On Tue, Nov 25, 2008 at 12:42 PM, Helen Faulkner <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Out of interest, Brenda, are you in New Zealand, as your address suggests?
yes. > I ask because I'm in Australia, and in most cases Australia and New Zealand > are > extremely culturally similar. We're similar, but i reckon on gender equality NZ is doing far better In true trans-Tasman rivalry - i have a URL to back this up: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/simon-collins/news/article.cfm?a_id=135&objectid=10543185 <quote> The commission's Equal Employment Opportunities Commissioner, Judy McGregor, says New Zealand's performance in keeping fifth place behind only four Scandinavian countries in the latest Global Gender Gap Report is "remarkable". By contrast, Australia dropped from 13th-equal in 2000 and 17th last year to 21st place this year, behind many poorer countries, such as the Philippines, Mozambique and Lesotho. </quote> I make many visits to Australia each year. I've hung out with crowds who are awesome.. and some crowds who think i'm a freak because i drink beer and not sugary cocktails like women are supposed to. Australia waiters consistently get things reversed and deliver the midori to me and my beer to my husband. The steak to him, the salad to me. It's not an important issue but it's an example of "men do this, sheilas do that" attitude. >And in Australia it's true that women, especially > those with children, still do the majority of parenting and housework tasks. > It's still connected, in my opinion, to the way that women, in general, earn > less on average than their male partners. So it still makes financial sense > for > most couples to choose for the woman to stay at home with the kids, while the > man keeps on working in paid employment. It only makes financial sense when you keep paying men more than women. Women do the child rearing, therefore they get less pay, therefore they do the child rearing?? What a circle. :-( > Most of the parents I know (nearly all young, highly educated professionals > and > parents of young children) have mum working part-time and dad working full > time, > with the children in part-time daycare. I don't know any couple where mum > works > full time and dad works part time, though there are surely some out there. I'm loathe to judge - the feeling i get is Australia is along way from having a female prime minister. I hope to be proved wrong and things can change fast. I recall Australia having mostly men in leadership of the country. I think over in NZ we've got to the point that nobody cares what gender a political candidate is anymore. They used to we got over it. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
