International Women's Day

[Machupicchu14]

I suppose Poppy, that depends on the family. But as I Sunskriti says, many women also keep up the male chauvinism, instead of stopping it. And I have seen that many times. Around the world, it happens a lot. I am glad Poppy, of your family

[Darrell71]

You're drawing conclusions based on your family and maybe the people around you. It's the same in my family, there's no discrimination, my dad loves to cook and often does it, and my dad and mom share the housework equally. I don't have a brother but I'm never expected to do stuff just because I'm a girl. But there are thousands of people living out there who aren't nearly half as fortunate as us. Maybe you haven't stepped out of your safe bubble and comfort zone, but I have. And it is a sad reality in many places still. I've seen it around me over here and I've seen it in other parts of the world. You can assume what you want, but when you actually see the world well, you'll see that I'm right. (I'm not saying it's true everywhere but in quite a few parts of the world)

[Poppy]

All cultures are different, and I know that there are a lot of beliefs out there about this subject and I'm not just judging from my experience. There are some parts of China where people think of women as more powerful than men. They use the females surname, rather than the males. In Kahasi in India, women are heads of the household and they provide the financial needs for the family. There are so many fascinating contradictions out there to the assumption that women are the ones who just do all the housework. I understand that some places will live by that traditional rule, but certainly not all.

[Katharine]

There are a lot of male chauvnists, who think its a women's job to look after the baby, or cook for the house or looking after. Thats what I've seen everywhere, women get pregnant, yet they should still be the ones to take care of the baby,and not their husbands.

Well as men can't breast feed, and it's medically accepted that breast feeding is better for babies for at least the first 6 months of their lives, then it would be pretty difficult for men to do the main part of looking after a baby, especially as presumably in most households they would be working full time to provide for their wife and baby.

Once a baby is weaned then it would be easier for parents to share the childcare if they wanted to. I was happy to stay at home and look after my children, and although my husband did help out, I didn't think it fair to expect him to work full time and then come home and do all the housework as well.

Whilst I think that in many places in the world that women aren't treated fairly/equally, here in the UK, I'd say it is going the other way. For example, girls can join 'male' organisations such as cubs and scouts, but boys aren't allowed to join Brownies or Guides. My son is going to university this Autumn, but there are several grants that he can't apply for, simply because he's male, they are for girls only - how can that be fair?

[Darrell71]

First of all, I never said it's true in all places. It's true in many places though, and in any case, it doesn't really matter how much of the world lives like that. Some people certainly do, and it needs to be changed.
A family that we know is similar to the people that you described, and they give more importance to females. Me and my mother weren't required to do a 'namaskar' (respectful gesture) to a family elder, but my father, who is 6 and 38 years older than my mom and me, respectively, had to! It felt great! Normally we are completely equal, no discrimination at all, but this was going the other way around!
In any case though, though obviously there are exceptions, many many women in this world have to struggle to get equal opportunities.
It's not really fair when it goes the other way either, but that's similar to the loooooong debate in India about the Reservation of seats in the Parliament in India. (For SCs, STs, Females and OBCs.)

. In Kahasi in India, women are heads of the household and they provide the financial needs for the family.

Do you mean Khasi, in Meghalaya? You might be interested in reading this: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/j ... s-bouissou

[Moonraker]

Even if women aren't really discriminated, there is still a lot of male chauvinism. Like, women are supposed to do the jobs within their house such as cooking. And females are still seen as inferior.

Not in our house. I do 80% of the cooking, most of the vacuuming and my dear wife certainly sees me as inferior.

how do you get dominated Nigel ?

I can imagine, but I'll keep my mouth shut!

You are very wise, Sunskriti.

On a more serious note, I think much of the problem is down to religion. Whilst women make the choice or are forced to wear veils or cover themselves with black cloth - yet are quite happy (if indeed they are) with their menfolk wearing western clothes, the remedy is in their hands.

[Julie2owlsdene]

Nice to read such an interesting thread.

Most men these days I would say do the cooking and want to do the cooking. My hubby is the exception, he can't cook, and doesn't really want to. But he does take on the role of protection as in the 'olden days' and I don't mind at all. Personally I wouldn't want to do a job a man does, such as army soldier, fireman etc. I'm not really built for it, and I'm too old anyway!

[Moonraker]

Personally I wouldn't want to do a job a man does, such as army soldier, fireman etc. I'm not really built for it, and I'm too old anyway!

I can't argue about you age, and at 3'6" you probably wouldn't be eligible anyway, but the jobs you listed are no longer men's jobs - and haven't been for many years. Men now do what you'd probably call women's jobs - nursing, for example.

[Katharine]

On the subject of 'male/female' jobs, I work in a mostly female workplace. All the receptionists are female, out of a team of about 17 therapists, only 2 are male. I don't know why that is, possibly because the receptionists are all part-time, and traditionally more women tend to have part-time jobs. However I don't know why so few men are complementary therapists.

[Julie2owlsdene]

Yes, you're right, Nigel, they are now no longer men's jobs. And yet I still think of them as being such.

[zaidi]

Katherine,
I never said, that women should just lay on the couch and men should do everything. Like you say all the household,noone expects that their husbands should do everything.

Providing financially, isnt much of a deal , i dont know why people make such a big fuss. In todays world, when women work as well. It isn't as big of a thing, to work full time.
Maybe you found it easier than doing a job, but its a great deal of looking after your babies all on your own which is much more difficult than an office job, maybe a million times.

If women can do a full time job, and come back home looking after their babies then I am sure men can too.
Breastfeed, is very important but its not impossible to lookafter without it.When my sister was younger than 6 months, she was on breastfeed too but she still needed a great amount of babysitting and I helped enormously with that. Plus, for a little while its not wrong to feed them with powdered milk when the father has to lookafter.

Back in 1800s in Britain, women were thought to have no brains at all, there were some stupid scientist who said that women had brains like apes. Women then were highly underprivileged too but that is what you call culture vulture, and it has nothing to do with religion. Its always people and the culture who are responsible for these religious manipulations, to their own benefit.

Nigel ,Its again culture, of forcing women to wear veils and men to wear western clothes, and I would call that religious and cultural manipulations done by people to gain full advantage of women's weak stature in society.


My focus, was on developed countries which though provide equal status and opportunities to women,but they still struggle through huge amount of dominance sometimes naturally and many times because of certain conditions and problems.
Most of us may not suffer through it, but when things get advanced difficulty further enhances, that is the case with women empowerment.


Women empowerment, isnot felt through personal household or just family experiences its felt when you go out into the world without any support.

[Machupicchu14]

I agree with you Zaidi. Speaking for our rights is not fighting men but sharing. A lot still needs to be done to get equality.
Has anyone ever thought why men don't have their own day?

[Courtenay]

Ah, but they do.

[Katharine]

Zaidi, I'm sorry, I don't really understand a lot of your comments to me, so I won't reply in case it causes further confusion.

Has anyone ever thought why men don't have their own day?

Oh yes, I've often wondered about that. I even commented recently on Facebook when a friend had posted that they had been to a women's only event, and I queried if there was an equivalent one for men. A complete stranger then started to have a go at me for even suggesting such a thing, and called me 'ignorant and stupid'. Each to their own opinion of course, but I did find it rather sad that a teacher should have to resort to insults and name calling just because I didn't share their views.

[Francis]

Katharine wrote

Oh yes, I've often wondered about that. I even commented recently on Facebook when a friend had posted that they had been to a women's only event, and I queried if there was an equivalent one for men. A complete stranger then started to have a go at me for even suggesting such a thing, and called me 'ignorant and stupid'. Each to their own opinion of course, but I did find it rather sad that a teacher should have to resort to insults and name calling just because I didn't share their views.

Don't let anybody get away with that - she was trying to bully you by belittling your views. Luckily
all the interest groups I have joined have a good mix of sexes. I would hate to join a men only group.