Feminist Pub 14: The Bluestocking, a place for feminist chat and feminists to chat

[YonicScrewdriver]

Welcome!

This is the 14th incarnation of the Pub and is meant as a place to drop by with random thoughts and meandering chats, on feminist or other related themes. Anything you want to mull over but not necessarily start a thread about. Alternatively, flop onto the chaise lounges with some

We have a pub goat, a feminist cannon for firing at crazy sexists and a variety of drinks and snacks. And stools/bar counters at female friendly heights. And a crèche in the back somewhere

Will link the last pub in the next post!

I've lived with 'you only got there because you are a girl' for as long as I can remember. If we introduced more positive discrimination, I suspect we'd have more women in senior positions and this default assumption would die a death (as there would no longer be just a few women at these levels)

My male friend works for a big ass corporation where, a few years ago, they said "right, we are making 50% of management female" and they actually followed through. Everyone, including my brother, was up in arms about it and screamed about how all the incompetent women had got promoted without deserving it. Fast forward to now, and the truly incompetent women were just a few and I think the split now is 60/40 which not only is very good, it means that no one is now surprised at meeting a female manager.

As I once told the CIO of my company, I've been negatively discriminated so many times that I'm ok with being positively discriminated for once. Give me that chance and I will make it work, trust me.

Me too. I don't think I am less competent than my male colleagues. They talk more though.

Have to admit though that these days I tend to think "you only got there because you are a man". No doubt some men do deserve their promotion... I guess ...

Actually, where I am now the only sensible attitude is 'you only got there because you passed the appropriate professional examinations'

My company is working towards 55% women in senior management positions. This is being done by a combination of positive discrimination and succession planning (so the women get trained for their new role, rather than just being dropped into it). I'm hoping it will work (the scheme is still quite recent).

LordC he has a juicing machine and yes, lots of veggies with some fruit (mostly apples and oranges). And after first week healthy regular food as well. It is fab for him, just getting a little tiring!

Sorry if this has been posted elsewhere but thingy on academia for women

Bling, I love my juicer, but I take the juices in addition to my meals, not instead of. I'm a cranky cow when hungry.

hi!

Congratulations Karma! Is she your first?

Hi Ros. How are you?

Only scanned through the article but am sick of the women-don't-make-progress-because-they-have-babies business. (Maybe they address this in the article ...) Women who don't have babies also don't make progress as fast as men.

"you only got there because you are a man"
Oh this, definitely. Some of them are definitely not there because of ability. (Some are - just not all.)

Today, I was talking to a junior colleague on instant messenger, and he sent a picture of Benny Hill. I asked him what the picture was (because it just didn't make any sense to a comment, "You need to ask John, as he was working on that server.") Apparently it was a smile, the modern way, instead of just putting .

So then I asked him, if "given the sexist humour he represents, if that's really appropriate in the workplace?"

Apparently it can't be offensive, because he's been dead quite a long time.

Is it just me who doesn't follow this logic? (I had spent most of the day talking about diversity and STEM, so that might have been affecting my tolerance levels.)

They want to know what this positive discrimination that they so fear looks like from the other side they should fucking ask us.

Oh how I hate everybody! (Apart from you lot, of course. )

I think I should go to bed before I post anything I regret on the other threads...

Ooh! karma, congratulations!

I had an interesting conversation with a Swedish oncologist (male) a few years ago. Iirc they introduced quotas for female consultants (or possibly senior cancer researchers - I have forgotten the details, sorry!) several years ago and there were the same concerns re incompetence due to quota filling. He said that what happened in reality was that because they knew they needed X number of women in X years' time, and they obviously wanted to maintain quality, the effort was made to identify those junior female doctors/researchers who had the potential to reach senior levels, and mentor and support them so that the pool of quality women would be available when the time came. As they had been doing for men for years. I've been pro-quotas since that conversation

Reason #23879 why I hate school: They have rules: You must not hit girls. You must not hit people younger than you. Guess what happens?

AAARRRGGGHHH.

What's wrong with the message, you must not hit people? Doesn't that cover all bases, and mean they're less likely to be on an assault charge later in life, because no one mentioned it wasn't okay to hit boys who are older than you?

The girls and the younger ones have taken that to mean it's OK to hit the older kids. As you expect. The stupidity.

I am a coward. I don't think I can challenge the list the school just put up asking for items for a boys hamper and a girls hamper. (boys get a car and a ball, girls a doll and a skipping rope).

It's a small school (~30 kids), and my son has only just started, I don't want to get him a reputation for having a difficult mum (I've already loudly shunned the fundraising pamper night, and he took a hello kitty bracelet/necklace for show and tell) Thinking about it, his baby came to school once and he happily yanked up his jumper to show another parent how he fed it.. perhaps he's already marked..

I'm going to live with myself by donating the sticker books they've requested, and giving two identical ones about animals (or something), in a passive-aggressive all children are the same manner.

And teach my son to skip, and send him in with a skipping rope for playtime...

There's extraneous apostrophes too..... but I say 'hi' to the secretary every day, I don't think I can challenge them either.

Total wuss.

drive-by post, sorry

my toilet - global stories from women and girls

bbc overview here www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-30027513

Oh I saw that Petula - I liked the low-height door ones for the kids to stop adults from around ruining them, and was intrigued that the japanese public toilets still seem to be the fancy ones with all sorts of controls.

The number of women who could only use the toilet at certain times of the day, or who were habitually harassed while using it was terrible though.

I can't look at that link! My work firewall says it is BAD