Mumsnet Talk

As a long time supporter I may be biased, but I reckon this Malawian lady would be top of my list for inspiration. Gertrude is a widowed mum of four, grandmother to two, and manages to combine parenting with running a primary school and preschool out in Africa:

uk.lifestyle.yahoo.com/gertrude-inspirational-mum-malawi-173700495.html

Share if you agree!

Women are getting a better deal these days. But the genders are still a seperate entity.

happy IWD mners.

I'm going to say you lot are my favourite women. This is the first place I've ever seen women come together on masse and laugh, argue, debate, cry and support.

The threads also taught me something about some women I work with which I didn't know but fits them to a t and I shall be celebrating with them tomorrow.

Mn is something else.

Can I just mention Malala Yousafzai.
Still just a teenage girl, but how amazing is she.

I know. It's even sadder that there are women on there!

Thanks for the link LRD but do NOT read the comments

I know, it was a very proud moment. He told them that women weren't toys or property and it was rude to show women in their underwear. It let people think that they could be mean to girls because they arent as important as boys, but they are.

then he turned on his heel and stomped out.

Thats my son, that is. It's mine and dh's job to raise a man who respects women and treats them as equals, I'd like to think that so far, we are nailing it.

Yay ! good on yer Junior Trampy Pants

I explained that men still have most of the power, the best jobs, most of the money and treat women like they arent as good or as important as them. IWD is a day when we celebrate the women who have done great things, like the suffragettes, and Marie Curie, as well as all the women who are still working hard and trying to get equality.

While we've come such a long way, theres a long way to go, and its up to people like us to change things, and boys and men like him are the future.

But, then, this is the boy who bollocked the news agent for stocking The Sport and The Star.

I am proud to know someone who has been selected as a finalist at this year’s Network She International Women’s Day Awards 2013. Awards ceremony this evening.

My favorite woman so strong such an amazing role model is my lovely mam rip.

dd's (11) most inspirational woman is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harriet_Tubman

She's unsure about her favorite woman.

thank you FloatyBeatie dd and i have made a small loan

I'd be interested to know either from almondeyes or TrampyPants how you would describe IWD - reasons behind why we celebrate it, how you would explain it to either young people or a 7 year old DS. Not that I haven't got my own ideas, though I don't know much about it's origins or when it started ?

Ds is 7 and we've just had a lovely chat about it, I explained what its for etc. He gets it, and I am very proud.

No worries blonde. I loved it too, someone on my FB shared it.

this woman deserves a mention. just saw her on the one show

Happy IWD all women. I work in my local Further Ed college and teach Feminist theory to young people studying Social Science. None of them had heard of IWD nor the reasons behind why we celebrate it. Nor were they remotely interested .What does that have to do with our lives they said. I despair - and not for the first time ....
My favourite woman ..hard to choose ..so many to give thanks for what they have done for us past and present.My mum , Gran, my university proff of womens studies .. I could go on but done enough of that today!

Thank you SO much for this, LRD. Gives me an answer for all the menz on my fb timeline who suddenly come out as whinging arseholes on days like this.

Why do people get so angry at the idea of equality? It is perplexing.

Happy IWD folks.

I'm not discounting the existence of sexism, but not all Russian men are unreconstructed sexists. The men I know (including my DH) are very much involved in all areas of family life, housework, childcare, cooking, etc.

I love International Women's Day. When I lived in Russia, it was one of my favourite holidays. My husband is Russian, so we continue to celebrate it even though now we live in the US.

Ah, I see. Yes, I think that's probably true everywhere - over here it's probably more 'ooh, look, Mother's Day, see, mothers are valued!'.

I do think there can be a correlation between cultures having a sort of cult of 'loving women', and cultures actually encouraging misogyny - because you wouldn't need to make a song and dance of it if we were just equal, right?

(She says, moaning, while Russian DH is making dinner and cleaning up.)

actually I don't feel down -I've had a great day, but still facts is facts. It's fairly commonly said, oh we love women in Russia, look at women's day etc. conveniently forgetting the other 364 days!! (it's our way-bury your head inthe sand!)

I wonder if his wife is a MNer, juggling. I like that he has a crack at the term 'banter' at the same time ... one of those words that annoy me immensely.

Sorry to hear you're feeling down znaika. Do people really tell you that flowers and chocolate should compensate?! That is so fucking rude.

I am in Russia at home, after a lovely bank holiday, I have been given lots of flowers, and chocolates, including from a random man outside the metro station and the guys at work took us out last night for a meal with lots of vodka(ofcourse!). Sounds great? well the lot of a Russian woman is fairly shit actually and flowers and chocolates don't really compensate for having to do all the child care and house work and work full time, while the men get to bugger about and act like imbeciles if they wish with no societal judgement. SAHM are virtually unheard of here. And i didn't even mention the domestic violence stats, not that they can be trusted anyway

I think it's a great headline for the article ... complete with the "actually, so shut up !" Just made for a Mumsnetter to spot and link to ! I thought he was quite funny at the end what with his 10% of white men being deprived of all boardroom positions and 25% deprived of seats in the house of commons - or however he put it slightly more cleverly than me (as mine doesn't quite read right just yet, but you get the idea) But give me his job and I'll give it a bit more thought !!

Oops, fair enough.

I take the point, I like the 'hmm' face too, but I had come fresh from reading that article, so came with its perspective a bit.