Yet despite all those feminist offices, men still make up the larger percentage of higher level executives in private and public sectors.
Not that there is anything wrong with that, men normally have not taken time out to raise families, I raise it only to prove that boys are not being forced into labour jobs against their will.

Anyway Anti all that has changed - now all children, boys and girls are being told they can do anything they want, more's the pity. Then they go out into the real world and have to face reality.

On the subject at hand, now that Iran is a member, maybe the women and girls in Iran might slowly see some change where they will be treated as human beings first and not ranked somewhere down with the cattle and camels.

Iran's involvement is a good thing, I don't know why people always want to go the adversarial route or see conspiracies instead of positive moves for the better. The freedom for women in Iran will also mean more freedom for men who also tread carefully around Sharia Law, the pressure to be seen as loyal to the cause, even if it means subjugation of their wives and daughters. Or that women are blamed if they are raped despite being covered from head to toe

Pelican:"Yet despite all those feminist offices, men still make up the larger percentage of higher level executives in private and public sectors."

Which will be reversed within a few years; women already make up the majority of working professionals and as these women achieve seniority they will also achieve higher-level positions. Unless you don't think they'll stick with it, of course, which is highly probable.

Pelican:"maybe the women and girls in Iran might slowly see some change where they will be treated as human beings first and not ranked somewhere down with the cattle and camels."

As i understand it, Iran is quite progressive compared to some parts of the world. Women have the franchise, they have many public roles and they are seen as part of the "revolution". Yes, there have been famous incidents involving Iranian women, but the similar and more frequently applied treatment handed out to Iranian men never seems to make the news. In fact, Iran is mainly vilified in the West for its anti-Israel stance and kicking the US out with the Shah, not to mention the famous hostage "rescue" debacle. The combination of an Islamic theocracy with state socialism is a scary cocktail for those who seek power within a Christian theocracy combined with corporatism.

I do agree that engagement is important, since Iran is a powerful regional power. What form that engagement takes is not so important.

If the fundamentalist barbarity can be reduced for everyone it would be a good thing.

Dear Antiseptic,

According to an article in the "Good Weekend"
magazine published with "The Age," May 1, 2010
here are some truths from the world of work
in Australia:

1) Women do not form the majority in any category
of senior job position in any industry in Australia.

2) Not a single industry in Australia pays women
more than they do men and most pay less, despite
women's higher educational qualifications and their
dominance in three major industries.

3) The overall pay-gap between full-time male and
female workers, based on average weekly earnings, has
risen to 17 per cent. (The gap gets higher as you go
up - women in lower-paid or blue-collar jobs are more
likely to be protected by awards).

4) in 2008, there were four female CEOs in the top ASX200
companies in Australia. That's two percent.

5) Among ASX200 top earners, only seven percent were
women. At that level, the overall median pay gap
between men and women was 42 per cent.

6) Female chief financial officers and chief operating
officers earned half the salary of their male equivalents,
while female CEOs earned two-thirds the salary of male
CEOs. Even in senior human resources positions, where
women are more common, the pay gap is 43 per cent.

7) Out of a total of 1474 board directorship positions
on ASX200 companies at the end of 2009, 128 were filled
by women. One hundred and six ASX200 companies had not a
single woman on their boards. Australia has one of the
lowest participation rates among OECD,and even non-OECD,
countires.

8) The number of female executive managers has declined
by 18 per cent since 2006. In the same period, the number
of male executive managers - already a significant majority-
declined by only seven per cent.

9) Women make up 27 per cent of lower house MPs and
35 per cent in the Senate, which puts Australia on a par
with Afghanistan, behind Rwanda (56 per cent) and
Sweden (46 per cent), but ahead of the US (16 per cent in
Congress) and Britain (close to 20 per cent).

Dear Antiseptic,

cont'd ...

As Robert Care, Chairman
of engineering firm ARUP Australasia said,
"We've actually had quota systems for 150 years.
We've had a lot of corporations in existence which have
been about coming from the right school, from the
right golf club...If one were to move to a quota
system (for womnen), you would be merely balancing
out the existing quota system."

It's called fairness.

pelican, "On the subject at hand, now that Iran is a member, maybe the women and girls in Iran might slowly see some change where they will be treated as human beings first and not ranked somewhere down with the cattle and camels."

I know you didn't intend it but that comment could be seen as detracting from the huge amount of work by civil rights activists and by feminists being done in Iran. Although looked at from the outside the apparent progress is excruciatingly slow, there is necessarily an enormous amount of time and effort put into organising and other effort by civil rights activists (usually unacknowledged) and by feminists.

Iran has seen change so far from tedious gut-wrenching effort and that is the way of the future: ordinary people making an extraordinary effort and taking the supreme risk. The image of a young woman shot by a government sniper is a haunting reminder of the latter.

I don't think there is any reason at all to be jubilant and self-congratulatory as a feminist about Iran's elevation to the UN SoW Commission and it is ridiculous to think that the Commission is capable of influencing Iran's leaders, even in a minuscule way and at the margins.

The heavy spadework and the danger remain with activists inside Iran and we need to find ways other than just relying on a very diplomatic and often ineffectual UN commission to help. That might not help our consciences, but it is reality and Iran's leadership is not going to give up any of its infallibility because they have recently discovered civil rights from exposure to liberated women on a UN commission. No, they will continue to fight like hell and can confidently be expected to use their new found pulpit to further their power and influence.

Dear Cornflower,

"Every journey of a thousand miles
begins with one step."
(Chinese proverb).

No matter what the hurdles for Iranian
women, they have to continue down that
road until it becomes a familiar path,
a well-trodden direction which will put
them miles ahead of anyone else and much,
much closer to achieving their once
impossible dream.

The unacceptable alternative is of course
to do nothing. And, I'm sure that's not what
you'd be suggesting is it?