International Women's Day. Or Women's every day.

Since my last blog – my sensitivities towards gender equality are heightened.  My little girl is invited to a boy’s birthday party – she is the only girl. She plays with the boys.

For some time I battled with the idea that something was up.  When I asked what the girls do during recess  – she replied with ‘they’re boring, they sit and talk about clothes, boys, who they will marry’  I was left astounded. They’re 7! 

It’s with great relief that Ms. 7 prefers to run, play, shout, climb trees, playfight, be a superhero or a monster.

Yesterday’s celebration of the international women's day made me question. We celebrate women, adult women. There are business women’s networking talks, we celebrate female heroes, we celebrate organisations that support EEO.  But…. what messages we sharing with little girls to help them get through each and every day?

Are we telling them to burn the plastic tea set and climb a tree? That it is ok to be, feel and act differently, because that is what being an individual is all about?

I pondered this all day yesterday and when I got home from work and raised it with my girls, The Baby (now four) replied ‘but every day is our day. Don’t you tell us that we choose to have a good day, or a great day…it’s how we choose to tackle it?’


Job done, for today.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Holy Smoke

On Friday night, we decided to break routine and do as the Greek’s do, go out with our children after 7 pm. This town is the Greek version of Home and Away’s, Summer Bay – only it’s not that sleepy. Greece’s Summer Bay is really Mykonos with children. We walked to our local Paidotopo, a café that is also a children’s play centre. Its opening hours are 10 a.m to 2 p.m, then 5.30 p.m. to 12.00 a.m!  Our local Paidotopo is like walking onto set for an episode of Cheers for Children, where everybody knows your name. It’s warm, friendly and fun. Our local has a thousand activities, an indoor slippery dip, jumping castle, a dedicated supervisor who takes the children gently by the hand and plays with them for as long as you are there. She is not frightened to return naughty children to their parents, and will not tolerate bullying.  Best of all,  Paidotopo has a bar, (of course for the parents). The owner (his name is Archilea, not Sam), was pleased to se...
Read more

Mummyfried. Really.

SO, I thought when I read Lisa’s call for a challenge, why not?  I can do it. I manically set about building a blog site, throwing up my stories and making room for more to come. Easy peasy. I can do it in one night I think. Reminiscent of my university days of pulling an ‘all-nighter’ – the difference, I refused to accept that the children and my insomnia (attention to detail) would cause delay. I have built websites before, I have consulted to Board Members and Partners regarding blogs and social media. I am a pro, I know what it takes.   The all-nighter turned into a four night all-nighter. I have spent the last few nights dealing with the baby’s attempts to turn night into day. She thinks I love it when she howls almost all night. Once she is awake, Little Miss wakes up. Little Miss (also known as Little Miss Relevance Deprivation) starts to howl also wanting cuddles and milk.  Somewhere between the two, I have worked on this blogsite. Sleep depriv...
Read more

Social media evolution or New Year resolution?

Image
I know I am a walking contradiction.    Despite uploading my stories and likes online, I have a paranoid (yet I think valid) belief that all our online activities, thoughts, opinions will come back and bite us in the bum, literally - this truthfully scares me. I still can’t program a TV or use a smart phone. I go to the phone store for staff to unlock my phone or top up my credit. My reliance on email and telephone to keep in touch with people has reduced. I have graduated to Skype, Facebook, and the occasional text.    I am a modern woman. As a user, I find myself questioning myself and the mediums I use that now play an important role in connecting me to friends, relatives and colleagues. Skype allows my children to interact with their cousins, grandparents, aunts, uncles and friends located around the world  - in real time. Skype keeps me on my toes as my mother comments on my appearance, weight, whether my children look fed and clean.   ...
Read more