Pelican

"To some extent feminism failed in that it created an environment where women believed they had to behave and act like men to compete in the same market. Real success would have included raising the profile of some of the more accepted feminine traits as worthy characteristics in a work environment. "

I agree. This to me is the big failure of feminism. It has failed to have any taming effect on the market or any real success in civilising the workplace. The world of work is still a competitive, individualistic and relentlessly profit-driven model, and has actually become more so in the period in which women have played a more dominant role within it. Women are competing with men and they are doing it on men's terms.

Women have made piecemeal gains here and there but have failed to bring about any real change in the work environment. Permanent part time work, which suits women with families, is still hard to come by and is often poorly paid and afforded low status. The collective, co-operative and nurturing traits, which many hoped feminism would bring to the fore and help create a better and fairer society and improved conservation of our natural environment, have been subjugated more than ever. Women are now trapped alongside men in the unrelenting pursuit of beating their competitors and increasing the bottom line.

“And to raise the profile of motherhood rather than denigrate it."

Again, I agree, Pelican. Women are still struggling to fit motherhood into the narrow confines of the workplace. Being a mother first, and a worker second, is as difficult to achieve for most of the women who want that choice as it ever was. And for those who do manage to put motherhood first, there is always an ongoing struggle to deal with the fact that your choice is undervalued and unappreciated by the society in which you live.

SFJ “dependably tedious spleen-vents against the femomenace.”

Really ?

Maybe you can see “speen venting “ in my post but I cannot

This is very simple,

Any racial, ethnic or gender selective process is, imho, an offence to the rest of humanity who are not qualified (eg as an accident of birth) as members of that racial, ethnic or gender group.

I can only assume, that because you rely on your favoured status and vested interest, enjoying the advantages associated with being a qualified member of a favoured group, you find it necessary to comment disparagingly on my balanced, reasoned and accurate comment regarding feminism

Being it is an alternate words for “chauvinism” in every sense.

However is can also be describe as a female version of paternalism, where feminists demand all authority, rights and privileges is to be vested in females, instead of being shared, equally with males.

The western democracies have moved progressively, from somewhere where blacks were treated as second class citizens. We do not need to move to a place where males are similarly victimized, under the immoral and incompetent “affirmative action” policies demanded by extreme feminists.

Then a mother of five who has gained elevation through the US political system from councilor to mayor to governor and now stands at the door of national office is hardly in the mould of the excuse-driven equality (provided your female) obsessed loons of the “radical womens” movement.

Bronwyn “Being a mother first, and a worker second, is as difficult to achieve for most of the women”

It seems Sarah Palin has the secret, maybe ask her…

but have you ever thoguht to asked how do fathers' manage being a worker and also a Dad?

Come on, don't get so screwed up over labels. Look at the product before trying to define the brand "feminist".
To me, the title suggests women who accept their gender, nature, the characteristics which differ from men, their personality and often appearance.
Femininity often equates with beauty, both in mind and body, the very antithesis of "macho".
Alex Buzo took a tongue-in-cheek approach with his description of
"overalls-clad women driving unwashed Datsuns on their way to give sexual awareness lectures to southern Meditteranean women."

Bronwyn mentions...

"Permanent part time work, which suits women with families, is still hard to come by and is often poorly paid and afforded low status."

This is because most companies/employers are not set up for that kind of work. There are of course some occupations of a more clerical nature which can lend themselves to this but to manage a major project? good grief... it would be totally unworkable.

I hope Bronwyn or other females would not be suggesting that EastLink should have been built by an equal number of male and female civil engineers where the females only had to work 50% of the time?

But if you simply work out payrolls.. do invoicing.. chase money... etc .. well you can employ a person of either gender for this say 3 days a week.

Most responsiblities which are 'high status' are also highly demanding... but 'part time' high demand/high responsibility work is probably like... hens teeth.

How about women taking the highEST status and responsibility in looking after their families?

Babies tend to gravitate to 'mummy' and 'grandma' far more than daddy and grandad at times..specially when they are sick. I would not wish a continuously crying sick infant on any bloke when the immediate solution is for mum or grandma to hold her. (whereupon she stops crying)

Polycrap: << How about women taking the highEST status and responsibility in looking after their families?

Babies tend to gravitate to 'mummy' and 'grandma' far more than daddy and grandad at times..specially when they are sick. I would not wish a continuously crying sick infant on any bloke when the immediate solution is for mum or grandma to hold her. (whereupon she stops crying) >>

I guess that's why feminism still has a way to go, eh? Say no more...

Col Rouge,

I was interested in trying to engage SFJ in a discussion about Kate Fillions book "Lip Service".

It was a book that I couldn't get into and found it a hard slog to read it. Possibly also because I have kind of gone off that stuff.

I did however find Kate's interpretations to be interesting.