26-27.qxp_Layout 1 20/01/2021 11:39 Page 2
cardsharp
Sisters Are Doin’ It
For Themselves As Cardsharp perused the pictures of The Henries 2020 winners, in what was a historic year for both the awards and our trade, he reflected on what was a timely triumph in female supremacy. Adding extra poignancy, the television was on in the background and was screening the historical epic, Mary Queen of Scots. Cardsharp was more than happy to tap into his feminine side and acknowledge a proud surge of oestrogen.
In a dramatic scene in the 2018 Mary Queen of Scots film, John Knox, the father of Scottish Protestantism, railed loudly and violently against the poor (and the later to be beheaded) Mary, as being part of a “Monstrous Regimen of Women”. Mary was the first female ruler of Scotland while over the border, the English monarch was Elizabeth the First, then the second ever female ruler of England. In the 16th century, even an ‘enlightened’ protestant reformer like John Knox, thought that women were inferior to men, capable only of domestic chores and childbearing. Jump forward to the early 20th century, not much more than a long lifetime ago, and suffragettes like Emmeline Pankhurst were being imprisoned for their battle for women’s right to vote. And if that led to equality of the sexes, you had another thing coming.
26
PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE
Women were still kept firmly in their place. Even in the UK it was only in 1948 that women could be awarded a degree. Up to then the best they were given was a ‘Diploma’, and then even only if they recorded higher marks then the men. Cardsharp recalls it was not until the late 1960s that a prolonged strike at the Ford Factory in Dagenham that led to Barbara Castle (who was also the first women to hold a very senior cabinet position in government) introducing the Equal Pay Act, which gave legal protection for women doing similar roles to men to be paid the same. So, why the Cardsharp history lesson? Well, it occurred to him that despite of how far women have come in terms of achieving equality since John Knox’s tirade, there are certain sectors where there
Above: Christabel Pankhurst (daughter of Emmeline) and Annie Kenney, campaigning in 1908. Left: The 2018 Mary Queen of Scots film details the first female ruler of Scotland. Below: John Knox’s 1558 blast of the Protestant trumpet was initially targeted at Mary Tudor, England’s first ever female ruler.
is still a lot of work to do. Top positions in Footsie companies and the UK’s largest plcs are still dominated by men. Karen Hubbard, until June, ceo of Britain’s largest greeting card retail chain, Card Factory, was a notable exception, as was Kate Swann, when she was running WHSmith (now chairman of Moonpig). And there are many sectors like construction, engineering, the military and sports administration, where there are virtually no females in any relatively senior positions. But as Cardsharp continued to browse his PG, just as poor Queen Mary was about to face the executioner’s axe, the realisation struck that thankfully the same cannot be said of our greeting card industry. We should be proud of industry’s role as a pioneering one for women in the UK. Cardsharp just had to look at this year’s Henries winners to see this. Of the 18 new product categories, some 15 of