Yes individual, I still have a little vision of female privilege from the late 40s. Not long after the war we were living in Townsville, in a house high on Castle Hill, with great views of the bay out to Magnetic Island. The front verandah was a regular gathering point for the ladies.

Both dad & the next door neighbor were getting reestablished after returning from the war in PNG. Dad ran a small chain of shoe stores, & the neighbor a branch of a bank. I can still see the pair of them peddling off to work in the wet season, [no cars available, or affordable after the war], barefoot in just a pair of shorts, their business clothes wrapped in an ex army ground sheet.

One evening the 2 ladies were on the verandah, home from their bowls or tennis afternoon, having a cup of tea when both men arrived. After greetings both men reached into a pocket producing an envelop. It was their pay packets, which they handed to the ladies, who opened them, handing the men a small amount, their pocket money.

It made sense, the ladies had to pay for the ice, bread, fruit & veg, milk, soft drinks & other stuff, all home delivered, & do the shopping. This was their share of the family work, none of them worked formally, & they had time for tennis, bowls & card afternoons, as well as school tuck shop duties.

I will never forget the site of the ladies dolling out the mens pocket money, still dressed in their tennis gear, & the men hot from their bike ride up the hill. It was perhaps a better life. No one had much after the war, but families were closer I think, them together against a world, that had been pretty tough for quite a while

hi Individual,

Please tell me why you think a better looking woman has an advantage over a less better looking woman?
And please tell me whether you think better looking women thinks she has an advantage over less better looking women and the reverse why you think lesser better looking woman thinks she lacks the advantages of better looking women.

Does the same apply to attire and hairstyle? What about skin colour? Marital Status? Sexual behaviour?

Get the point? Your advantage is you get to judge on irrelevancies. And to openly state them without censure.

Cheers

Hasbeen,

Please now reinforce your view by telling me how your work experience as a housewife, mother and wife impacts your attitude. The would actually qualif you to judge the value of the women's contribution ?

I thought that argument had been done and dusted a generation or two ago. Apparently not?

Cheers Keith

To all the women out there,

I share your exasperation ... not your total experience as a wife or partner, and I reckon at times that would be really very taxing, although I did spend years raising my children alone, where my social outings, sporting and community activities with my children and shared with mostly other mothers taught me much about mothering. The social interaction was vital and impacted with great positivity on the three of us.

Cheers

Been there, done that, & got the tee shirt imajulianutter.

When I returned from my Pacific islands fun, I had a tired ageing yacht, & a reasonable amount of money in the bank. After I met my lady we got involved in the tourist industry. It was hard work, 29 or 30 days a month working, & no chance of holidays for 6 of the 8 years. We must have been pretty resilient, as we managed to have a couple of kids during it.

My lady is so good we found it better to hire a nanny, & keep her at work. We did well, but tiring of 14 hour days we bought a small cattle stud in Wide Bay. Not sure if the cash flow would support us, my lady went back to work as librarian in a small city near by.

I became farther/mum/house wife/stud master/roustabout/farmer/cook etc. At 3 our son would sit on my lap & "steer" the tractor, so I could get some work done, between the school runs to school 12 kilometers away.

So mate, I have 5 years of being father/mum, with a bit more thrown in. I am under no illusions of the effort involved. I feel strongly for our youngest, trying to pay off a house on her own, with a 4 year old. I don't object to my lady spending 5 days a week living with her, & minding grand daughter. It does mean I am back to being a house wife, but with all todays mod cons, it is a lot easier than it used to be.

As I said earlier, I think my mothers life, at least just after the war, was a damn sight better than my daughters, even with all our labour saving devices not available until well after the war.

I'm sorry Hasbeen.

Our experiences are very different.

I was only ever a dad.

I gained a view of a working solo dad I did not have a partner to look after nor to need to tend their needs, nor one to support me or tend to me.