Tag Archives: Support for women

The King is Dead, Long Live the King.

Our World, women, ,

I have been watching with interest the controversy over the response from the western world to the death of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. The idea of Louise Mensch tweeting that Cameron should “Fuck off” initially made me laugh, but then rankled, going back again to the knee jerk reaction that benefits no-one and just gets people’s names in the headlines once more.

I agree Saudi Arabia has a very long way to go on equal rights for women, but 2015 is the first time women there will not only be able to vote, but to stand for election as well. It’s not everything, but it is a start. The recently deceased King Abdullah paved the way for this back in 2011.

Changing the ideology and way of life of centuries will not happen overnight in Saudi Arabia; any more than it did here. We are very quick to condemn the speed of change in other countries, but I would love to understand the reason behind the still howling gaps in career opportunities between men and women right here, right now.

In the past I have backed off from ever considering myself a “feminist”; being so sick of some of the nonsense associated with it. However I looked up the definition of the word earlier and realise it is a completely morally decent aspiration and one I am happy to identify with.

“Quel surprise” to all of you that know me! ( I don’t think).

Own Goals Ladies..Please !

Our World, women, ,

I was watching two people review the papers this morning on TV, as I got ready for work, and my heart sank.

The woman, calling herself a “feminist”,  started discussing an article from one of the tabloids with a reference to sexism and, as she became more and more annoyed by the topic, she turned on the man beside her, who was actually agreeing with the sentiment of her argument. Her rants and rhetoric did absolutely nothing to advance the cause of “Equality for Women”; a very noble and just cause that a lot of people (women AND men) have worked so hard for over the years.

I appreciate this is a deeply emotive subject, but I do not find it any more acceptable to listen to a woman berate a man for all the ills of the world, as if he were personally responsible, than if the “Louboutin” were on the other foot.(Am I being sexist there??)

Please, please stop distracting from the fundamental objective of “Equality”, not tokenism, not quotas of “Female Board Members”, and certainly not blaming every man to-day for an environment that has come about over thousands of years.

I fear for the ” Women’s Movement” of yesteryear. The waters seem so muddied with a myriad of confusing messages and images for young women now; their focus and energy taken up with silly side issues and a lot of guff, while the same old injustices still go on, unchecked.

We still have a very long way to go to achieve true equality, where we are ALL judged on our ability to do the job and not on whether we have a penis or a vagina.

The Danger of Smoke Screens

women, work-life balance,

If you have read my previous post, ” To Have and Have Not”, you may have noticed the topic was one I feel very, very strongly about.

As far as I can see this constant crying for more and more unreasonable and, for small to medium businesses, crippling demands, actually detracts from the key and all too pervasive problem that still exists to-day of sex discrimination.

Those brave women who fought for sexual equality may as well have held on to their bras. The young women of to-day are allowing themselves to be distracted from the “Big Picture”; allowing themselves to seem ridiculous, spoiled and incapable of holding down positions of responsibility and trust. We are helping the dinosaurs of  industry and business keep us where they reckon we belong, still bare-foot, still pregnant and still in the kitchen ( figuratively speaking).

Oh yes, we are helping pay for those lovely kitchens we now have by working at a level that poses no threat, but don’t look up ladies; don’t aspire to go where “No woman has gone before”( sorry Captain Kirk, I’m stealing/adjusting your best lines). If you dare you will most probably find we have not traveled far down the path of true equality to our male colleagues.

 

Let’s hear it for the guys!!

Uncategorized

I was chatting to a lovely guy to-day and we got to talking about “Movember” and raising awareness of Prostate Cancer. He remarked how women are great at talking to each other about “Women’s Issues” but how men were some way behind on this. A few local men had tried to have meetings to discuss matters relating to health, both physical and mental, for other men in the area but it didn’t get off the ground.

Now I know only to well how brilliantly women do at this kind of thing nowadays, but it wasn’t always so. I am old enough to remember when Breast Cancer started being talked about very openly, and my mother wincing at “Breasts” being talked about so brazenly. It’s not her fault; that was the era she was brought up in. It seems to have been better to have literally died of ignorance back then, than mention any part of normally covered by your underwear!

This is where I become a bit of a hypocrite though. If I have to watch one more God-forsaken advert showing some pole-vaulting, half-naked dolly bird, telling me how absorbent her tampon is I am going to get a penis transplant! Enough already; we get it!

Welcome to The Fellowship of the Vagina

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I chose the title of this blog with one aim in mind; to keep men out!. Okay, you may think it odd then to put “vagina” in there as they may actually make them curious. Perhaps I should have put in “period pain”, “menstruation” or “change of life” as we all know that would have them run a mile! But I also wanted to choose something worth rejoicing about and so ” Vagina” it is. It’s great to be a woman.

I would like to welcome all of you to this blog and explain my hope to offer positive support to the wonderful women I know, to those I meet every day through my work and to all those women I don’t know but who, nevertheless, belong to the community of women coping with life in all its varying degrees of joy, frustration, misery and wonder.

Don’t get me wrong; I don’t hate men. In fact I want to learn from them. I want to support my own sex as they do theirs. I long for the day when the size of our ass or our boobs, the wrinkles (or lack of) on our faces, or how clean or dirty our house is, is NOT what defines us to each other. My ass has dropped, my boobs are following and my house…. well, just don’t go there. So what! I’m actually quite a nice person ( It has taken years of counselling for me to say that by the way).

Love who you are right now, perfection can wait.