So what did we learn about Jane?
That in her childhood up to the age of seven she was brought up in a conservative household and learned to write conservatively.
Jane is writing about women but started with “Give me a child until he is seven, and I will show you the man”.
That is a masculine quote. A radical woman would change the gender in that quote to represent women of today.

Citizen, I don't know where you've been applying for jobs, but having been involved in recruitment (albeit at the bottom of the food-chain) this doesn't tally with my experience at all. No quotas, just a strict screening of CVs against the selection criteria. Young, old, male or female, we just asked the same questions and rated their answers. The person with the best rating got the job. Easy.

I'm amazed at the bile in this thread, looks like a lot of bitter old grumps, yearning for the good old days when women were sacked when they got married. Are some of you guys a bit upset at too much competition for the good jobs?

Less than 15 years ago my wife applied for a job. Asked in the interview whether she was married (I guess the wedding ring was a bit of a give away) she said yes. At that point the boss lost all interest and she didn't get the job (naurally). Just as well, really, who'd want to work with a dinosaur like that?

@Johnj I was really hoping for an answer from Jane, but John, do you really think I would work at crummy, boring jobs for $16 an hour if I could get better? The system is so much about who you know and the time spent as a single father puts you in the total loser class which is virtualy impossible to climb back out of and the massive shift of women into the workforce has not only reduced the available positions but put many women into the role of deciding who gets the job. The women-for-women mentality that has been avidly promoted for 30 years is now institutionalised, eg http://www.eeo.nsw.gov.au/women/networks.htm
(there are so many websites as examples) yet they manage to ignore the impact on the men they have pushed aside. The Queensland government has an active affirmative action policy conducted by the Ministry for Women that demands equity if any particular group has less than 50% female but are quite comfortable with more than 80% of staff in Brisbane council libraries being female, for example.
Im not so concerned about myself, though i would dearly love a job that was stimulating, such as I had when I was younger, but I'm more concerned about my daughter's generation who will live in a society with an abundance of pissed-off single men. When Ms Koval was interviewing Norman Mailer on the ABC he said that the anti-woman feeling in america was stronger now than anti-semitism. Combine that with the maturation of a generation of undisciplined boys raised in single mother households, and the general fragmentation of society, it may make the laptop, vibrator, and nifty japanese hatchback less fulfilling.

Citizen, I find it interesting that you mention libraries. As I work in the public library field I can make a few observations. The work is often interesting and the workplaces are often refreshingly old-fashioned; how about morning AND afternoon tea? The downside is that pay and conditions are absolutely crummy (coincidental that it is a predominantly female workforce?). Whenever I've interviewed for low-end library jobs the vast majority of candidates have been women. It would be nice to see gender equality in libraries, but most men turn their noses up at the pay available. You'd have to form a press-gang to get enough men into libraries, either that or pay librarians more money (I wish).

I think you make a valid point about disenfranchised young males, as women want to marry up. Professional women complain about the lack of suitable partners, meanwhile there are a lot of blokes on the relationship scrapheap. Having a female boss probably wouldn't help their self-esteem either.

Which I guess brings us back to 7-Up. I visited the UK about 10 years ago and I was astonished at the class divisions there and the way that class determined choices and opportunities. I'm not saying Australia isn't segregated by income disparities etc, but I felt like a foreigner despite speaking the language. Perhaps the funniest thing was the way people tried to pigeonhole you eg. Australian=Convict=Lower Class.

Networks for women? I think you'll find most of the networks that matter are blokes-only.

@ Jane Caro I was disappointed that I didn't get a response to my direct question so i went back and read some of your other posts. It enabled me to picture you sitting in your cosy world ponificating on subjects that are mere abstractions to you.
You and your 'sisters', the most privileged people on the planet, are smug about winning so many battles but seem unaware of being in the process of losing the war. Or your collective part in making the world a more heartless place.

I've posted a criticism of this article at the following website:

http://ozconservative.blogspot.com/2006/07/7up-girls-as-feminist-success-stories.html