Can you explain why Its empowering to women to tell them that they can't do a job that they want to do and very much enjoy?
Feminism is supposed to be about choice. This is the opposite of that. This is removing choice because some women are shouting loudly about they "need educating"
Its not a straightforward and simple answer. I can see both sides, but in reality what has happened is that these businesses have a made a commercial and social decision. They will have sat down and asked themselves, do these girls add significant value to the event - answer obviously not otherwise they would have been retained. Do they present us, or our brand and our partner brands in a positive light, again the answer they will have come to will be, not really they make us look a bit old fashioned.
The "teeth gnashing left" and "extreme feminists" are not the ones that have driven this change. There was no huge campaign that caused this - this wasn't driven by a targeted social media campaign against "walk on" girls and grid girls. This change has been driven by the
men* in charge of these events who have said to themselves, look there is nothing technically wrong with what we are doing, but in reality its a bit wanky, lets get rid.
Whilst some, maybe even most of the women employed as models enjoyed it and made decent money from it. This does not mean that they were individually empowered by it (some may have been, but there is no guarantee) and certainly i think you would find it very difficult to argue that women as a whole were empowered by it. Indeed, to answer your question, there are two ways in which i can see this decision will help empower
all women rather than the lucky few who are deemed attractive enough to be a live model at these type of events:
1. These modelling jobs, from the highest level at the F1 down to a local level highlighted by Nimrod at a local auction house, all put forward the image that a woman's worth is predominantly in her looks. I hope that we can all agree that this is not true! This attitude (not driven solely by this, but this is one of the most extreme examples of it) then pervades society in a negative way in many forms.
A great example of this, is they number of professional women being assumed to be the "secretary" in a work situation, when they are in fact the boss, a reporter, a lawyer, whatever this happens all the time and is in part a result of the way women are portrayed in the media. Improving the way women are shown in the media helps improve the way they are treated in real life.
2. As highlighted in the Presidents Club incidents, these jobs can and do put these women in very difficult situations. I am not suggesting that there has ever been any example of a darts or ring girl being assaulted or made to feel uncomfortable but surely, even if we are reducing the opportunity for this to happen to 1 person (that's 1 sister, daughter, niece) then it is a positive move right?
Finally, I would also add that feminism is not about "choice" as you put it, it is about the "advocacy of women's rights on the ground of
the equality of the sexes." Interestingly for all of the people who are championing the "rights" of these working women throughout the 27 pages of answers, i have not seen one arguing for genuine equality. So, i am willing to state here and now that i will join you in demanding the reinstatement of the "walk on girls" and grid girls, just as soon as they joined by an equal number of scantily clad men doing the same thing - because of course at that point, everyone would be happy right!
* this is an assumption