London - She has said feminism was vital in the 1970s due to the ‘ridiculous state of affairs’ women found themselves in.
But author Fay Weldon has now declared that the movement did some women more harm than good and has “undermined men” too much.
She believes women should not try to balance “a family, a career and a love life” as they will be too busy. It is harder than ever to be a mother as women pile pressure on each other, the writer believes.
Miss Weldon, 84, whose books include The Life And Loves Of A She-Devil, said women have suffered as they now have to go out to work when many might not want to.
She said: “Feminism probably suited one woman in three. And one woman in three would rather stay home, look after the children and had no ambition.
“Healthy, educated middle-class women persuaded everyone else that they should be feminists. It happened because it suited new technology — women could do all that. Muscle power, which was what men had, was no longer needed.”
Men were now increasingly getting a “hard deal” and she said she was starting to see the world from their point of view.
She explained: “Feminism has made us all go out to work and made us earn a living, and the male wage is no longer, because of feminism, able to support a family, so women have to work, which is very tiring.
“Because we won the revolution, the revolution has a fall-out and we suffer from that, but on the whole, I think what was earned was a good thing.
“Feminism has undermined men if only because women now want to have girl babies, not boy babies, because their lot in life is better.”
Miss Weldon, who has said women must try to stop judging men and start liking them, has been married three times.Her first marriage was to a headmaster and lasted two years, the next was to artist Ron Weldon, who ran off with their therapist in 1994.
He died the day the divorce was finalised. Her third husband, poet Nick Fox, is also her manager. The couple live in Dorset. She has four children, four stepchildren and a clutch of grandchildren.
But she believes: “I think you can have two out of three — a family, a career and a love life — but very seldom three.
“Career women may have a family but aren’t likely to have a love life because they are too busy.” Miss Weldon added: “There’s always been pressure on mothers, but now the pressure is phenomenal to do the right thing. Pressure used to come from doctors and the male establishment, but now it comes from other mothers.”
Miss Weldon’s latest book Before The War was released last month.
Daily Mail