UK: 'We need gender studies to battle inequality across the board'

Submitted by anthony on Wed, 2012-02-08 19:51

Article here. Excerpt:

'In a period where women are haemorrhaging from the workforce, and when state welfare, elder care and childcare provisions are under attack, the wider social purpose of schooling – and the importance of the feminist lens in public policy and decision-making – are hoving into view.

As a group, women rely more upon the state to mitigate the disproportionate burden of care placed upon them, yet the government appears to be turning back the clock on women's equality, setting in motion a resurgence of feminist protest.
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We have serious work to do to shift the norms. Teaching about gender is increasingly looked to as a way to make progress in a global culture that continues to uphold men and boys' entitlement to control women and girls.
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The government's target is that 50% of new appointments to public boards should be held by women by 2015. While getting more female representation at senior levels of the public sector is a laudable goal, as is the goal of 25% female representation on corporate boards by 2015, I would also add to our list of demands that women and gender studies must be included in the national curriculum by that date.'

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If a woman voluntarily has a child, who placed the "burden of care" on her? Did the state force her to have a child?

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Submitted by el cid on Thu, 2012-02-09 04:17

I've just got home from a typical day at work. My female supervisor turned up and spent the first 45 minutes phoning around trying to get an appt for her son to see the dentist. She was ably assisted by the 'training officer' (another woman, of course). Eventually they got an appt. The son in question btw is in his 20s...

They then proceeded to sit down with a coffee and have a good loooooong chat about... well, you name it they chatted about it... the other two females working at my office joined in. An hour passed. Then they decided they might as well do some work. Another 15 mins while they grumbled and moaned about the conditions. They work for approx 30 mins. Then another coffee break... lasted about 30 mins this time. Just about lunchtime by now! Lunch is supposedly 30 mins. Their 30 mins lasted 3 times as long. And all the while the constant fucking banal chattering about kids, husbands (and how lazy and useless they are of course!), how hard work is (LOL!!!) etc etc...

This pattern went on more or less for the rest of the day.

I worked constantly, stopping only for a cigarette break in the morning (5 min max), lunch (30 min) and another cig break in pm (5 min again).

Women don't belong in the workplace.

Oh yes, I work for the public sector... none of the above would be tolerated in the private sector!

_________

"They have the right to work wherever they want to - as long as they have dinner ready when you get home." (John Wayne)

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Submitted by Proud_to_be_a_man on Thu, 2012-02-09 18:53

LOL. One of the reasons I want to be a teacher is to challenge the ANTI-MALE stereotypes prevalent in schools. If they made me take gender studies to be a teacher, I'd politely inform them that boys are actually the ones who are at a disadvantage in schools, and promoting anti-male indoctrination in schools would only make matters worse. As it stands, in Canada, there are more than 5 times as many female only as male only scholarships, and all of the male ones require the student to be an athlete. They're not doing much for the male athletic stereotype, are they?

Evan AKA X-TRNL
Real Men Don't Take Abuse!

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Submitted by xtrnl on Fri, 2012-02-10 00:52