This was an interesting article.

Kellie says on 7 per cent of top earners are women.

International Women's Day has got me thinking about empowerment.

We live in an hierarchical society. Because this hierarchy is seen as natural, most view empowerment as “moving up” in society.

However, because these differences in society are systemic, achieving a position of power is actually disempowering. It reinforces the present hierarchy and thus keeps the majority of people “in their place”.

The empowerment of the few is at the expense of the empowerment of the many.

Maybe the way to fight for an end to women's oppression is to fight for an end to the economic system that created it in its present form. That would mean a return to the fighting ideas and struggles of the women's liberation movement of the 60s and 70s.

The strikes that heralded international women's day seem a first good step. My memory, and I stand to be corrected because I am getting vague in my old age, is that it was the socialist Clara Zetkin who founded IWD as International Working Women's Day. That is a proud heritage lost on the ruling class women of today.

I find the article by Kellie Tranter interesting, however, I would like to make a couple of comments.

“women do more than twice as many hours of unpaid domestic work than men, provide the most unpaid childcare and family care, and do more voluntary work.”

I was an active feminist in the 70’s and still support the right that a woman, holding the same position as a man, should have equal pay, and equality of advancement . I disagreed with feminists when they started to clammer for government pay for domestic work. The idea that some bureaucrat enter my house and do some “quality evaluation” of my house-keeping ... !

It is quite irrelevant in the workplace how much unpaid domestic work women do. This is entirely a matter within the family unit. If one’s husband keeps dropping his dirty clothes on the ground - throw them all out the window - eventually when he runs out of clean clothes (if not before), he will retrieve them and likely wash them himself.

I held down an executive position for seven years and raised five children, my husband also worked. The idea that the government, or any other body, pay me for domestic work and caring for my children was ridiculous. Indeed, that this should be a consideration in evaluating women’s value in the workplace, indeed, status of women, I find extraordinary.

One prioritizes. Even now, domestic work is not a priority in my life. I return from a walk, wave my hat around madly - I have dusted. A very dear friend, who is extremely houseproud, suggested I keep “get well” cards on my mantle to “explain” (I have been at death’s door) the state of my house - books and other avocational materials are everywhere. Feeling guilty, and the competition of the other “perfect” grandmother, I told my grandchildren I was doing a make-over of my home ... they became distressed ... they love it the way it is.

cont...

For me, personally, I never regarded my position as a career. When I resigned, I was offered top dollar to stay. However, apart from not liking “business culture,” the idea of committing myself to a company, working, and dying there, was too ghastly for words - I moved into a completely different area. I wonder how many women regard their jobs as a lifetime commitment, a career.

I read statistics, albeit some time ago, that more women are self-employed than men. Visiting any major shopping mall, there are possibly more women-owned businesses/boutiques than those owned by men. And many women conduct businesses from home. One of my daughters, a jewellery designer, does so. She decides her own hours.

I would argue with Kellie Tranter about volunteer work. When men retire, they do as much volunteer work as women.

Tranter states:

“There was no industry in which women were more likely than men to be top earners”

Not necessarily. Another daughter is a career -woman. She was head-hunted, negotiated a 5-day fortnight; as she has children, her day ends at 3 pm. Her earnings, pro-rata, are the same as her husband - a medical specialist.

Tranter has made many valid points, however, there are other factors at play:

Many women are self employed; some industries prefer employing female executives than male; some women do not want life-time careers - indeed, will forgo advancement rather than commit themselves. One really has to look at the big picture, seeing what different women expect and want for themselves. I would suggest that women, as a whole, have more diverse ideas about career paths than men. Having said this, I do agree that committed career-women in industry, should have the same opportunties and financial rewards as men.

Tranter states:

“The challenge from here is to make a change, and to do that we need to “unlearn” the emotional, sexual, and psychological stereotyping of women within the home, within business, within government and within our society.”

I applaud whole-heartedly.

Ah Danielle, - your post did us all proud - and made me very ashamed of myself! Well done, you.

Italy's highest appeal court has ruled that married Italian women who commit adultery are entitled to lie about it to protect their honour.

The court gave its landmark ruling after hearing the case of a 48-year-old woman, convicted of giving false testimony to police by denying she had lent her mobile phone to her lover. (from BBC)

GetUp! are running a petition for equal pay. According to them the pay gap between men and women is 16%.

While I agree that this is outrageous and have signed the petition, such an action must be just the first step.

Part of the pay differential comes from the fact that women are concentrated in low paying jobs like teaching, nursing and the lower echelons of the public service and business.

One solution is for the various unions to take industrial action for large real wage increases (say ten per cent per annum) for their members and for more Government spending by taxing the rich and moving priorities from wasted areas like defence and business support to public housing, schools, hospitals and carers.

More pay for more teachers and nurses.