Jenni's blog
Talkback feminism
I hope to prod, poke and probe current thinking about what it is like to be an Australian woman. I also believe that by sharing our experiences and our thoughts, we can enhance our lives as women, and empower each other.
Small breasted women
You just have to read Marieke Hardy's article about Barnaby Joyce on The Drum. What on earth does he think he is doing and who on earth does he think he is doing it for?
I first read about this issue a week ago in one of the American feminist blogs. From that article, I concluded that the Australian Sex Party had grabbed some media coverage talking about - believe it or not - breasts.
But it looks like their media campaign may have succeeded in grabbing the attention of a few blokes, including .... Barnaby Joyce.
After reading about the issue, Barnaby decided to 'round up' some adult magazines to check whether the portrayal of small breasted women is encouraging paedophilia, as claimed by the Australian Sex Party.
Clearly, Barnaby thought that this was a subject worth researching.
I confess, when I read the Broadsheet article originally, I didn't pay a lot of attention to it.
Mainly because I wasn't sure what they meant.
After all, isn't small-breasted a relative term, particularly when it comes to porn versus real life?
I agree wholeheartedly with what Kids Free 2B Kids is trying to achieve, but it is pretty clear that their organisation doesn't have a lot in common with the Australian Sex Party.
It is also clear that the Australian Sex Party has won the PR war on this subject.
And that is all it is, as far as I can see.
Silly Barnaby Joyce.
Silly, silly, boy.
What dimples? What creases?
Oh look – lots more publicity is being given to the Marie Claire magazine as a result of a nude cover page photo of Miss Universe 2004, Jennifer Hawkins, in the February 2010 issue. Well done guys – moving this sort of stuff from page 3 of the newspapers has to be an advance for women, doesn’t it? And it’s all in a good cause too – even better.
Oh, in case you hadn’t noticed (perhaps your glasses were too steamed up) the cause is all about promoting a healthy body image.
Hold on! I just had a flash! Wasn’t it the women’s mags who created the situation where promoting a healthy body image is now an exception to the rule?
Well, isn't it nice to see them trying to fix the mess they got us into...
But somehow I can’t help thinking that placing an un-photo-shopped nude photograph of Miss Universe on the cover proves only one thing: that nudes on covers sell more magazines.
Celebrate the new year with a quiz
Given that it is holiday time, and hopefully you are all relaxing with your friends or family at the beach or at home, I thought a quiz could be a good way to kick off 2010, so wondered if you know the answers to the following:
1. What do these countries have in common?
Argentina, The Federation of Bosnia, Chile, Finland, Germany, India, Ireland, Liberia, Lithuania, The Philippines
2. What do these countries have in common?
Croatia, Haiti, Mozambique, Iceland, Ukraine, Bangladesh
3. What do these countries have in common?
The Gambia, Kiribati, Macedonia, Malawi, Peru, Spain, Syria, Vietnam, Zimbabwe
4. What do these countries have in common?
Australia, Belgium, Cambodia, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Guinea-Bissau, Ireland, Kyrgyzstan, Madagascar, Montenegro, Namibia, Norway, Senegal, Sweden, Swaziland, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan
Give up? The answers are:
1. They all have women Presidents
2. They all have women Prime Ministers
3. They all have women Vice Presidents
4. The all have women Deputy Prime Ministers
So how predictable am I?
But who knows, maybe in the next year or two Australia will be included in the answers to question 2 – or even question 1 – could be exciting!
Happy New Year everyone
The true story about Christmas reindeer
This is interesting - according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, while both male and female reindeer grow antlers in the summer each year, male reindeer drop their antlers at the beginning of winter, usually late November to mid-December.
Female reindeer retain their antlers till after they give birth in the spring. Therefore, according to every historical rendition depicting Santa's reindeer, every single one of them, from Rudolph to Blitzen, had to be a girl.
We should have known.....
Only women would be able to drag a fat man in a red velvet suit all around the world in one night and not get lost!
Merry Christmas to you all
A good woman
I am extremely pleased to learn that a good woman has been appointed as the CEO of the public service organisation that most Australians have personal contact with: Centrelink, which will soon be merged with Medicare.
But at the risk of being a bit churlish about the process followed for this appointment I would also like to point out that the last two Centrelink CEOs were men, and they were appointed via a much more common process - that is, they were just appointed to the jobs because someone in power thought they would be the best person - just like that. No advertising, no interviewing, no process, just "have a job!".
There have been three appointments for Centrelink's CEO in nearly as many years, and only once was the job advertised.
Carolyn Hogg, who won the job this time around, has been acting in the role. On and off, for some time.
In fact, she was acting in the CEO role on the previous two occasions when the job was just handed to a bloke.
This time the job was advertised. And a woman got it. OK? Get my point?
Thanks guys.
The Un-United Federation of Australia
I'm a bit slow at times, I know, but now that I've read Annabel Crabb's most enlightening analysis about Australia's current political leaders, I finally understand why none of them really do it for me.
She describes Rudd as The Nerd and Abbott as The Jock and she is dead right! And of course, Australians love a stoush between jocks and nerds, don't they. Well, some Australians do.
The problem is, neither jocks nor nerds have the leadership qualities of empathy, understanding, compassion, caring or nurturing which are absolutely essential to transforming anything, particularly a country. And this country needs a bit of transformation if you ask most women.
Both nerds and jocks are stereotypes, and male stereotypes at that. The jock is your command and control type of leader, and the nerd can't do anything without having commissioned at least 50 research articles arguing the pros and cons and then commissioning another 50 researchers to analyse the first 50 articles. That is, they usually can't do anything.
It is sort of like having an extremist-to-the-very-far-right who gives a stuff James Kirk on one side (Abbott), and an even more emotionally detached and logical Dr Spock (Rudd) on the other - without any respect or love between them.
I guess that would make us the Most Un-United Federation of Australia, with women playing the part of the aliens.
What hope is there? Beam me up Scotty.
Women's rights are human rights
Securing a more equal footing for women in Australia cannot occur in isolation. I strongly believe that we need a Human Rights Act to strengthen the position of women and at the same time to address human rights abuses.
The reasons for this lie in the following two facts.
Fact#1:
Women are more likely than men to experience poverty, abuse and discrimination.
Fact#2:
Women are over-represented in Australia among the poor, the disabled, the marginally employed, the sick, the isolated, and those whose responsibilities for caring for others exclude them from community life.
Now is the time to act!
Support for a Human Rights Act or Charter is high - in March 2009, over 80% of Australians supported the introduction of a new law to protect human rights, 85% of them believing that this should be a high priority for government.
However, call me a pessimist, I can't help feeling that if we don't make a lot of noise about this right now, it will slither away from us in the same way that so many other grand ideas have slithered away over the past few years.
I strongly support a Human Rights Act. If you do too, why don't you state your support by signing our petition.
Sex, holidays and Schoolies
When my kids were at high school, we had a little checklist before they went out. Money? ID? Hankie? Condom? It was sort of a joke, but it was also a reminder that whatever they were doing, I wanted to be sure they were safe.
In an effort to make sure more Australians stay safe, Marie Stopes International has organised Australia’s first Sexual Health Week from November 9-15 this year, in an effort to teach men, women and schoolies how to look after their sexual health.
This week is timed to coincide with the end of year festivities. Office parties, New Year celebrations and the dreaded Schoolies Week will all take place over the next few months.
During Schoolies Week lots of kids party on, and many experience sex for the first time as they test out the limits of their freedom. Sexual Health Week aims to make sure that there are a minimum number of sexually transmitted infections and unplanned pregnancies occurring.
Sexualhealthweek.com.au provides a lot of information, including some suggestions for sexual decision-making.
There is also some fun stuff – a Kiss and Tell survey and a really silly game called Love Bugs Battle!
It takes a while to load, but check it out, Schoolies! Check out the rest of the web site - you never know, you might even learn something.
Have fun, and stay safe.
Educating girls and eradicating poverty
October 17 2009 is set aside by the United Nationals as International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. This year is the twentieth anniversary, and we still have a way to go.
The day is set aside to highlight the effort and struggle of people living in poverty and to promote awareness of the need to eradicate it. But how?
The data tells us that educating girls increases economic productivity and improves family nutrition. It reduces infant mortality. For every year beyond fourth grade that girls go to school, family size drops 20% and wages rise by 20%.
That’s why a whole lot of non-government organisations, including 2020women, have released a statement organised by UNIFEM Australia supporting action to ensure girls’ rights during childhood; giving girls access to quality education and to the knowledge skills and opportunities they need to realise their full potential.
We can’t achieve gender equality without these things, and without giving girls a good education we won’t eradicate poverty.
So much to do, so little time!
It’s not often that I get upfront and personal in this blog, but lately I have been busier than a lizard being chased by a cat in a room full of rocking chairs, if you’ll pardon my addled adages!
It’s just that so much is happening, and it is all exciting. There’s the most recent 2020women survey, the women’s conference in Manila and the book of working mothers’ stories. They all require action of some sort. It is time to stop and set some priorities.
First, the survey: we received over 700 responses to our first survey on pay equity, and then another 90 or so women shared in more detail what they think about the problem. Amongst other things, they tell us that pay equity is still out of their reach, and they are losing out in pay negotiations. We just have to get this information incorporated into our submission to the EOWA review to make sure that the point is driven home.
Secondly, Manila: Asia Pacific Women’s Watch are conducting an NGO forum on Beijing+15, and in spite of the floods, I will be there.
Beijing+15 was an exciting time for women. It was the Fourth UN Conference for Women, held in 1995. At that Conference 12 areas of concern were identified: poverty, education and training, health, the economy, power and decision-making, human rights, armed conflict, institutional mechanisms, the environment, violence against women and the girl child.
Actions were to be taken in all these areas, and the conference in Manila is bringing women from the Asia Pacific region to discuss progress on these issues and to share stories about what is happening for women throughout the Region.
Lastly, there is the great book I was sent by an EMC, an international consulting and IT company. It tells the stories of the working mothers that they employ.
Just take a look at the following excerpt from the introduction, and you will see why it has inspired me:
If the professionals at EMC are star performers, the company’s working mothers are superstars who glide along the tightrope stretched between their work and family lives, deftly juggling responsibilities, demands, and interests. They’re the ones who make it look easy, consistently turning in top performances at work and home, doing it all with style, grace, and that ever-necessary safety net – humor. Sometimes a crowd of adoring fans cheers them on as they skillfully move across the high wire of their lives. But, all too often, they act in silence, their audiences unaware of the skill, strength, commitment, and perseverance it takes to move through their days with such agility.
You can see why we really need to get more stories from Australia’s working mothers, can’t you? And you can see why, on a scale from busy to out of control, currently I am at the too much to do and frustrated because I want to do it all now stage… aaaargh.
By the way, EMC have given me permission to share their stories with you.
You can download the book if you want to read the stories.
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