Tuesday 17 October 2017

A week of women

It's seems the last month or so, women and women's issues have been all over the news. We've had:
  • high profile celebrities speaking about their abuse at the hands of men in power
  • a social media campaign where women are speaking out, together.
  • the Matilda's (Australia's women's soccer/football team) have sell out crowds to their games in Sydney and Newcastle
  • The Aussie women's cricket season starting, which decent pay deals for multi-year contracts happening!!
  • The AFLW adding new teams to their competition
  • The Rugby League World Cup starting soon with some focus on women's teams and comp - keep it up NRL
  • Lisa Wilkinson (Aussie TV host) making a stand for equal pay for equal jobs (or at least that's what the reason for her move might be)
  • a greater focus on domestic violence in the media
  • some positive media discussion about 'victim blame'.

Are we seeing changes to the patriarchy?

Ever since I was a child, I've never understood the inequality between men and women. It was the bane of my life as a child who wanted to play sports I wasn't allowed to, do work I wasn't allowed to, take on roles I wasn't allowed to.

Mum took great pains to show me how far women had come in terms of equality but I hated that women had to fight for each step. It seemed insane.

Mum had to leave work when she married and became pregnant. In the late 1960s!! Her options when leaving school were to become a public servant, nurse or teacher, until she married. That was the path she took. And she was happy with her path.

Something happened to me though. I hated the paths women had. I hated the fact she had so few choices. I remember at my university graduation that Mum worked out I was the exact age on that day, as she was on the day I was born. I think she wanted to show me how far women had come in a generation, but it made me sad.

I took a job in agriculture for no other reason than they offered me one. I spent months applying for jobs but the environmental science industry didn't really exist on any large scale yet. In agriculture, I was lucky enough to work (mostly) with men who were happy to teach me. They saw me as a useless city girl - with most of the emphasis on city, then useless, then girl.

I got my truck's license, and these guys were so proud of me. I drove tractors, motorbikes, headers, anything they needed me to drive. I worked with them, alongside them, sometimes I came up with something clever that solved a problem. I was so very lucky to work with the best of men.

Other women weren't so lucky.

The world is changing for women. The changes are slow - in my mind - but when I try to have some perspective, they maybe aren't so slow.

Sports I could never play as a child are now becoming, not only open to female players, but they're available for professional sportswomen. That's huge.

Abusive, disdainful, horrible men are being called out for their behaviour.

Women are beginning to creep up the social and business ladders where they can take leading roles and be seen as smart, powerful and influential.

These are great, positive, changes.

The patriarchy is going to fight back when change looms too large for them, and I think we're seeing signs of this in political circles especially. But I hope that there are enough men who see people as people, who see women as their equal and partner, who can look beyond the sexual, and allow women to stand alongside them.

It hurts when there's so much horribleness in the world. The great female sporting achievements are balancing out the horror for me. And if Mum was here, she's tell me that you have to fight for things that are worthwhile...and women are certainly worthwhile.

We fight on. Each in our own way. But we fight together.

#MeToo

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