International Women's Day: how can we make the world more equal?

[RowanMumsnet]

Hello campers,

As lots of you will already know, Tuesday March 8 is International Women's Day. MNHQ has been working with the EQUALS coalition this year, and they've asked us to ask you to suggest small ways in which you think we could all work to make men and women more equal, whether locally, nationally or globally.

Examples would be: go and support your local woman's football team; write to a television station to ask why women presenters are 20 years younger than their male counterparts; or make a donation to an organisation that supports women in developing countries. (If you're feeling extrovert, you could also consider organising an EQUALS soul train in your area this coming Friday.)

Your contributions might end up on the EQUALS blog.

Thanks,

MNHQ x

victoriascrumptious - I thought in Sweden it was that the parental leave was allocated to the couple and it was up to them how they divided it. Does anybody here know?

And yes, I think we're agreeing on the issue itself, but just read jugglingjo's post differently - Jo - could you come back and clarify please?

For now I count myself fortunate to have a husband who values my work, paid and unpaid and hope to bring up our children the same way when we have them.

I also agree with the poster about ditching derogatory comments like 'man flu'. I found it intensely annoying when Dh had swine flu and was really ill that everyone kept pulling this face and saying in a faux-sympathetic way 'oh, has he got man flu?'. It was not only demeaning to his very real illness, but also to the immense amount of work it took looking after him (not easy to get a swooning 6'2" athlete to the bathroom when you're a dumpy 5'4", not to mention the sodden sheet changing every 2 hours).

Gosh, I'm feeling grouchy today. better get back to work :-)

when you see female sport reported on regularly in the national newspapers - rather than the sporadic article here and there.

when you hear Radio 4 reporting on more female sport rather than listenting to the men's cricket result, the men's football result, the men's racing result..........

Yes, in Sweden, maternity leave as it is called in the UK is called parental leave in Sweden and it can be shared equally between the partners.

Sure, here I am to clarify

It was a simple but fundamental point I was making ( which I do think addresses the OP's question )

Makescakes has interpreted my post fine. But my point is broader than her reading of it too, and I didn't make any reference to working inside or outside the home. (What sort of cake can I make you to thank you for your support ?)

Just that I feel in pursuing equality women have sometimes felt they needed to conform themselves to a man shaped square peg to fit into all those square holes ( such as the working hours of the boardroom or parliament, the image of a headteacher or vicar etc. etc. )

Time to change the holes to round ones that we will fit more easily, with our more fluid and flexible round pegs !

Hope that makes sense ( I like a good analogy !) & contributes positively to the discussion

But I also think that saying women want to be home and care and clean and don't want to be ambitious and earn money and gain power is dreadful for those women who do want the latter. I want it to be not noteworthy that I might prefer plying my trade to working the washing machine.

If one year 100% of the new partners at a big accountancy firm were female for example and non men or 60% of boards had 70% women , it would be great if that were not noteworthy because it was simply random.

I think there's too much dichotomy between the raising your family,(Working inside the home), and
working outside the home camps.

I think one sign of developing equality will indeed be less division between these two "sides."

We have to value ourselves and one another whatever we are doing !

And my broader point that we need to embrace the diversity of the experience of being female.

There is more than one way to live as a woman, just like there is more than one way to be a man !

Hence my comment that increasing equality will bring increasing freedom to be "authentically ourselves"

I think as we grow in confidence we will be less critical of one another too

-when there are no "honour killings".

In my profession I already have the upper hand.

Play the game and the world is your oyster.

when people don't look at fathers pushing his DC in a buggy/on his own with DC and go "aaaahhhhh" as if its something a)really unusual and b)really sweet

no one bats an eyelid at the mums pushing buggies, no, we just get ignored and people walking into us

I've just seen Hillary Clinton on SKY talking about this. She took a global view: the need to ensure all women can access health care, can access education, and have the right to work outside the home if they wish.

As others have said access to education and healthcare no matter where a girl is growing up. would like to see an end to female circumcision.

-when women can go out on their own after dark without giving it a second thought.

When itunes has as many films/media to download as it does stuff that appeals to the guys!? :)

• when woman won't have to be better than men to be treated the same

When women everywhere have the same basic freedoms as men, and do not have to be escorted out of the house by their 10-year-old sons, or driven by others as they are forbidden to drive themselves.

--When shouting abuse at women in the street is seen as that abuse, punishable, not written off as some twisted form of compliment.

When women don't have to play anyone else's game for the world to be their oyster.

'We'll know we have equality when...

• women receive equal pay for doing the same job

• women are treated as human, not 'other' and are not routinely treated as 2nd class citizens

• women and girls ate not forced to wear veils, undergo circumcision or be put to death for being raped

• when we as a society crack the childcare problem which holds so many women back from achieving their potential. The personal is political!

• when women and girls are judged by what they do, not how they look

• when women's bodies are thought beautiful if they are healthy and strong; not plucked and painted into some identikit ideal

When Jeremy Clarkson simply wouldn't be possible.

SurreyDad, my mind is boggling at "men need to become more feminine and do some housework"

What is especially feminine about cleaning the loo? Mucking out the bin cupboard? Scrubbing the bath and cleaning gunk out of the drains? Or masculine either for that matter?

It is feminine when you do the housework in a little babydoll and fluffy mules. I always do that. And wink at the window cleaner before asking him in for a quickie.

When this changes:

• A woman born in South Africa has more of a chance of being raped than learning to read.

:(

Source here: www.millionwomenrise.com/assets/2011_march_flyer.pdf

mathanxiety I think he meant it as men need to be more feminine and do some housework.

yeah yeah yeah course he did.

When men can conceive, carry a pregnancy, give birth and lactate.