IF A SERIES OF DOCUDRAMAS CREATED BY BBC CURRENT AFFAIRS ‘IF….. IT WAS A WOMAN’S WORLD’ PRODUCER/DIRECTOR URSULA MACFARLANE CUTTING SCRIPT 17 MARCH 2004 (DRAMA) SYNCH PROF STEVE JONES: PROF OF GENETICS, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF LONDON: It’s clear that the 19th century was the world of men. The 20th century I think began to get its doubts, and I’m fairly confident that in the West, the 21st century will be the century of women. (DRAMA) NARRATION 1: A quiet revolution has taken place in women’s lives. For the first time in our history, women are poised to be on an equal footing with men. In some areas, they will overtake them. SYNCH LISA HARKER: CHAIR, DAYCARE TRUST: This is not about men losing and women gaining, or women losing and men gaining, this is about men and women together considering what they want out of life. NARRATION 2: But as the power base shifts, some are unhappy. Under-qualified academically, socially and even biologically, men are under threat. And they’re angry. (Drama) SYNCH MIKE McCLURE: CONSULTANT PSYCHIATRIST The more men you have who find it hard to fit into this society, the more likely it is that there will be an increase in violence, and in large measure, that violence will be directed against women. (Drama) TITLE: IF… CAPTION: The scenario you are about to see is fiction. The interviews, and the issues raised, are real. Caption: 2020 (Drama) TITLE: IF IT WAS A WOMAN’S WORLD (Drama) CAPTION: screen bio: Charlie Croft, 17. Lives with mother and brother. Attends college reluctantly. (Drama) INT. NEWSROOM NEWSREADER: [BEGINS IN V.O, THEN CUTS TO VISION] …newly-elected President Katherine Garcia is visiting London this week. It’s the first state visit to Britain by a U.S. President since George Bush came here in 2003. Elected on her ‘Safe World’ mandate, President Garcia is urging leaders of hostile states to take part in an unprecedented peace summit early next year. It’s hoped this initiative will ease increasingly strained relations between Britain and the U.S…. (Drama) CHARLIE I’m Charlie, the most interesting person in my family. By a long way. Amazing to think we’re all from the same gene pool… (Drama) CHARLIE Alice, my mum. 52 going on 21. Something to do with money. She buys foreign companies and sells them. Don’t see her too much – not sure if she thinks this is home or her office. Life at the top, eh? (Drama) CHARLIE Sarah. Sister. High achiever. Double first at Oxford blah blah blah. Big cheese MP. Truth is, I think she’s dead lonely. (Drama) CHARLIE Jana. Live-in childminder for Sarah and Matt. One of the family, I suppose. Like a second mum. Or maybe even a first mum. Which really pissed mum off. (Drama) CHARLIE Matt. OK. The problem is... His big sister’s an MP and he’s just an assistant P.A. I think his brain works fine but each time I tell him that, he thinks I’m being sarcastic. As if. But seriously – Dad not being around hit him harder than any of us. Messed him up a bit. A lot, actually. (Drama) CHARLIE My Dad. My ex-Dad, Phil. They’re divorced. Obviously. Great relationship we have. I saw him for at least half an hour last Christmas. Don’t really know him…so I’m forced to speculate. Mystery man. (Drama) SYNCH MIKE McCLURE: CONSULTANT PSYCHIATRIST: I think that there’s a minority of men who just don’t fit into society in one way or another, possibly they don’t fit into the new feminised labour market, they can’t adapt sufficiently, so they’re really misfits in this modern society. NARRATION 3: In 2020, society expects modern man to adapt to its feminine values of sensitivity and compliance. The fighting, hunting male has gone underground. Has masculinity become the condition that dare not speak its name? CAPTION: screen bio: Phil Croft, 51. Divorced. Town Planner. Member of ‘Fathers Fight Back’ SYNCH MIKE McCLURE: CONSULTANT PSYCHIATRIST I think once the tie comes off at the end of the week, then men will be likely to form little hunting packs. I don’t think you’re ever going to get rid of the male tendency towards aggression and violence. I think we’re already seeing an increase in male aggressive behaviour, both within the home and outside the home, and I think that it’s quite likely that this will continue to increase as more women become assertive. (Drama) MALE VOICE So did you have a good weekend? MATT (V.O.) Yeah, well, OK. The Maidenhead, Slough and Windsor Fight Club. Dad’s been trying to get me along for months. I said I’d have a look. But getting hunted like a criminal is not really my idea of fun. (Drama) MATT (V.O.) Dad’s just entered a new phase. He’s been through the distraught, depressed and denial phase and now he’s bitter and angry. Hence the urban guerrilla stuff. He claims he’s fighting back on behalf of all men. Whatever works for him. VOICE Indeed, Matt. (Drama) (Drama( CAPTION: screen bio: Matt Croft, 22. Office worker. Still living at home. NARRATION 4: In 2020, the workplace is a woman’s world. Females now make up over half the workforce – while the number of men entering the labour market has dropped. With a decline in manufacturing industries and a growth in globalisation and technology, 80% of businesses are based in the information and service sector. A sector where women flourish. SYNCH MADELEINE BUNTING: WRITER Organisations need women because the whole structure of organisations is changing. The kind of bureaucracy, the hierarchies that used to run industrial capitalism are no longer appropriate in a very rapidly changing global economy. DOCUMENTARY: [WE CONTINUE TO SEE WOMEN AT WORK, TALKING, AT SCREENS ETC]. SYNCH SUSAN GREENFIELD: PROFESSOR OF PHARMACOLOGY, OXFORD UNIVERSITY People like already to talk about the feminisation of the workplace, and I think that they mean more than just taking down the girlie calendars. As well as all the lofty ideas we have about human nature, there’s a more immediate and pragmatic issue, of the nature of work and what it will mean for women if we’re living in a world where technology has so radically changed our lives, and I think the most obvious change is the reduction in emphasis on physical labour. If you now sit at a keyboard you don’t have to be physically strong any more and that will mean a whole change for the rise of women in the workplace. (Drama) SYNCH SUSAN GREENFIELD: PROFESSOR OF PHARMACOLOGY, OXFORD UNIVERSITY But the idea that everyone will become, in a clichéd term, touchy-feely and working by consensus and saying after you, no after you, I can’t quite see that happening if we work together as a group, because it is in human nature to compete. If there is a prize, people will compete for it. (DRAMA) NARRATION 5: The Sharing Space. Or the Bitch Box as some call it. A 2020 workplace innovation that acts as a sort of pressure release, where you share your feelings with a screen. All in confidence. (Drama) VOICE Are you ready, Matt? SYNCH MADELEINE BUNTING: WRITER There was a female chief executive of a bank in Britain, she said to me, the single most important skill was listening, really listening, so you can understand where someone is coming from and get them to buy in on a decision. She said, really, emotional skills are now as important as being able to read a balance sheet. INT. BITCH BOX MATT Five years I’ve been here. This will be my first promotion as second PA to Madeleine in Digital Marketing. And now…you won’t believe it…Jenny Starson has applied for it too. VOICE That’s harsh. MATT Absolutely. Unbelievable. Eight months she’s been here. Bloody eight months. Hasn’t even completed her preliminary Empathy through Observation and Awareness induction. And Haseem in Accounts said he heard she’s frontrunner. Jenny newgirl Starson for God’s sake. VOICE I’m sure your abilities are valued. Don’t underestimate yourself. MATT I know. I can listen, empathise, co-operate. I embrace the challenge of change. I’m so bloody flexible it hurts. They keep telling us those are the management skills they want, so what more can I do? (Drama) SYNCH MADELEINE BUNTING: WRITER The prime virtue in the labour market is going to be a set of emotional skills that women have developed over hundreds of years…and I think that it’s that which is going to enable women to demand in return changes in the work culture, because organisations need women. So they’re going to have to make whatever accommodation is necessary to keep those women there and in those places – and men will have to learn these kinds of emotional skills – or find themselves outmanoeuvred. (Drama) NARRATION 6: Are the male workers of 2020 disadvantaged from the start? Over the past thirty years, there’s been a stunning male-female reversal in British education. From nursery to university, boys are fast becoming the second sex. Boys consistently score lower than girls throughout their school career, in almost all subject groups. As for university, if a young man gets there – at least he’ll be able to get a date. In 2020, there are 3 women for every 2 men earning degrees. ARCHIVE Girls at secondary school; boys at primary school; secondary school; university Workers at shipyard SYNCH OONA KING MP: LABOUR I think the biggest single change that’s happened to our culture and to our economy over the last fifty years has been the end of a job for life. The point about that is that the one group who had the job for life, it wasn’t women, it was men. So it’s the men who have seen their roles completely dismantled. There’s still huge institutional gender discrimination against women, and we have to recognise that, but at the same time say look, there are really serious problems facing men as well. (Drama) NARRATION 7: Although men continue to dominate in traditional areas of power – in politics, local authorities and the judiciary - the influx of women into the workplace has revolutionised management. Networking is based on relationships, not on the golf course and in late nights in bars. A third of new businesses are now started by women, and they’re characterised by less formality, less hierarchy, more flexibility. (Drama) CAPTION: screen bio: Alice Croft. 52. Divorced. CEO, successful international investment company. NARRATION 8: However, there is still, ultimately, someone in charge. In 1990, 1 in 12 managers in Britain were women. By 2004, it was 1 in 4. Now, in 2020, it is 1 in 2. (Drama) MIN We need to buy before the market realises what we’re up to and starts to squeeze us. ALICE [KNOWING] Dawn raid, huh? MIN Yeah. Let’s get Johnny to write some options. That way we’ll get a better price. But we have to close today. The market won’t wait. ALICE Been a long haul but we’re almost there. MIN Almost. ALICE And how’s the little one? MIN Growing. I’ll show you later on. After we close the deal. ALICE Great. Bye Min. (Drama) DIGITAL WOMAN P.A. Hello Alice. Just to remind you – at 5.30 pm you’re visiting your mother. I’m sure she’s looking forward to seeing you. Could I suggest some yellow roses? They’re her favourite. I’ll order some for you and have them delivered to Reception. And don’t forget the Eurasia Star contract has to be finalised by six pm. (PAUSE) I’m sure you’ll have time for both. Oh, and someone called Phil rang. He didn’t leave a number. (Drama) ALICE The blue, no, the other blue, the cream, no, not green…I’d like to see them please. Now would be good. Thank you. SYNCH SUSAN GREENFIELD: PROFESSOR OF PHARMACOLOGY, OXFORD UNIVERSITY i/v: I think the biggest difference between now and our traditional working day is that traditional barriers will have broken down. There won’t be the clear-cut beginning and end to the day. One might argue that women could deal better with that because women have always had complex lives, they’ve always, much more than men, had to be able to juggle the challenges of home and community and themselves and their work place and different times of their careers. And this world in which one lives in front of the screen, where all barriers have broken down, would also extend to that most happy of pastimes, which is retail therapy. ALICE And that little brown jacket I think. OK, I’d like to see them. Now would be good. (Drama) ALICE No, I said cream, not green. I do wish you would remember. Green washes me out, and it’s terribly ageing. (Drama) ALICE Yes, that’s much better. Much better. I like that. Thank you. (Drama) GRAPHIC: Reminder: clinic appointment Weds 2nd 6.00 pm. (Drama) NARRATION 9: Technology has blurred the boundaries between work and private life. Women have always had to juggle home and job, but in 2020 there is even less distinction between the two. SYNCH MADELEINE BUNTING: WRITER: The erosion of home and work, and the boundaries between the two, places I think an enormous stress on women in particular. They’ve got to bounce backwards and forwards between the two. That sounds to me pretty stressful. Women have always worked in the home and women have always said that their work is never done. And I think more and more of us are going to feel that. That the work is never over, it’s never done, and how do we stop that sense of pressure, how do we put boundaries around that? (Drama) INT. NURSING HOME (Drama) NARRATION 10: Outside work, Alice has responsibilities both to her adult children living at home, and her elderly mother. In 2020, an increase in life expectancy has meant there are more people over 60 than ever before. With more women having children later in life, the period of time when they have both young and elderly dependents is beginning to overlap. SYNCH MADELEINE BUNTING: WRITER For hundreds of years, women have run a care economy. They have been the ones that cared for the elderly, they cared for children, they had friendships with neighbours in the community. They have withdrawn that labour from the care economy and transferred it to wage labour, they go out to work, and they get paid for work. So the question now is, who takes up that slack? INT. NURSING HOME DAY ROOM (Drama) ALICE Mum. How lovely to see you. Sorry it’s been so long. How are you? (Drama) ALICE Sorry Mum. Have to take this. Min… (Drama) SYNCH MADELEINE BUNTING: WRITER Where are we going to meet the demands, and the need for care, because they’re not going to get any smaller, on the contrary, they’re going to get bigger, and nobody really has an answer to that, apart from importing, can we import enough immigrant women to do that caring for us? My alternative would be that we reassess what it is to be human. Is it simply to be extremely ambitious and successful, is that the only kind of value that we want to put on a human life? (Drama) ALICE No higher than ten. Absolutely. And with a stock option after six months. Yes. Good. Let’s go then. Oh…and don’t forget the pictures of the baby. Yes, I am still thinking about it. No. The kids don’t know a thing. Speak soon. INT. NURSING HOME (Drama) SYNCH LISA HARKER: CHAIR, DAYCARE TRUST Women have placed a very strong emphasis on the work ethic, we believe more in the status of work. We get a lot of our self-esteem from work achievements, paid work achievements, and we consume more and more, which demands us to earn higher salaries. Until we counter that work ethic with a strong care ethic, we reward the importance of caring for others in our family, in our community, particularly for children, the work ethic will always crowd out the value of caring, and it will be something that is hidden from view in the workplace. GRAPHICS: “Eurasia Star contract completed” (Drama) EXT. HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT, WESTMINSTER (Drama) CAPTION: screen bio: Sarah Croft. 26. Elected MP in 2018. Single. Home owner. Rugby player. NARRATION 11: In 2020, only one in four MPs are women. When controversial women-only shortlists were introduced by the Labour Party at the end of the 20th century, many thought this number would be higher by now. (Drama) SARAH Yes, I know. I’m on my way. I’ll make it, don’t worry. I know this one’s really important. Bye. (Drama) SARAH [UNDER HER BREATH]. Well, to me anyway. SARAH WALKS OFF ALONG EMBANKMENT. NARRATION 12: In one of the last bastions of male dominance, progress for women has been slow. ARCHIVE: Neon sign with Thatcher victory Margaret Thatcher outside No. 10 Male politicians going into Downing Street NARRATION 13: Although the last two decades of the 20th century were shaped by a powerful female leader, her party looks unlikely to achieve male-female equality before the end of the 23rd century. And despite a significant increase in women MPs in the 1997 election, in 2001, the number of women in Parliament fell for the first time since 1979. SYNCH OONA KING MP: LABOUR People ask if a bright young woman might turn away from a life in politics. I’ve seen my best friend in Parliament who was a young woman in her thirties, extremely capable, she wasn’t basically willing to never see her young children, and so she left Parliament at the age of 38. ARCHIVE: Blair’s Babes NARRATION 14: In 2020, despite a cut in working hours, parliamentary life remains all-consuming. The negative effect on family life continues to dissuade young women from joining Westminster. Little has changed since the start of the century. ARCHIVE: OONA KING MP: LABOUR in ‘Class of 97’ I barely see my husband at all, I rang him on Thursday and said I’d be home at eight, then I rang him at eight and said I’d be home at nine, then I rang him at nine and said I’d be home at midnight, then I rang him at midnight and said I wouldn’t be home. SYNCH OONA KING MP: LABOUR That’s shocking that we had a culture that actually forces young women, and it will start actually forcing out young men, because more and more young men want the things that women want for their family life, that forces these people out. We’re not gonna get the best people, we’re not going to be able to choose from the talent pool that we need, if we’re saying, you can’t come here, if you want anything approaching a normal life. EXT. RIVER THAMES (Drama) INT. CORRIDOR OUTSIDE SELECT COMMITTEE MEETING ROOM (Drama) ARCHIVE: Gordon Brown in the Commons, delivering his pre-budget report, 10th December 2003. NARRATION 15: As an MP, Sarah’s chief concern is childcare. With 75% of mothers with children under five working outside the home in 2020, this has become a major policy issue, which the workplace is only just beginning to address. At the beginning of this century, only one in ten employers helped their staff with childcare. ARCHIVE: Gordon Brown: I can announce as a first step that for every employee whatever their income level, employers will be able to provide £50 a week for approved childcare. ...this generation meeting its obligations to the next. Applause in the House. SYNCH LISA HARKER: CHAIR, DAYCARE TRUST That’s an important step forward, but it’s only a small step forward. If you look around the world, at the various childcare systems, the role of employers is nearly always marginal. The role of the state in countries where there is universal childcare, is considerable. It’s essential that the State invests in a comprehensive, affordable childcare system. INT. CORRIDOR OUTSIDE COMMITTEE MEETING ROOM (Drama) INT. COMMITTEE MEETING ROOM Caption: Meeting at Department for Education and Skills (Drama) SARAH …in essence, what I’m proposing is that we develop an entirely new kind of childcare profession – one with degree-educated professionals - higher status, better pay and better care. They’ve been planning it in New Zealand since 2000, and it’s working. They’ve been doing it in Scandinavia for years. We’ve got a pilot scheme underway here and I believe it’s a success. But we need this rolled out nationwide by 2025. SYNCH LISA HARKER: CHAIR, DAYCARE TRUST Women have entered the labour market in droves in the last thirty years, but the workplace has changed very little in that time and the growth in childcare, although it has grown in the last ten years, has not nearly caught up with increasing levels of women working in the labour market. There is now one childcare place for every five children under the age of eight, and childcare is very much a lottery. SARAH [EVEN MORE DETERMINED NOW – A SIGH OF EXASPERATION]. Perhaps I can remind you, Derek, for the majority of working parents, the famous work-life balance just doesn’t exist. If we professionalise the sector, parents can feel more confident about their children’s welfare – and if we can combine this with proper flexible working, then fathers can have as much involvement as mothers. Because right now, as my female constituents keep telling me, women are just exhausted. SYNCH LISA HARKER: CHAIR, DAYCARE TRUST – LH 3 In the future we will see greater difficulties for women to sustain their labour market position unless childcare catches up with their employment, and what we will undoubtedly see is an entrenchment of inequalities between men and women, with more women choosing to leave the labour market or to take marginal or less well-paid jobs, in order to cope with caring and employment. (Drama) SARAH We hear a lot about the crisis in boys’ education and I know that’s the Treasury priority at the moment. But this is just as urgent. In fact, it’s linked. (Drama) SARAH (Drama) We need to encourage more male childcare workers into the sector because too many children have no male role models until they reach secondary school. For millions of families, especially for lone-parent households, this is of real concern. Believe me, I know. INT. CAFÉ NEAR WESTMINSTER (Drama) CHARLIE So did you get on with the cavemen? SARAH It’s irrelevant. They weren’t listening anyway. I really don’t know how far I can push this one. [A FLASH OF IRRITATION] Can you just listen for one minute? CHARLIE No, no. Look. (Drama) CHARLIE You and Matt with Jana. SARAH Oh. (WATCHES FOR A MOMENT) What is it with all this family stuff, Charlie? CHARLIE Don’t know really. Wondering who we are. The Crofts. Look. There’s mum. The rising young executive. Family, business, money. Feminist dream come true, eh? (Drama) SARAH Dad must have taken this. I suppose we were in bed. Can’t ever remember her reading us a story. (Drama) SARAH [GENTLY] You see, this is what it’s about. Childcare isn’t just about making arrangements. It’s about being there. (Drama) SARAH She really wasn’t there, was she? It was just work, work, work. CHARLIE You’re a fine one to talk. SARAH I know. SYNCH JILL KIRBY: CENTRE FOR POLICY STUDIES: The first wave of feminists, I think many of them have quite now openly admitted that they left something out of the equation and will say as much. You know, we forgot about children, we didn’t think about the impact that becoming mothers would have on our other desires, and so they fought the battle for equality, and largely won it, and of course all women now to some extent are reaping the rewards of that, but the penalties are also there because of that bit that was left out, and that feminism wasn’t able to stamp out of them. (Drama) SYNCH JILL KIRBY: CENTRE FOR POLICY STUDIES We’ve done the experiment and we’ve tried the Superwoman ideal, and we know that it leaves some sadness and problems and we want to forge a better future. We want to make all these things work, not just the working bit of women’s lives. INT. SMALL ROOM – GLOOMY DAY (Drama) TV NEWSREADER (V.O.) …The capital is gearing up for the visit of U.S. President Katherine Garcia, who arrives in Britain tomorrow evening. During her visit President Garcia will meet Muslim community representatives and will also attend a banquet at Buckingham Palace for European leaders hosted by King William. In the first ever broadcast of its kind by a foreign head of state, President Garcia will address the British public in a live television broadcast to be transmitted from Buckingham Palace on Thursday evening… INT. ALICE’S FLAT – NIGHT (Drama) NARRATION 16: In 2020 the area of women’s lives that has changed most radically is the reworking of human biology and reproduction. In deciding how to have children, women now have a previously undreamt of freedom of choice. (Drama) NARRATION 17: The difference between men and women lies in the chromosomes. Whereas women possess two X-shaped sex chromosomes, men possess one X and one little Y-shaped chromosome. Depictions of X and Y chromosomes NARRATION 18: But apart from its role in determining maleness, the Y chromosome appears to be genetically inactive. Three times shorter than the X, and possessing only a few dozen genes compared to the 15,000 carried by the X, the Y chromosome is slowly decaying. Slow move into magnified image of X and Y chromosomes. SYNCH STEVE JONES: PROF OF GENETICS, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF LONDON If you look through the living world, you can see all around us, a history of decay. Indeed there are some mammals, some voles, which have actually lost the Y chromosome altogether. The general guess is that the Y started going, probably near the beginning of the mammals, maybe up to a hundred million years ago, and it’s been going downhill ever since. The long term future for the Y is pretty bleak. The chances are it will disappear. INT. ALICE’S FLAT – EVENING (Drama) NARRATION 19: But if the Y chromosome is in decline, so too is sperm. At the start of this century, sperm counts in the West had plummeted to less than half of what they were in 1950. SYNCH ROBERT FORMAN: MEDICAL DIRECTOR, CENTRE FOR REPRODUCTIVE MEDICINE If this trend is to continue, and particularly if we’re to extrapolate over the next 100 years for example, we may reach a point where for a significant percentage of the population, the sperm numbers will drop below the threshold that’s required to be able to father children, and that is obviously a very serious biological effect. ARCHIVE: We see moving footage on ALICE’s web site of sperm swimming under the microscope. SYNCH ROBERT FORMAN: MEDICAL DIRECTOR, CENTRE FOR REPRODUCTIVE MEDICINE We already do have sperm banks for men that are infertile, for donor sperm for example, or men that are going to have operations where they may lose their ability to produce sperm, we could also have sperm banks for men who at the moment are perfectly fertile, but are worried about what their sperm might become in 20 years time. INT. ALICE’S FLAT – EVENING (Drama) SARAH Hi mum, thought I’d come by and see you. ALICE Hello. How was your day? SARAH Men in suits. You? ALICE Good. Saw your Gran for a while. The Eurasia Star contract went through… SARAH [INTERRUPTING] Mum, please tell me this doesn’t mean what I think it does. ALICE [LIGHTLY] Speed-mating. You should try it. [STILL LOOKING AT THE SCREEN] What do you think of him? Polar explorer? SARAH [SARCASTIC] Well, fine for me, maybe. [SARAH MOVES AWAY AND REMOVES HER COAT] SARAH You’re in your fifties, Mum. You’re not really thinking about having another baby, are you? ALICE I’m financially secure. I’ll wait forever for a grandchild from either you or Matt. The business is doing well. Maybe I can give a baby some time now. I froze some eggs when I had IVF, so it’s really not a problem. SARAH Not a problem for you. But Matt and Charlie live here. He’s trying to hold down a job and and she’s barely left school. Are you expecting them to get up in the middle of the night? ALICE [DEFENSIVE] Of course not. SARAH Just think about this a bit, Mum. INT. PHIL’S FLAT – EVENING (Drama) ARCHIVE: On the computer screen, we see George McAulay, Chairman of UK Men’s Movement, protesting about women taking all the best jobs (n.b. this is archive, part of a BBC ‘Counterblast’ made in 2003) GEORGE MCAULAY: UK Men’s Movement is reading from a selection of newspapers in 2003: ‘Women are increasingly rejecting men because they are simply not good enough. To say this is women’s fault is like blaming a consumer returning shoddy products.’ ‘Young men spell trouble’ ‘He’s trapped in a twilight zone, halfway between humans and apes.’ ‘Men are useless. It’s time to get off the planet. If you’re the last man to go, please leave a jar of sperm in the fridge before switching off the light.’ GEORGE: UK Men’s Movement 2003 addresses the camera directly: Tell a man he’s bleating, and he’ll shut up. We’re not bleating, we’re angry. And we’re gonna change things. ARCHIVE continues: 2003 Fathers4Justice protest on Tower Bridge. A banner is unfurled by a man dressed as Spiderman, from a crane overlooking Tower Bridge. DVD NARRATOR (V.O.) The men’s movement has been gathering momentum since early this century. Our comrades began by staging protests dressed as comic book superheroes, to draw attention to the unfair system of access to children. We campaigned to ensure children of divorced couples had access to both their parents. The child’s best interest had effectively become the mother’s best interest. Government was failing families. ARCHIVE cont’d: Crowds look up while a helicopter hovers above. Police on their walkie-talkies. SYNCH MIKE McCLURE: CONSULTANT PSYCHIATRIST I think the increase in the men’s movements and the plea that they’re making and the way in which they’re doing it indicates that there is some underlying resentment that society has forgotten them, that society undervalues them, and I think we’re going to see an increasing demonstration from them, that they want to have equal rights in terms of child care and a relationship with their children. DVD NARRATOR: Today the fight has moved to the next level. Women control biology and that means they control us. Newly legalised reproductive technologies mean that women can have babies entirely independently of men … SYNCH SUSAN GREENFIELD: PROFESSOR OF PHARMACOLOGY, OXFORD UNIVERSITY One might think of a world where actually men are surplus to requirements, and I’m not saying that in any way because I’m promoting or condoning that, but if you could donate your genetic material and you wanted it with another woman, then I really can’t see what the man would need to do or to be. It raises an interesting scenario, a world where you would grow up possibly without that polarisation of male versus female, and if that weren’t to exist any more, if men weren’t to exist any more. INT. FERTILITY CLINIC (Drama) NARRATION 20: Men may have good reason to fear women’s control of biology. Early in the 21st century, a range of reproductive techniques were developed which were barred for ethical or cost reasons. In 2020, many of these techniques are accepted by society. For the mature woman, who can now even delay her menopause, it means liberation from the biological clock. DOCUMENTARY – IVF LAB (Drama) INT. FERTILITY CLINIC (Drama) SYNCH SUSAN GREENFIELD: PROFESSOR OF PHARMACOLOGY, OXFORD UNIVERSITY i/v: I think one of the most important areas that we’re likely to see coming on stream and available perhaps to all women, at least in the Western world, in the next decade or so, will be the technology of having eggs frozen and then thawed. Now that sounds rather undramatic but actually it could make a huge difference because if everyone had their eggs frozen when they were biologically optimal, that is to say when a women was about eighteen, then you could be sterilised, you wouldn’t have side effects for contraception, and then when you wanted to have a child, even if you were post-menopausal, you could have your eggs thawed and perhaps with IVF or a surrogate womb, if your own womb wasn’t appropriate, then have a child once you’d established yourself in your career. I think it’s a mistake to think this is wholeheartedly a good thing, because I don’t know if you necessarily want a load of hard-bitten career women suddenly turning to motherhood. I don’t know if that’s necessarily ideal for the child. None the less, we should think of a society where children might be so raised. INT. FERTILITY CLINIC [THE CONSULTANT IS LOOKING AT THE SCREEN] CONSULTANT Husband had low sperm count….Yes…Your big advantage is that we have your frozen embryos and eggs from your IVF treatment. We can screen and select an embryo for propensity to disease, IQ, gender, obviously. ALICE I think I’d like a girl. CONSULTANT Of course. CONSULTANT If you like, we can map these existing embryos to do a prospective life graph for you. How your daughter will look at 5, 10, 15. Height, weight, hair, eye colour. Educational prospects. SYNCH ROBERT FORMAN: MEDICAL DIRECTOR, CENTRE FOR REPRODUCTIVE MEDICINE - RF 7 It is already possible to screen embryos for certain forms of abnormalities. As we develop over the next one to two decades, it should be possible to screen two cells from an embryo for the entire human genome, and by doing that we will be able, in the space of perhaps 24 hours, to identify both the genes that will have a positive effect on the child’s development, and the genes that will be associated with illness. ALICE I assume there’s a cost… CONSULTANT Yes. But a lot of parents these days like to know as much as they can in advance. ALICE These embryos were conceived with my ex-husband. CONSULTANT Indeed. But if that’s an issue for you, there are other options. Because you also have frozen eggs, you could conceive with a donor – or indeed a woman. ALICE [LOOKS SURPRISED] CONSULTANT We can now take a cell from anywhere in the body, deprive it of half its chromosome content – so it becomes just like a sperm or an egg. This is called a gamete. Once you do this, then really anyone could have a baby with anyone else. (Drama) CONSULTANT So if I can just get you to sign these forms… (Drama) SYNCH SUSAN GREENFIELD: PROFESSOR OF PHARMACOLOGY, OXFORD UNIVERSITY I think what we’re going to see in 2020, in the next few decades, is a great dismantling of what it means to be a parent, what it means to have children. What it means to have that life narrative of watching a child grow, because I think we’ll be able to compartmentalise much more the different factors that at the moment we call motherhood, or childhood and so on. EXT. CITY STREET (Drama) SYNCH ROBERT FORMAN: MEDICAL DIRECTOR, CENTRE FOR REPRODUCTIVE MEDICINE – RF16 Some could argue that, you know, we’re creating a Frankenstein environment, but another way of looking at it, is this is actually liberating women from their biological chains. No one has batted an eyelid when men become fathers at the age of sixty, seventy, even in their eighties, it’s almost seen as a macho thing to do to become a father when you’re older. But there’s been this hypocritical situation whereas when women become pregnant when they’re older it’s seen as at least distasteful and in some circumstances being quite immoral. And I think that the changes that will happen over the next twenty years, that there will be a different public perception about women becoming pregnant when they’re older, and it will be seen, for all sorts of reasons, that there could be positive benefits. DOCUMENTARY - INT. CRECHE (Drama) NARRATION 21: While Alice considers whether to have another baby, Sarah is opening a pilot childcare centre, part of the scheme which embodies her vision of a universal right to affordable childcare, with a professionalized workforce. The question is: does the government of 2020 have the ambition and commitment to make the necessary investment? More than ever before, in 2020, the provision of childcare is a question on which the future of women and work hinges. INT. HALLWAY OF CR?CHE (Drama) SARAH It’s an honour to attend the opening of this childcare centre. This is a pioneering project, totally staffed by professionally qualified carers, affordable for all parents. SARAH If we can combine this kind of centre with stronger rights to parental leave and flexible working for both parents, then we’re helping the next generation. NARRATION 22: re-do But in 2020, not all females want to continue working when they have children. There is growing evidence that there’s a strong contingent who’ve had enough. SYNCH JILL KIRBY: CENTRE FOR POLICY STUDIES The survey evidence is still so strongly telling us that women who are trying to be full-time workers and full-time carers are just buckling under the strain. Instead of the government saying, we will give you money if you follow a model that we have in mind, surely better the government just to say, we will let you have the money now you have children. Or we will ease your tax burden now you have children. SARAH Childcare should not been seen as a private arrangement, but as the beginning of a child’s socialisation and education. It’s our right and theirs too. (Drama) INT. MATT’S WORK – THE BITCH BOX (Drama) MATT My mate Geoff says they’ve been interviewing all week and Jenny Starson has been called back for a second interview. Geoff should know. He’s in HR after all. MALE VOICE (V.O.) Hardly seems fair. And after you’ve successfully completed all your communications diplomas. MATT I know. It’s blatant sexism. Maybe my dad’s right. I don’t mean men taking to the streets and crap like that – but maybe we should be more assertive. VOICE I’m sure there’s something in what you’re saying, Matt. (Drama) SYNCH MADELEINE BUNTING: WRITER I think competition is just as important to women as it is to men. I don’t hold with the idea that somehow women are sort of morally superior, so that these emotional skills don’t mean any decline in competition. By 2020 I think our understanding of what it is to be a woman will be very different from where it is now, and perhaps, the sorts of ideas about aggression and toughness, and taking positions of authority which we still see as not exactly feminine, by 2020 we may have lost all of those kinds of hang-ups. INT. PHIL’S FLAT – EVENING (Drama) ARCHIVE: Airforce One touches down at Heathrow. NEWSREADER (V.O.) Shortly after her arrival yesterday evening, President Garcia spoke to our World Affairs Editor Jane Brenner about her Safe World initiative… JANE BRENNER (V.O.) …President Garcia began by telling me that she wasn’t expecting a tickertape parade down Wall Street as a result of her new campaign. She’s well aware that many are hostile to her radical approach to combating international terrorism... NARRATION 23: In 2020 the war on terror is now nineteen years old. The new U.S. President has vowed to take a new approach. In an egalitarian society of networks and relationships, rather than of hierarchy and orders, can a woman leader keep the peace? For centuries, the dominant position of men has rested on their superior capacity for aggression and single-mindedness. Would a female leader seek different, perhaps more successful ways of resolving conflict? SYNCH BARONESS MAY BLOOD: NORTHERN IRELAND WOMEN’S COALITION – MB 14 I think men are reared from little boys to be right, to always be the winner, even in a football match, you see children very young who demonstrate that they have to win and if they don’t win, they think they’ve let the whole side down. You don’t find that with girls. Men, I’ve found from my experience, some of the most progressive men, they still have this idea that I’m a man and I sort of have to get it right. A woman would be prepared to have one or two failures and then move on. ARCHIVE: Zoom in to snipers with binoculars on the roof of Buckingham Palace. NEWSREADER (V/O) …President Garcia’s live broadcast is due to take place tomorrow evening. Earlier today, airspace over central London was sealed off and there’s a 5 mile security cordon around Buckingham Palace... ARCHIVE: Soldiers begin to march along the Mall. 21-gun salute in St James’s Park. NEWSREADER (V.O.) …There is of course an immense undercover security operation going on around here, nobody is being allowed to… SYNCH BARONESS MAY BLOOD: NORTHERN IRELAND WOMEN’S COALITION I’ve always found, in dealing with the most progressive men, that compromise seems to be a dirty word, seems to be a word you don’t think about, I think women think about it,, and women say, well, OK, I’m not going to get 100% of what I want here, but let’s see what we can work out. ARCHIVE: Women in N. Ireland peace process; Betty Williams addressing a meeting. ‘You’ll never get a future from anybody down the barrel of a gun’ ‘We have to build a future for everybody, no matter what their political opinion is’. NARRATION 24: After many years of male dominated conflict in Northern Ireland, women entered the peace process with a very different approach. SYNCH BARONESS MAY BLOOD: NORTHERN IRELAND WOMEN’S COALITION We brought a wider dimension to it. I think, you know, compromise is something that women do automatically, because that’s something they’ve done all their lives, and in the case of women coming into power, that’s one big asset they bring that men find extremely difficult, because it’s almost like letting the side down. ARCHIVE: Blair and Bush SYNCH OONA KING MP: LABOUR You’ve gotta recognise, if you’re talking about women in positions of world leadership, you’re talking about real politik, because they’re not going to become world leaders, unless they are engaged in real politik. That’s a fact. In those circumstances, you’re talking about them dealing with people like Saddam Hussein, or Colonel Gadaffi or whoever it may be. The idea that Saddam Hussein is gonna be more co-operative because it’s a woman speaking to him, is just like, it’s fantasy, isn’t it? So at the end of the day, I think women, if they were trying to get a certain outcome, would be left with the same choices as men. NEWSREADER (V.O.) …members of President Garcia’s entourage are already beginning to arrive at Buckingham Palace, in preparation for tonight’s banquet hosted by King William…. (Drama) INT. ALICE’S FLAT – EVENING (Drama) The email is entitled: GRAPHIC: ‘Congratulations! It’s a Girl!’ MATT [UNDER HIS BREATH] You have to be kidding. (Drama) GRAPHIC: Congratulations! It’s a Girl! (Drama) MATT Mum, mum? (Drama) MATT Are you having a baby? [HE PUTS DOWN THE KNIFE] ALICE [ANNOYED, SHE WALKS OVER AND CLOSES THE LAPTOP] I might be. MATT Thanks for telling me. Planning to stick around for this one, are you? Or should we book a nanny now? ALICE Matt, we don’t have to argue about this. Nothing’s decided yet. (Drama) Anyway, the embryos they’re talking about here – they’re conceived with your father. [PAUSE] I haven’t decided what I’m going to do about that yet. MATT I see you want a girl. Glad you’re sticking with the winning formula. (Drama) SYNCH STEVE JONES: PROF OF GENETICS, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF LONDON: There are lots of creatures out there which have tried, and have succeeded, in getting rid of males. They’re entirely female, there’s even lizards that are entirely female, there are fish that are entirely female. Potatoes, completely female. But the interesting thing is, if you’re talking about the big picture, every single one of these entirely female lineages has gone nowhere. So in the end, annoying and short-lived and bad tempered though we are, it may turn out that you need us anyway. INT. NIGHTCLUB – EVENING (Drama) NARRATION 25: In 2020, some girls seem determined to play boys at their own game. Girls are now more likely than boys to be smoking and drinking by the age of 15. Young women far outdrink the rest of the female population, consuming 250 litres of alcohol per head a year, and there’s been a drastic increase in the numbers of young women dying from liver disease – a condition previously associated with men. (Drama) SYNCH MIKE McCLURE: CONSULTANT PSYCHIATRIST I think it’s got something to do with girls’ uncertainty about their own femininity and asking themselves the question, well if boys do it, why can’t we do it? Do we have to be feminine? Do we have to be feminine in the way that is expected of us? SYNCH LISA HARKER: CHAIR, DAYCARE TRUST I think that we’ve only just begun to consider that there is a problem, and that problem may be very different from the one that we have witnessed amongst young men. (Drama) INT. NIGHTCLUB TOILETS – NIGHT (Drama) CHARLIE So what are you going to do? DON [FROM INSIDE THE TOILET] I’m going to throw up in about ten seconds, then have another drink. CHARLIE I mean with your life? DON [COMES OUT OF THE TOILET] God knows. You? CHARLIE Haven’t decided. I mean, I don’t want to be like mum. I do love her, but she is a total control freak. Or Sarah, clever and miserable. DONNA But you’re not like them. You’re different. CHARLIE I know. But sometimes you can have too many choices. NARRATION 26: In 2020, it’s now half a century since anti-sex discrimination laws paved the way for equality between men and women. Young women expect opportunities and they expect equality. But unlike their mothers, they don’t hanker after having it all. Perhaps it’s no longer possible. ARCHIVE SYNCH MADELEINE BUNTING: WRITER We’re in a position of astonishing change about what it is to be a woman, what it is to be a man, how they take on different roles and how they relate to each other doing those different roles. 20 or 30 years ago it wasn’t a matter for discussion. The woman stayed at home and looked after the children, the man went out to work. Inevitably, there’s an enormous amount of conflict in that. SYNCH DR STEPHEN WHITEHEAD: SNR LECTURER IN EDUCATION & SOCIOLOGY, KEELE UNIVERSITY Women are not going to go back in the box. They’re out and they’re going to be playing an even greater role in society than they do presently and that’s going to raise major questions for some men, they will not be comfortable with it, but they’ll have to move on, they’ll have to change, there isn’t a choice. INT. NIGHTCLUB – NIGHT (Drama) CHARLIE [TO DONNA] Matt’s best friend. Ed. Nice enough. Bit useless though. CHARLIE [TO ED] See ya. [MAKES A DISPARAGING FACE TO DONNA] DONNA Oh give him a break. He’s probably scared. CHARLIE Of what? DONNA Of us. INT. SMALL ROOM – NIGHT (Drama) GRAPHICS on screen: KG arrives buck pal 15 mins pre-broadcast. network security at weakest for 10 secs when tv coverage switches from pre-rec of KG arrival to live broadcast of her speech. (Drama) GRAPHICS on screen: thanks. wish me luck. (Drama) INT. ALICE’S FLAT – EVENING (Drama) CHARLIE Mum! ALICE Just wanted to make sure you’re alright. CHARLIE I’m good. ALICE Didn’t drink too much? CHARLIE Just soft drinks. ALICE You don’t look too good. CHARLIE [JUST LIKE A MAN WOULD SAY] Think I might be coming down with something. (Drama) INT. MATT’S WORK – THE BITCH BOX (Drama) MATT I got it! I f…ing got it! (Drama) MATT [reads] Pleased to inform you…successful application…congratulations on your new appointment…” Of course, Jenny Starson can’t accept a straight defeat. She’s thinking of appealing. She says it’s positive discrimination. Cos I’m the only guy that applied for the job, and you know how few men get promoted these days. She’s telling everyone that’s the only reason I got the job. VOICE I am sure it was because you deserved it. And not just because you’re a man. EXT. WALKWAY ALONG EMBANKMENT (Drama) SARAH Are you OK? [AFFECTIONATELY] You look rough. CHARLIE I’m OK. Big night. (Drama) SARAH Well, I’ve got some news. [PAUSE] I’m going to quit. CHARLIE Why? You’ve only just got there. SARAH I know. I came here because I thought I could make a difference. But this place just grinds you down. (Drama) CHARLIE You had me worried there for a moment. SARAH Why? CHARLIE Thought you were going to say you were pregnant. SARAH A baby. No, one’s enough in the family. (Drama) SARAH She’s hasn’t told you? CHARLIE Who? SARAH Mum. CHARLIE Oh my God. As if life wasn’t complicated enough. SARAH I know it’s strange. But in a weird sort of way, I think she’s trying to make amends. She wants to do it better this time. (Drama) INT. BITCH BOX [MATT is talking to the screen.] MATT I should have known. He went absolutely ballistic. Why did I tell him? Because no one else would. ‘Dad, Mum’s having another baby’. You’d think that after all this time, he wouldn’t care. But he did, you know. He really did. INT. ALICE’s OFFICE (Drama) MIN I think that’s everything. Thanks to everyone on the team. That’s the smoothest takeover we’ve done for months. There’s one last thing. (Drama) ALICE Fantastic scan. MIN It’s not a scan. The baby’s in an artificial womb. I visit her at the hospital every day. The only way, after my hysterectomy. Lovely, isn’t she? ALICE Yes, she is. [LONDON RIVER NIGHT EXTERIORS.] INT. ALICE’s FLAT – EVENING (Drama) SARAH I just want to see what happens. Contribute in a different way. Get things done. ALICE [STILL PREOCCUPIED WITH HER BOOK] This is all very sudden. SARAH I’ve been considering it for ages. It’s just that you haven’t been listening. ALICE [CLOSES THE BOOK AND IS LISTENING NOW] I’ve had a lot on my mind. SARAH We all know that now. ALICE So what are you going to do instead? SARAH I’m young enough. I’ll find another job. Something that lets me have a life. [DOES UP HER COAT] Got to go. Audience with the President. ALICE So there are some perks then. SARAH [DISMISSIVELY] Third row from the back. ALICE [MORE SYMPATHETIC NOW] Think again, Sarah. You’re throwing away an awful lot. SARAH I’ve thought it through enough. One thing I do know. ALICE What’s that? SARAH I won’t do it your way. (Drama) UNKNOWN FLAT – EVENING (Drama) INT. ALICE’s FLAT – EVENING (Drama) NEWSREADER (V.O.) …now it’s been years since London has seen a turnout quite like this for a political figure…and as the Presidential car winds its way towards Buckingham Palace, the Prime Minister and King William prepare to meet the President who, in a few minutes time, will step up to the podium at Buckingham Palace to make an historic, live broadcast… (Drama) INT. NEWSROOM The studio director is frantically signalling away to technicians. The newsreader looks confused. A row of blank screens appears. ALICE My god! CHARLIE Dad! This is very cool! (Drama) PHIL I represent certain organisations, but more importantly, I represent half the nation. Women know what it is to fight for rights, dignity and equality. We’re having to learn, and I apologise for any mistakes we make along the way. ALICE Switch it off. PHIL [NOW IN HIS STRIDE] A third of us men now live alone, and we’re running scared. Frightened people do dangerous and irrational things. What I’m making a plea for is rationality and debate. Between the sexes. We have to make a new history, one in which we have an equal share not just in power, but in the lives of our families. Men who lose their children go mad. [PAUSES; ALICE TAKES IT IN]. It’s that simple. They can go to court, they can fight for access, but that makes them more mad. (Drama) PHIL If debate isn’t possible, then action will happen. Angry men taking it out on everyone, including themselves… (Drama) TV PRESENTATION V.O.: We apologise for this technical fault. We’ll bring you back to Buckingham Palace as soon as possible. INT. ALICE’s FLAT ALICE Christ. He’s finally lost it. CHARLIE [QUIETLY] Maybe it needed to be said. EXT. URBAN STREET (Drama) CHARLIE So there it is. The Croft family in all its glory. It’s alright. Sarah and Mum are talking like human beings again. Matt’s going to do a course at University – all those weird diplomas he got at work helped. I started seeing Dad. I keep asking if he’ll teach me to be a hacker but he says I’ll have to make do with chess. At least until he gets out. I don’t know what I’m going to do with my life. Something interesting. Might make documentaries, I don’t know, about wild animals or whatever. Or something even weirder. Like men and women. (Drama) CREDITS ROLL: FINAL DRAFT 27/01/04 15:13 1