I’ll tell you what I want, what I really, really want. A Spice Girls reunion, and I could not think of a more perfect time for it to happen.
Right now - in a world where we are learning more everyday about the scale of sexual abuse and exploitation against women, unfair pay and even an event where it was deemed ok to prey on women - we women need to stick together. We need to empower each other, support one another and ensure that this year brings the change we want. This is what I believe the Spice Girls are all about.
On Friday the band met, with their old manager Simon Fuller, at Geri’s house fuelling the rumours that a reunion is on its way. All of the women shared images of the five of them - but it was Mel B’s caption on her Instagram post that stuck with me. She wrote: “These amazing women have helped me become who I am, so all the girls out there remember ‘friendship never ever ends’.”
This is something I think we can all relate to. The relationships we have with our fellow females can make us. Laughs, career crises, breakups, births, abysmal fashion choices (just me?) and so on - we go through it all together and, perhaps now more than ever, we have to have each others back. There is still a lot of shit to do.
For example, the average woman working full-time earns 9.4% less than a man per hour, politics and business is still dominated by men and you only have to look to America and Ireland to see that women’s reproductive rights are still threatened.
If we are to create the change we want we must be there for each other. We must support our friends through the good and bad and shout about how great they are. We must look after each other at work - champion each other’s ideas, whether that be publicly in a meeting or a congratulatory Whatsapp message (god I hope the Spice Girls have a Whatsapp group). And as politicians, employers and people of influence - we must champion the women on our teams, hire women and celebrate women.
While the revelations within the past few months have been distressing, hope has come out of it in the form of movements such as #MeToo, Time’s Up and BBC Women. Never have I felt so proud to be a woman and thankful for my own girl gang support network. They constantly fill me with optimism for the future and marching with two of them at the Women’s March last year will stay with me forever. When we come together I know we can make a difference and demand change in the way we want it - and if the reintroduction of the Spice Girls reminds of us this, as well as bringing platform trainers, leopard print catsuits and glitter back into our lives, then I for one can’t wait to spice up my life again.
While some may sniff at the idea of a Spice Girls reunion and put it down to the fact that they are allegedly getting £10million each for their part, who cares? They are doing it on their own terms, in their own time, for the money they want. We should take a leaf out of their - and similarly the BBC’s Carrie Gracie’s - book.
I have written before about how the Spice Girls were role models for me growing up - teaching me to not care about what boys thought, to be confident in myself and above all to have fun with my friends. While this might have been 22 years ago I think the sentiment is something we could all do with being reminded of.
So, when I’m out on Saturday night dancing the night away with my own sisterhood I’ll have an extra spring in my step - because girl power is well and truly back.