More discussion about the item that has been most liberating for women, in Times online blog. The usual crass comments, and of course some decent ones as well.
Is it the machine? Is it chemicals and preservatives in food? Could it be a more equal sharing of work inside and outside the home? Legal rights? The vote? Contraception?
Showing posts with label progress. Show all posts
Showing posts with label progress. Show all posts
Friday, 13 March 2009
Thursday, 12 March 2009
Progress in Africa
Johann Hari's article in the Independent is worth reading.
In villages across Africa, old women suspected of witchcraft are hacked to death, while young girls are mutilated to preserve their virginity. But attitudes are changing – and thousands of lives are being saved. Johann Hari reports from Kenya and Tanzania
In villages across Africa, old women suspected of witchcraft are hacked to death, while young girls are mutilated to preserve their virginity. But attitudes are changing – and thousands of lives are being saved. Johann Hari reports from Kenya and Tanzania
Monday, 9 March 2009
Washing machine more liberating than the pill?
According to the Vatican, as it celebrates women's 'liberation' on IWD.
Monday, 14 July 2008
Maternity Leave
Maternity leave damages careers. What should be done? Abolish it, or make it compulsory for men and women to share this?
There are some very interesting ideas in the Times online and I also heard the matter being discussed on Radio 2 today.
My solution? Let's give parental leave, to be shared between father and mother, and a recognition by those without children that their future health care and pensions may be in part guaranteed by those children, who are the responsibility and the future of all of us.
There are some very interesting ideas in the Times online and I also heard the matter being discussed on Radio 2 today.
My solution? Let's give parental leave, to be shared between father and mother, and a recognition by those without children that their future health care and pensions may be in part guaranteed by those children, who are the responsibility and the future of all of us.
Wednesday, 9 July 2008
How far have we come?
A woman's place
Ninety years after British women won the right to vote, the Guardian website Comment is free is running a week-long debate asking: how far have we come?
Ninety years after British women won the right to vote, the Guardian website Comment is free is running a week-long debate asking: how far have we come?
Tuesday, 1 July 2008
The Backlash
Thought-provoking article by Kira Cochrane in the Guardian about the Backlash against feminism.
From comment about bodies to high-profile employers like Alan kiss-my-arse Sugar. Another one to summarise late.
From comment about bodies to high-profile employers like Alan kiss-my-arse Sugar. Another one to summarise late.
Thursday, 15 May 2008
Overpopulation
One that I really want to believe.
Johann Hari in today's Independent discusses the threat to the world posed by overpopulation.
I reprint the final two paragraphs, in hope. The sentences in bold are the key ones, in my opinion.
'There is a far better way – and it is something we should be pursuing anyway. It is called feminism. Where women have control over their own bodies – through contraception, abortion and general independence – they choose not to be perpetually pregnant. The UN Fund For Population Activities has calculated that 350 million women in the poorest countries didn't want their last child, but didn't have the means to prevent it. We should be helping them by building a global anti-Vatican, distributing the pill and the words of Mary Wollstonecraft.
So after studying the evidence, I am left in a position I didn't expect. Yes, the argument about overpopulation is distasteful, often discussed inappropriately, and far from being a panacea-solution – but it can't be dismissed entirely. It will be easier for 6 billion people to cope on a heaving, boiling planet than for nine or 10 billion – and we will only get there by freeing women to make their own reproductive choices. To achieve this green goal, it's necessary to mix some oestrogen into the environmentalist palette.'
Johann Hari in today's Independent discusses the threat to the world posed by overpopulation.
I reprint the final two paragraphs, in hope. The sentences in bold are the key ones, in my opinion.
'There is a far better way – and it is something we should be pursuing anyway. It is called feminism. Where women have control over their own bodies – through contraception, abortion and general independence – they choose not to be perpetually pregnant. The UN Fund For Population Activities has calculated that 350 million women in the poorest countries didn't want their last child, but didn't have the means to prevent it. We should be helping them by building a global anti-Vatican, distributing the pill and the words of Mary Wollstonecraft.
So after studying the evidence, I am left in a position I didn't expect. Yes, the argument about overpopulation is distasteful, often discussed inappropriately, and far from being a panacea-solution – but it can't be dismissed entirely. It will be easier for 6 billion people to cope on a heaving, boiling planet than for nine or 10 billion – and we will only get there by freeing women to make their own reproductive choices. To achieve this green goal, it's necessary to mix some oestrogen into the environmentalist palette.'
Saturday, 26 April 2008
How far have we come?
With thanks to lovely folks on Twitter:
The 1943 Guide to Hiring Women, shared by Alyssa Royse at the Seattle PI Readers' Blog.
LOL! It seems more of a guide against hiring women:
... cantankerous and fussy?
... mentally or physically unfit for the job?
... service is likely to be slowed up?
... bothering the management for instructions every few minutes?
Silvio Berlusconi might agree with much on the list, having declared that the new Spanish government is "too pink" and warned that the Spanish Prime Minister will struggle to control the women in his cabinet: "He will have problems leading them. Now he's asked for it."
Indeed, as Emine Saner explains, the Berlusconi camp seem intent on undermining women at every turn, going as far as to suggest "that they are either too good looking or too ugly to be taken seriously." Media representation of women in politics encourages such a viewpoint; Emine gives a number of examples of women in politics who are often judged for the way they look rather than for their policies.
Catherine Bennett agrees that there is a good deal of inequality when it comes to men and women in politics; unlike male politicians, the criteria of a female politician's appearance is always included in "any thorough assessment of her achievements."
Hmmm. How far have we really come?
Another gem from Twitter:
The Fifties Woman: The Good Wives Guide:
A good wife always knows her place?
A generation of women fought hard for changes, for the right to live our own lives and make our own decisions, to leave the home and go out to work, to communicate with men in our lives on an equal footing, to raise our children as individuals rather than simply as "little teasures ... playing the part."
Yet here we are, a time when public life is more male than at any time since the 1970s, as Jackie Ashley explains: "Those of us interested in politics must reclaim our space."
And shouldn't we all be interested in politics? Surely politics have an effect on each and every one of us (irrelevant of gender) in one way or another?
And perhaps the real question is not, "How far have we come?"
But rather, "How far can we go?"
:o)
The 1943 Guide to Hiring Women, shared by Alyssa Royse at the Seattle PI Readers' Blog.
LOL! It seems more of a guide against hiring women:
... cantankerous and fussy?
... mentally or physically unfit for the job?
... service is likely to be slowed up?
... bothering the management for instructions every few minutes?
Silvio Berlusconi might agree with much on the list, having declared that the new Spanish government is "too pink" and warned that the Spanish Prime Minister will struggle to control the women in his cabinet: "He will have problems leading them. Now he's asked for it."
Indeed, as Emine Saner explains, the Berlusconi camp seem intent on undermining women at every turn, going as far as to suggest "that they are either too good looking or too ugly to be taken seriously." Media representation of women in politics encourages such a viewpoint; Emine gives a number of examples of women in politics who are often judged for the way they look rather than for their policies.
Catherine Bennett agrees that there is a good deal of inequality when it comes to men and women in politics; unlike male politicians, the criteria of a female politician's appearance is always included in "any thorough assessment of her achievements."
Hmmm. How far have we really come?
Another gem from Twitter:
The Fifties Woman: The Good Wives Guide:
A good wife always knows her place?
A generation of women fought hard for changes, for the right to live our own lives and make our own decisions, to leave the home and go out to work, to communicate with men in our lives on an equal footing, to raise our children as individuals rather than simply as "little teasures ... playing the part."
Yet here we are, a time when public life is more male than at any time since the 1970s, as Jackie Ashley explains: "Those of us interested in politics must reclaim our space."
And shouldn't we all be interested in politics? Surely politics have an effect on each and every one of us (irrelevant of gender) in one way or another?
And perhaps the real question is not, "How far have we come?"
But rather, "How far can we go?"
:o)
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