Jezebel 
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New York, 1:22 AM
Fri Nov 27
3 posts in the last 24 hours
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11/18/09
But then again, I haven't studied this and it was before coffee.
11/18/09
Coming home to dishes done and dinner made is nice but he blew my mind the other night when he told me he wanted to stay home with our future kids. I am a lawyer and I love my job though recently I've started worrying that I wouldn't be ready for kids until it was too late. The thought that he'd want to stay home with the kids never crossed my mind (even though he's MUCH better equiped to spend ten hours a day with children).
The rethinking of gender roles could be the silver lining of a crap economy.
11/18/09
@PetiteGal: Hm. It's a class issue, perhaps- are girls being encouraged to go into white collar fields, or are people who have the access and education to get white collar jobs more likely to support equality, or at least make a show of it? I really don't know.
In terms of the types of jobs I'm talking about, I'd say there definitely is a physical strength bias as well as a protect-the-little-women mentality that helps keep these jobs gender specific, as well as very limiting concepts about what is "manly" or appropriate work for men. The former biases ignore the fact that women are much more likely to experience violence in their lives already, as well as the fact that domestic work is often just as labor intensive, if not more so, than traditionally male labor-oriented jobs. Those are really based on nothing more than gender roles and they aren't challenged by making a woman the head of the County Works Department, because no matter how capable she is she will still be seen as a token or an exception. The only way to change them is by employing more women and more men in jobs that are currently seen as belonging almost completely, if not completely, to the other gender.
@winner: That's awesome. My bro stayed at home for a couple years with his kids and it really does help people reconsider their own notions of what is and isn't appropriate. I hope you're right about the silver lining.
11/18/09
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11/18/09
She has just been very clear that we do not want - for example - separate divorce laws based on religious beliefs (muslim or other) in our country, nor do we condone, say, female circumcision.
If the law says that you are not allowed to spank children, you cannot ask for an exception based on your religious beliefs.
If you think that boys and girls should not go to school together, or that girls should not participate in e g swimming education (mandatory!), or be taught religion (the subject treats all religions as well as humanism/athesim equally in our schools) or find out about where babies come from (mandatory as well) - well, forget it.
Don't try to use religion as an argument - REGARDLESS of whether you're christian (any flavour), muslim, judaeic, mormon, scientologist, bahai... (And home schooling does not exist in our country.)
I might as well ask if you have a bias against women? Black women? Immigrants? Highly educated women? Liberals? Female ministers? People who consider religious beliefs (or lack thereof) to be something personal and private? Female muslims who do not believe in sharia? Any or all of the above?
Then you'd find good company in some of the crazy right-wing christians in our country - they don't like her type either.
But I'm willing to assume that you just forgot to look up the facts.
11/18/09
11/18/09
Separation of church and state is one thing. Protecting women against violence, I am absolutely for that. But saying that Muslims who pray 5 times a day or wear the veil are limiting their opportunities and preventing themselves from "assimilating" is promoting hegemony.
Also, the minster's mother is Muslim but she was raised as non-religious.
11/18/09
I agree with her that people misread what "freedom of religion" means, genital mutilation and other anti female practices are things to not be tolerated in any society. But Muslims who live the book of Koran are limiting their opportunities? Living the word of the Koran can manifest a belief ranging from conservative to progressive feminism. She's painting Islam with one brush.
She also subscribes to the 'complaining about discrimination is making one's self into a victim' school of thinking. She believes Muslims marginalize themselves. How can someone who believes that take the issues/complaints of immigrants and/or minorities seriously?
11/19/09
#tips
11/18/09
10/28/09
Other countries have a more collectivist mindset. An Icelandic with no plans to have kids is unlikely to think she should get something for another woman's childbearing. Raising children is a collective responsibility. Good family leave policies and subsidized day care help children grow up to be responsible adults. And that benefits the childfree because it ups the odds they'll have a nice nurse when they're in the home.
We're all in this together. #gendergapindex
10/28/09
"67% of countries were found to be improving in terms of gender equality, 33% are getting worse," but wouldn't this be the case if all the countries were objectively improving as well, since it seems to be referring to movement in the rankings, and not the actual markers used to make the rankings?
Forbes used the same language, so I'm not sure if I'm just missing something here... #gendergapindex
10/28/09
10/28/09
I thought it wasn't perfectly clear from the Forbes page exactly what they were referring to, but maybe I'm just really sleep deprived. #gendergapindex
10/28/09
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10/28/09
And just because this deserves to be on Jez, I was reminded of my favorite quote ever from FP magazine:
"The crisis is man-made," claims banker Halla, 40, who like all Icelanders, is only addressed by her first name. "It's always the same guys," she says. "Ninety-nine percent went to the same school, they drive the same cars, they wear the same suits and they have the same attitudes. They got us into this situation -- and they had a lot of fun doing it," she says.
[blog.foreignpolicy.com]
(I also recommend their piece on The Death of Macho in re: the recession.) Erm, that is all. #gendergapindex
10/28/09
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10/28/09
I don't wonder. If I had a nickel every time some American putz told me American women were lucky because we were completely equal in the eyes of the law (what about the stuff that falls outside those bounds? Oh how bad can it be? Your clitoris wasn't mutilated, was it? You're right. Hurray!) #gendergapindex
10/28/09
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10/28/09
While I'm pretty happy to see that NZ is right up there, again, it disturbs me how far the gap is between us and Australia (not to mention USA!).
And now that Helen Clark no longer leads us, I guess I can probably put my World Leader Support behind Johanna Sigurðardóttir. Whatta woman! #gendergapindex