Out of the Dolls House

They came out of the dolls house crying “Why be a wife?”
They came out of the kitchens saying, “There must be more to life!”
They counted up statistics,
Burned their bras,
Wiped off their lipsticks.
Some found G-spots, some took courses,
Others ceased to shave their legs.
Still others went for therapy to straighten out their heads.
Yes, there was discussion and debating,
Reclamation reinstating,
Self-discovery, recovery,
As they forged along the path.
Learning how to be assertive in their masturbation class.
Now there's women in the cabinet, and there's women in the church,
In the medical profession and the law - for what it’s worth.
Herstory has come out in print,
Both hard and paperback.
And when they make the movie, well that's going to be a crack,
Because some of us are waiting
For our power shoulder pads,
To make us liberated
Like the women in the ads.
Some of us are waiting for someone to do something,
For the poor girls, and the fat girls,
And the junkies, and the whores
And the mums in bed and breakfasts
And the, well, need I say more?
It seems our sisters, in the movement,
Have left behind their roots.
Gone off to have careers,
They've given Shaz and Trace the boot!
Because they still wear white stiletto,s
And they have too many kids,
They like to watch ‘Eastenders’,
And that's the way it is.
Because some of us are cleaners
And some of us are wives
Some of us work in Tesco’s,
Many women spend their lives
Making ends meet,
Making sure the kids eat,
Putting shoes on their feet.
Just keeping order,
Just taking care,
Because it needs to be done,
Because nobody’s there
To take any notice, or light up the sky
Because it’s not an achievement to simply get by.
So those of us on the front line just slip through the net
We haven't got wages for housework just yet
You can with a Nissan, but can you without?
Textbook feminism never did have the clout.
It takes more than orgasm
And more than a vote
And more than a salary, so sisters, take note:
There may have been changes but it ain’t no great shakes,
While there's still battered women, anorexics, date rapes.
There's girls in Doc Martens out drinking in pubs,
And cocktail dresses out dancing in clubs.
But there's millions more in the shops and estates,
In the launderettes, the play parks, outside the school gates.
Invisible women, they really are there
If we listen to them then we might get somewhere.