held only by a man. Sir Richard is the 13th baronet; Charlotte’s husband, Tremayne, will one day be the 14th. But baby Jemima could not be the 15th. And so Charlotte was told by well-meaning acquaintances that her baby daughter was a disappointment. She must have a son.

 

In a very quiet, English way, the experience radicalized her. She began to see how acquaintances had lower expectations about the education of their daughters. She noticed how businesses were often passed from father to son. And she realized why great swaths of land and property stayed in the hands of men. The year after Jemima was born, 25-year-old Hugh Grosvenor inherited the multibillion-dollar estate of his father, the Duke of Westminster, ahead of his older sister, Tamara. It included 300 acres of Mayfair and Belgravia, London’s most desirable districts, as well as land in Lancashire, Cheshire, Scotland, Wales, and Spain.

 

Flushed with polite zeal, Carew Pole decided to act, taking over an existing campaign to change the law so that English and Welsh titles could be passed down to firstborn sons and daughters equally. (Many Scottish titles already operate this way.) She quickly rebranded it from The Hares to the snappier Daughters’ Rights. At stake are not just names, estates, and money, but the 92 seats in the United Kingdom’s Parliament reserved for hereditary peers, all of which are currently held by men. In Britain, the traditions of the upper class distort democracy for everyone.

 

 

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2020/11/feminist-aristocrats-who-want-daughters-rights/617067/

[Steeleballz 7,550]

2 hours ago, laylalex said:

This is a really interesting long form article in The Atlantic which I think strikes a good balance between not wanting to feel a lot of sympathy for Lady This or the Viscountess of That, and the reality that the system of male primogeniture is a sexist one which is affecting the composition of a governing body. 

 

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2020/11/feminist-aristocrats-who-want-daughters-rights/617067/

 

    The French solved this problem decisively.

[laylalex 7,300]

Just now, Steeleballz said:

 

    The French solved this problem decisively.

Well, there still are plenty of French aristos out there, they just don't have any power. I find the whole system of giving the bulk of the money and the land to one child along with the title just ridiculous. It's better now than it was once before, I know, and the second and third sons and/or daughters shouldn't be wept over. But I look at what happened in my husband's family. There was an ancestor who had some very minor title, a decent amount of land, several houses and several sons. My husband's direct ancestor was son number 3 and got the worst of the houses, some land and no money. After a while, the land had to be sold off to take care of the house. And a while after that, there was no more land to sell, so they got creative: marry well. It's the only way that house is still standing up. I am not fond of the place but there's no getting rid of it. You'd think it was the permanent home for the Ark of the Covenant and they're the hereditary custodians or something. It is not exactly Buckingham Palace! But it is the link to their past. 

 

My own husband decided to get a good job and keep it up with his own money. Kind of weird how someone being number 3 years and years ago has had major repercussions on his own life.

[Crtcl Rice Theory 2,432]

Are you in this photo , @laylalex ? 

 

 

 

Edited December 3, 2020 by CanAm1980

[laylalex 7,300]

16 minutes ago, CanAm1980 said:

Are you in this photo , @laylalex ? 

 

 

 

Lol, no. But Lady Cora was an American brought in to save Downton. 

[Dashinka 24,786]

I thought the UK was enlightened?

[laylalex 7,300]

5 hours ago, Dashinka said:

I thought the UK was enlightened?

Lol, nooooooooo. 

[yuna628 9,712]

Well of course that's the class/caste system of the UK for you. It's rich people problems for sure, but that system does touch everywhere, not just the rich.