This post is numbered because it’s a topic on which more than one post might be written.
Over the recent Christmas/New Year/Summer Holidays – there are so many names for these particular holidays, it’s difficult to choose one, so I’ll include several – I returned to my family’s home in a rural setting. Like every rural place in that part of the country it was dry and the clouds would come tantalisingly close – make thunder even – but no worthwhile rain has yet quenched the earth.
On this property there were lots of jobs to do. You have to feed the animals dry food brought from town in the four-wheel-drive, start engines to supply them with water, check troughs, check fences, generally keep an eye on everything. All of these jobs were done with precision, routine and responsibility.
Other things were done too. The house cleaned, washing and ironing done, everyone who came to the boundary gate/door was asked in for refreshments, food or bedding for the night. Whatever their need, it was met. The same as whatever were the animals’ needs, machinery needs, and fence maintenance needs… these were met.
Nothing strange about this, it would seem, and to me there isn’t – but there’s something that has not yet been stated. The majority of this work was done by women. My sisters, on vacation from other jobs, were the ones doing the work and filling in whilst our mother, who usually does these jobs, was recovering from surgery.
There was one man permanently present – my partner – but he was a bit occupied with being my personal carer (Remember: I say I have a disability in the “about me” section.) and doing the ironing: oh the ironing!
To better understand the work and other activities, I used the often-used term “double-duty” and inquired of him as to how it was going? He asked me to teach him the “lie of the land” and we later did fencing, where I proved that one does not have to be able to do, or ever have done, to be able to instruct. I sat in the four-wheel-drive and instructed him on fixing and straining a fence.
Fixing and straining a fence is a skill that my sisters and I learned from our father and mother. In this way, we were raised or ‘nurtured’ in the skills of the land. However, if there were other men present, they might insist that ‘nature’ prevail and women sit back and let the stronger of the species, men, do the fencing (and not lift a finger to clear the table or wash-up). This is good when a post needs to be put into the ground or for heavy lifting.
But what stuck me, and what I finally understand, is that I come from a family where gender divides and work roles are all mixed up. They always have been in my family. When there was one man, one adult woman, who were a couple and young women and girl children – their 5 daughters – this is what was always going to happen. After all, the man can’t do all the outdoor tasks; and the women and girls would go through an obscene amount of wool and cotton if they sat around knitting and crocheting.
(Did I mention I hate craft?)
Although beneficial in instilling an “I/women can do anything attitude”, this lack of gender conditioning has meant that discrimination and the marginalisation mentioned in last week’s post cut the psyche deeply and are particularly obnoxious.
By exploring this microcosm of ‘nature’ and ‘nurture’, it can be argued that all women should be given opportunities to be nurtured by nature: to use their bodies to experience the satisfaction of doing physical labour for themselves and not be excluded.
Most importantly, when women are instructed in the ways of being in both masculine and feminine worlds, they become strong, smart women who can change their own car tyres and check the oil and water.
Monday, 15 January 2007
Monday, 8 January 2007
Limiting Choices …leading to marginalisation
2007 breaks upon Australia and the world with various political, social and economic pressures vying for the lime-light. There’s the fact that the opinions of Americans are against further involvement in Iraq – and the Australian Government is still supporting “The War on[/of] Terror”. The Queensland Government have changed disability funding and people with disabilities no longer have access to Adult Lifestyles Support Package funding, which assessed and funded people to live independently in the community. Instead, the Beattie Government has moved towards “capacity funding” and is building 20 “bed” institutions. If everything else is cyclical it seems that institutionalisation is too. First there was “De-institutionalisation”; now we witness a Labor Government annihilate individual choice/autonomy and trap people with disabilities in archaic models of support – such as group homes and institutions.
I tread the spun-silk line between myself and other, and choose to write about:
- an over-heard conversation,
- working women and
- the voice of dissent from a former Australian Government Minister
as they come together in a neat parcel and are still related to women, thought and how limiting or limited choices leads to marginalisation and - if you’re in a particularly dark and gothic mood – annihilation.
As annihilation is best to be avoided, this post will try to navigate a path that does not intersect with such ‘absolute’ finalities.
1) On New Year’s Day, I was sitting with my partner, overlooking the ocean in a Queensland coastal city, and over-heard two women with young babies discussing childcare options. It was quite clear that these women were part the growing number of couples who can only afford for one partner to be off-work for more than 6 weeks or a couple of months at the longest, as they have mortgages and loans to pay.
One woman was very organised and had booked in to childcare when she was only 4 months pregnant. I had this mental image of a foetus, in utero, lining up for mass produced bottle feeds. (I support childcare and women’s rights to work.) The other startling fact that this organised woman revealed was that she had been offered a full-time childcare place over others who were on the waiting list for part-time childcare. She observed that if you only wanted part-time childcare you probably just got pushed down the list in favour of those seeking full-time childcare and, therefore, being more lucrative option for providers.
The fear in the other, slightly less organised woman – who probably took a more organic approach to life, in that it was ok to actually be holding and bonding with the baby before seeking childcare – was tangible as she almost panicked about having an unsettled baby and a longer-than-expected wait for childcare.
1) Here we have the contradiction in the socio-political and economic ethos under which we live. Women have a right to work; to earn money; advance their careers and; attain professional, personal and financial goals. There was a brief time in the 1980s and 1990s when working women could ‘attain’ the “great Australian dream” of owning their own home.
This is rarely, if ever, the case now as it takes two salaries to sustain a mortgage and reasonable lifestyle. In this case, it can be argued that women are being socially and economically coerced into couple-dom to secure their financial future.
Yet, if women happen to have a disability, and be entitled to social security payments, they will be stripped of these entitlements upon becoming part of a couple. The point here is to highlight the connection between people with disabilities being forced back into institutions – out of sight, out of mind – and the disparity that fails to acknowledge people with disabilities as workers, part of communities, families and couples.
The muse is difficult to control today and keeps rambling off on tangents. Perhaps this is because there are so many interlinked topics vying to appear. And – I even tried using numbers.
Women who are in couples need to work to help sustain the economic progression of the couple. Yet, they are also expected, by the Prime Minister, John Howard, to be mothers of children and the netting that binds the family unit.
No wonder the talk of “double-duty” is growing louder. (One can hope…..)
3) And we finally move to the voice of dissent from a former Australian Government Minister. Bronwyn Bishop is quoted in The Sunday Mail as saying that the Prime Minister “is treating women like fools” in not implementing changes to childcare funding and places. Ms Bishop says “I was absolutely concerned with making sure women who are struggling for money were not worse off”.
As has been illustrated above, it’s a very steep and slippery slope that forms the continuum of worse off, maintaining equilibrium and advancing in a social, economic and political sense.
The questions that remain might be:
- Can women find time in their busy lives to work towards change?
- Can people see beyond the individualism being forced upon them to work towards collective change?
- And, will we ever see the cycle change/return to times when marginalisation and social justice issues are back on the political, and therefore, social agenda?
Or perhaps that should be, can we, the public, push them back onto the social and political agenda?
I’m not holding my breath!
References:
Weaver, Clair. 2007 “PM treating women like fools: Bishop”, The Sunday Mail, January 7, 2007: page 2.
Monday, 1 January 2007
The Start of 2007 - holidays
The woman who writes 'Women and Thought' is taking a break from thought and indulging in other pursuits. These pursuits may be hedonistic and/or relaxation focussed, however there are still 'thoughts' involved...
Sunday, 24 December 2006
Empowerment
When women have a sense of empowerment they are strong individuals who function well in their chosen position in society. It does not matter if they are in relationships or not, single or partnered, employed or not working. Empowered women have a strong sense of self-esteem and the ability to determine the direction of their lives.
Of course, this is not saying that women with a strong sense of empowerment are indestructible super women, merely that they are more resilient to the “slings and arrows” (Shakespeare, Hamlet) that must be lived through as part of life.
To look more closely at empowered women, we need to look at the word empowerment and, then, to think about whether empowerment is learned from living by example, as in through nurturing from empowering parents and or family. Can empowerment be learned through experience? Is it constant or can it be worn down by a society that, sometimes, seeks to strip women of power and leave them in disempowered positions in relation the men with whom they have relationships; the jobs they do not have; the education they have not had the opportunity to access; the lower paying jobs they struggle to keep; the long hours spent climbing the professional ladder and maintaining their positions or advancing..
The word “empower” means
1. to give power or authority to; authorise, esp. by legal or official means:
2. to enable or permit:
Dictionary.com
So ‘empowerment’ means having authority over your life, legal and financial and being ‘empowered’ to function as an ‘enabled’ member of the community.
Yet, for many women empowerment is distant from their everyday mode of living and, for some, it comes as second nature to recognise their position and seek to maintain or improve it. The questions that need to be asked are how can we bring children, young girls, teenagers, young women and ALL women to see that they can be empowered.
It is easier for some, example, those raised in situations where gender roles are shared. In these situations, young women see that they have the ability to function across gender roles, changing tyres and checking the oil in their cars. Such young women also grow up with knowledge of the language of business and powers to negotiate where the “starting price” is just that – where negotiations start.
It is these knowledges, and the application of them, that empower women. To empower all women, the sharing of gender roles and a valuing of personal independence needs to be augmented. This can be done through networking and through adopting educational and social models that put women in positions where they can exercise and experience their empowerment….and so it becomes a form of ‘power’ used for positive action rather than destruction.
Wishing you an empowered festive season and a new year of peace and progress.
References:
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/empowerment (accessed: December 23, 2006).
Of course, this is not saying that women with a strong sense of empowerment are indestructible super women, merely that they are more resilient to the “slings and arrows” (Shakespeare, Hamlet) that must be lived through as part of life.
To look more closely at empowered women, we need to look at the word empowerment and, then, to think about whether empowerment is learned from living by example, as in through nurturing from empowering parents and or family. Can empowerment be learned through experience? Is it constant or can it be worn down by a society that, sometimes, seeks to strip women of power and leave them in disempowered positions in relation the men with whom they have relationships; the jobs they do not have; the education they have not had the opportunity to access; the lower paying jobs they struggle to keep; the long hours spent climbing the professional ladder and maintaining their positions or advancing..
The word “empower” means
1. to give power or authority to; authorise, esp. by legal or official means:
2. to enable or permit:
Dictionary.com
So ‘empowerment’ means having authority over your life, legal and financial and being ‘empowered’ to function as an ‘enabled’ member of the community.
Yet, for many women empowerment is distant from their everyday mode of living and, for some, it comes as second nature to recognise their position and seek to maintain or improve it. The questions that need to be asked are how can we bring children, young girls, teenagers, young women and ALL women to see that they can be empowered.
It is easier for some, example, those raised in situations where gender roles are shared. In these situations, young women see that they have the ability to function across gender roles, changing tyres and checking the oil in their cars. Such young women also grow up with knowledge of the language of business and powers to negotiate where the “starting price” is just that – where negotiations start.
It is these knowledges, and the application of them, that empower women. To empower all women, the sharing of gender roles and a valuing of personal independence needs to be augmented. This can be done through networking and through adopting educational and social models that put women in positions where they can exercise and experience their empowerment….and so it becomes a form of ‘power’ used for positive action rather than destruction.
Wishing you an empowered festive season and a new year of peace and progress.
References:
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/empowerment (accessed: December 23, 2006).
Monday, 18 December 2006
Objection
Before the objection there was a party.
Words like, “we like being married”, “it was the ‘thing to do’”, “I’d do it in a ‘hot minute’”, “we chose not to”, were said.
We came home and went to bed.
This is when “hot minute” man said,
“I know you’ve got objections to m…. but let me know when you’re over them”.
I separated,
Body and psyche became detached.
Body stayed in bed and mouth tried to murmur something sensical
Psyche was under bed, hands clasped firmly to sensory receptors going,
“no, he didn’t say that”
And yes it was a double-negative so he had said it.
Objections seemed trifling.
I’ll make the word (“W”, that is) and the state (“M”, that is) over
I’m an individual. I’ve changed things before…even got a ramp into historic buildings.
I was wrong.
I was trapped
Caught in a racing spiral of choices, bookings, shopping, congratulations, deposits, “I’ve got nothing to wear… and looking like a giant, snow-white, frothy, frilly cake was not for me!!!!!!!”
Unfortunately, I found a frock and the deed was done…
Even if it did include Judith decapitating Holofernes –
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Judith_beheading_holofernes.jpg
Words like, “we like being married”, “it was the ‘thing to do’”, “I’d do it in a ‘hot minute’”, “we chose not to”, were said.
We came home and went to bed.
This is when “hot minute” man said,
“I know you’ve got objections to m…. but let me know when you’re over them”.
I separated,
Body and psyche became detached.
Body stayed in bed and mouth tried to murmur something sensical
Psyche was under bed, hands clasped firmly to sensory receptors going,
“no, he didn’t say that”
And yes it was a double-negative so he had said it.
Objections seemed trifling.
I’ll make the word (“W”, that is) and the state (“M”, that is) over
I’m an individual. I’ve changed things before…even got a ramp into historic buildings.
I was wrong.
I was trapped
Caught in a racing spiral of choices, bookings, shopping, congratulations, deposits, “I’ve got nothing to wear… and looking like a giant, snow-white, frothy, frilly cake was not for me!!!!!!!”
Unfortunately, I found a frock and the deed was done…
Even if it did include Judith decapitating Holofernes –
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Judith_beheading_holofernes.jpg
Nothing could shield us from the onslaught of social and economic change.
The government: “you are now the ‘property’ of your husband and he shall care for you”.
Society: “This is confusing. You wear those rings, why not shackle your ankles with ‘his’ name?”
“Your ‘will’ is null and void. We shall determine that your property goes to him if you die. Or else you should, post-haste sign another document.”
“You will also now live by the rules inscribed in ancient texts (written-by-men-to-make/keep-women-subservient).”
“No, no!”, I cried in vain – almost insane with pushing against the infliction of convention.
Time came and gradually led me/us (I guess I should write. Though plural pronouns and putting two names on things still makes me shiver.) from the event.
People forgot or came to understand that a snarl and refusal to say the words beginning with “w”, “m”, “h”, “w” (The latter being an acronym for ‘washing’, ‘ironing’, ‘fucking’, ‘etc’) was not boding well.
Mary Wollstonecraft, who kept her name, all the same, wrote a vindication that women and men should be equal and women share the knowledge and decision-making.
Tell that to the Howard government, which supports a view of society as couple-dom as sovereign [Yet will ‘feel up’ the Queen. Was he thinking, ‘She is, after all, a women and should be receptive to her hosts and subjects?’.
That’s right, I don’t like marriage and I’m glad we have resorted or reverted, whichever fits, to calling each other “partner”.
Don’t mention it in public…people who don’t know, don’t ask.
Keep our names and papers separate.
Are getting on with it, and, as a friend said “surviving”… But we’re also pretending it didn’t happen.
Post-Script: “Advice to Lovers”
Keep your love and hold it close
As something private and displayed with pride
No need have you of ceremonies grand
To contain something as free as sand
Honour each other and not society
Declare your objection, with mine,
That you and I and millions more
Shall not marry to be called names
Or watch our autonomy go up in flames
References:
Gentileschi, Artemisia. 1621 Judith Slaying Holofernes. Oil on canvas.
Wollstonecraft, Mary. 1992 A Vindication of the Rights of Women, Miriam Brody (ed), Penguin Books, London.
Monday, 11 December 2006
Women Do
Now I’m trying really hard not to identify what men don’t do – their “lack” if one wishes to transmogrify Freud – rather I wish to focus on what women “Do” to sustain the fine, almost invisible net that supports the super-structure of society.
As the festive season approaches and women are keeping on going to work and sustaining the routine of everyday life, they are also out there ‘erecting’ the scaffolding of the festive season too. This includes shopping, organising parties and supporting relatives, elderly or those in need, to prepare for the onslaught of carols, kisses and clicking glasses.
You see these organised social supporters everywhere. They have the bags of colourfully wrapped presents, trolleys of food and gourmet items, and the mobile phones to book venues for parties. Just ask yourself, “How many women know what they are doing on New Year’s Eve?” Or, the other question: “How many blokes are ‘kicking back’ and scratching their balls, making ape-like noises and looking blank about New Year’s Eve?” (These are intelligent blokes, too, with degrees and more highly paid jobs than the women.)
Taking a step back, away from the festive season, and looking towards literature, Kate Grenville writes of women’s greater involvement in history, In Joan Makes History and, thereby, implied life, these are also the women who organise the diaries of world leaders, politicians, industry leaders and, sliding back into the domestic sphere, families and households. Or they could be just single women getting on with their lives and moving proactively in their cycles of friends and living independent lives.
Imagine the power - political and social - that could be generated if women could find opportunities to use this power to bring about positive, or social, change. Maybe this is what we need to do. There might be short-term havoc if women moved their attention from the domestic sphere, but this could be mirrored by a surge of positive energy around ‘sensible’ political decisions and ‘evenly calculated’ social justice interventions.
Grenville, Kate. 1988. Joan Makes History (University of Queensland Press)
As the festive season approaches and women are keeping on going to work and sustaining the routine of everyday life, they are also out there ‘erecting’ the scaffolding of the festive season too. This includes shopping, organising parties and supporting relatives, elderly or those in need, to prepare for the onslaught of carols, kisses and clicking glasses.
You see these organised social supporters everywhere. They have the bags of colourfully wrapped presents, trolleys of food and gourmet items, and the mobile phones to book venues for parties. Just ask yourself, “How many women know what they are doing on New Year’s Eve?” Or, the other question: “How many blokes are ‘kicking back’ and scratching their balls, making ape-like noises and looking blank about New Year’s Eve?” (These are intelligent blokes, too, with degrees and more highly paid jobs than the women.)
Taking a step back, away from the festive season, and looking towards literature, Kate Grenville writes of women’s greater involvement in history, In Joan Makes History and, thereby, implied life, these are also the women who organise the diaries of world leaders, politicians, industry leaders and, sliding back into the domestic sphere, families and households. Or they could be just single women getting on with their lives and moving proactively in their cycles of friends and living independent lives.
Imagine the power - political and social - that could be generated if women could find opportunities to use this power to bring about positive, or social, change. Maybe this is what we need to do. There might be short-term havoc if women moved their attention from the domestic sphere, but this could be mirrored by a surge of positive energy around ‘sensible’ political decisions and ‘evenly calculated’ social justice interventions.
Grenville, Kate. 1988. Joan Makes History (University of Queensland Press)
Monday, 27 November 2006
Design and the phallus
Where do designs come from and what are designers thinking when they are in the conceptualisation phase?
This question can linger in the air while more information is gathered about designers. Unfortunately, women have not yet reached the equity bar here. There are still very few women working or ‘thinking’ in/on product design. As Southwell argues, products used by women are, in fact, designed by male. Women are reluctant to enrol in design studies because the “lecturers are predominantly male” and design is still seen as a “male profession”. http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1468-5949.00071?cookieSet=1&journalCode=jade
If one considers the fact that many [male] designers are designing products they will never use, or ever look at, from an analytical viewpoint, it is not surprising that there are many designs which are either difficult to use and difficult to clean. Or, taking design by males, with male thought patterns, to the extreme, objects often look like disembodiment of the male phallus.
It could be argued that if women designed bathroom vanities (sinks) they would be functional and easy to clean. They would have sleek lines, any water spilled would run back into the sink and down the drain hole, where it is supposed to go. These functional vanities would be easy to clean and durable, and might look like this http://www.bathroom-glass-vanities.com/ceramic-vanity-dlvrb-117.html . If one were to speculate on a vanity designed by a woman - and grossly extend the sexualisation metaphor - it might be oval and folding in upon itself, similar to the folds of the vagina. But that would be taking it too far.
Most likely a man designed the vanity basin that sits above the bench; has potential for water spillage and would be difficult to clean under. The physical characteristics of this vanity http://www.homesite.com.au/indoors/bathroom/sinks-and-basins/vanity-basins/leda-vasque-above-counter-vanity-basin are also a closer approximation of the shape of the phallus, rising above the bench, than the smooth flat top vanity.
Moving from bathrooms and things ceramic, solid and hard, it’s easy to see that these principles of “phallic design” are also transferred onto items of food.
One only has to drive past a billboard advertising a Nestle Peters ® “Choc Top” Drumstick ® to be able to exclaim, “oh what a choc top phallus”. With its hard cone supporting an oval head of ice cream, coated in chocolate, and with just a nibble taken out of the top exposing vanilla ice cream and some “spooflicious” liquid caramel filling just dribbling from the newly created “eye” - just in case you weren’t quite sure what you were seeing!
There are no images of this “Choc Top” Drumstick ® on-line but they are waiting in the freezer cabinets of shops and will, no doubt, give many males a thrill as they see them being consumed by luscious lips, or as they press them to their own lips and experience the imagined fulfilment of the ultimate male fantasy………..
But, the women think, why can’t things be designed for functionality, comfort, efficiency and beauty. Maybe women need to seek out the electronic drawing boards and redress this gender inequity.
This question can linger in the air while more information is gathered about designers. Unfortunately, women have not yet reached the equity bar here. There are still very few women working or ‘thinking’ in/on product design. As Southwell argues, products used by women are, in fact, designed by male. Women are reluctant to enrol in design studies because the “lecturers are predominantly male” and design is still seen as a “male profession”. http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1468-5949.00071?cookieSet=1&journalCode=jade
If one considers the fact that many [male] designers are designing products they will never use, or ever look at, from an analytical viewpoint, it is not surprising that there are many designs which are either difficult to use and difficult to clean. Or, taking design by males, with male thought patterns, to the extreme, objects often look like disembodiment of the male phallus.
It could be argued that if women designed bathroom vanities (sinks) they would be functional and easy to clean. They would have sleek lines, any water spilled would run back into the sink and down the drain hole, where it is supposed to go. These functional vanities would be easy to clean and durable, and might look like this http://www.bathroom-glass-vanities.com/ceramic-vanity-dlvrb-117.html . If one were to speculate on a vanity designed by a woman - and grossly extend the sexualisation metaphor - it might be oval and folding in upon itself, similar to the folds of the vagina. But that would be taking it too far.
Most likely a man designed the vanity basin that sits above the bench; has potential for water spillage and would be difficult to clean under. The physical characteristics of this vanity http://www.homesite.com.au/indoors/bathroom/sinks-and-basins/vanity-basins/leda-vasque-above-counter-vanity-basin are also a closer approximation of the shape of the phallus, rising above the bench, than the smooth flat top vanity.
Moving from bathrooms and things ceramic, solid and hard, it’s easy to see that these principles of “phallic design” are also transferred onto items of food.
One only has to drive past a billboard advertising a Nestle Peters ® “Choc Top” Drumstick ® to be able to exclaim, “oh what a choc top phallus”. With its hard cone supporting an oval head of ice cream, coated in chocolate, and with just a nibble taken out of the top exposing vanilla ice cream and some “spooflicious” liquid caramel filling just dribbling from the newly created “eye” - just in case you weren’t quite sure what you were seeing!
There are no images of this “Choc Top” Drumstick ® on-line but they are waiting in the freezer cabinets of shops and will, no doubt, give many males a thrill as they see them being consumed by luscious lips, or as they press them to their own lips and experience the imagined fulfilment of the ultimate male fantasy………..
But, the women think, why can’t things be designed for functionality, comfort, efficiency and beauty. Maybe women need to seek out the electronic drawing boards and redress this gender inequity.
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