Just a girl

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Today is International Women’s Day. A day to celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievement of women. While many of us will (and should) do this, we know that progress is slow in many parts of the world and we are still a long way off things being equal for men and women. I’m heading up to the big smoke for a lunch to celebrate the day and surround myself with interesting and hard working women. After that I’m off to spend the afternoon with one of my all time favourite women, Mrs Woog, and then out for an early dinner with a bunch of seriously funny, smart and loud and hungry women many of who I only know from being online at Lees in Crowy. Cannot wait. 

So what does this day mean to me? Or you? I must say, if I hadn’t have been invited to this lunch I would likely spend the day like I would most Tuesday’s doing Tuesday type things, getting kids here and there, getting some work done, wrangling a cute 9 month old and collapsing on the couch at the end of it all. But I’m glad that it’s allowing me a chance to stop and think about it. For myself. And all these girls we seem to have growing in our house.

Let’s take a look at some of the stats from Feb 2016 from the Workplace Gender Equality Agency. Images created by Zvoni Hodak.

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Pretty scary stats don’t you think? More educated. Less Pay. Less positions. And we make up just under half the working population. So let me get this right. I tell my own girls who I’ve been telling their whole lives that they can do anything boys can do (probably better and multi task while at it) that is, until they begin their working careers? Huh.

It’s not good enough is it? I know there are many areas of inequality in our society and world but this just shouldn’t still be one should it?

I am surrounded my amazing women in my life. My Mothers (real, step, in laws, step in laws) Aunties, SISTERS, cousins, friends, children, all YOU women out there are amazing. You work hard. You raise your babies, you pat bottoms in the middle of the night, you drive to work rushing kids off to daycare and school, work long days at work, come home and cook and parent your kids. You WORRY, man do you worry about all the things you should be doing, shouldn’t be doing. You GUILT. You don’t get enough sleep. You don’t worry enough about your super. You sacrifice so much of yourself for others. You make your house a home, wash clothes, put them back into drawers, cook meals made with love, or make do when you have nothing left. You THINK. Too much. All the time. You multi task. You worry that you’re not having enough sex. That you should be doing more exercise. That you should be doing more. For everyone. All the time. You make the people who love you laugh. You are the whole world to so many people around you.

We’re all these things. All the time. To so many people. So from me, today, I want to say HOO BLOODY RAY for women. For all the wonderful things we are. The complicated creatures that we are. The amazingly supportive group we can be. May we stop comparing and judging just for a day and just let us all be.

We’re all doing the best we can, every day, and I reckon we ALL do an amazing job of it. It’s not OK that we still have to not have equality just because we’re just girls. Thank GOD for girls is what I say.

May you celebrate in some small way today to acknowledge all the good that women bring into this world. I mean, if it wasn’t for us, there’d be no world at all right?

What’s the best thing about being a woman to you?
How do you feel about the working women pay gap?
What’s one thing we could all STOP doing to make us better women?

Comments

  1. Beth, have you read The Wife Drought by Annabel Crabb (one of my all time favourite women)? Get on it. Excellent read, and very revealing.

  2. Pay is one of my major grips. It is pure and simple discrimination that is never talked about. My daughter is 16 and looking at different career paths at the moment. I told her if she wants to earn a decent wage she needs to look at a male dominated industry’s because a female dominated industry will never pay her what she should….

  3. this is great thanks beth!
    the best IWD I participated in was when I was still at art school in the ’90’s
    Julia lester was the guest speaker and she was brilliant!
    the irony of the day was the venue! it was held in Adelaide’s freemason’s hall! …
    the grand pooh bah lodge itself! … only women present that day!;)) fantastic!
    women have soo fought for their rights and so it continues!
    I love anything to do with supporting women and empowering them!
    I am a feminist through and through!
    enjoy your lovely day hun! … you deserve it! … love m:)X

  4. Do you know the one thing I Kev about being a woman? The fact we get to grow & birth new humans. Men will never be able to do this so it’s something just for us woman. It bonds us together & even though I doubt I’ll ever be much in the workforce I can look at my four kids & think ” yep, I grew those guys. I bought them safely into this world & fed them from my body” It will always amaze me that we can do that.

  5. Beautiful, wonderful post Beth. Thank you from this 68 year old feminist and proud to call myself that.

  6. I read an article a little while ago about how women say “just” so much more than men. “I just wanted to ask…” “I’m just going to…” As if we are always seeking permission or minimising our own actions. After reading it, I made a conscious effort to cut down on my “just”s. And it feels good. More direct. More confident. Something a lot of us could do with.
    I am so grateful for being a woman. What’s not to love! Maybe I should rephrase, I am so grateful to be a woman in Australia in this age. I was pondering my very average day and realised I got to do so many things other woman around the world can’t. I drove my car legally holding my license to the post office. Where I got served by two lovely women (working). I posted things to other wonderful women and I paid the postage with my money in my bank account. I did some house work but there is always more to do. My hubby understands this and doesn’t place crazy expectations on keeping up appearances. Hubby helped cook dinner and look after the kids. My wish is that women around the world have those same basic choice offered to them. May there be a time where it doesn’t matter where you live or whether you’re a man or a woman, but that you can live a joyful, free life full of hope and love.

  7. I could have gone to a women’s day breakfast this morning. We could pay far too much to have breakfast at the school hall at my daughters highschool at the crack of dawn. I must admit I wasn’t hugely disappointed when my daughter said she didn’t want to get up that early to go. A lunch sounds a much better idea

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