Do We Want Equality?

I've been thinking about this issue quite a bit.


When making love with your partner, do you mostly need to switch back to being a feminine person?  It works best for me that way.  How about you?


Yet, in the rest of my life, I'm working right along side of men, in the trenches so to speak, working full time, as well as running a household, looking after a baby granddaughter  40 hours a week and going to hot yoga at every opportunity.  My personal gift to myself.  Some semblance of balance.


We women no longer wear dresses.  Dresses do make one feel feminine.  They show off ones curves and attract those men like flies, which secretly we love.


Yet, they are totally impractical to work in. Can you make presentations in the board room without sexism creeping in? While wearing dresses, can you climb into an SUV with bags of groceries, clean up the kids who are hungry, keep the dishwasher monster under control as well as the laundry which is calling you constantly. Or work all day in shoes with heels so you can feel and look feminine?


How do you feel feminine?  Do you feel relaxed enough, stress free enough to be affectionate with your partner?  Do you want to stay home and have your partner bring in the bacon yet control you due to the resentment that often is harbored by the working partner?  Do you want equality?

Black, White, or Shades of Grey

Guest Post by Susan V.


There are certain things that throughout time have proven to be black or white: 


The Ten Commandments - you shall not kill or steal, or you shall probably go to jail, or worse.


You shall not covet your neighbor's ass, nor his wife, nor his wife's ass, or you may get a butt full of buckshot.


You shall not take the Lord's name in vain, - people will think you have a limited vocabulary and are too stupid to think of better ways to express yourself.


You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor - in other words, don't lie, don't spread gossip about people of your acquaintance or you may end up with no acquaintances at all.


Then there's the Golden Rule... Do unto others as you would have others do unto you, treat people decently and they will, usually, treat you in kind.


These are black and white rules that we have lived with for generations.  We all know right from wrong, good from bad, and we know when we are doing something we shouldn't - we know these things because they play out in our everyday lives and have proven themselves over and over....kill, steal - away you go, covet and it's buckshot for you.  But when the question of equality is raised, is there really a black or white answer to how a woman achieves it, or does her personal quest for equality come in shades of grey?


I can't help but feel that the correlation between equality and a women's personal feelings of self worth are directly related.  That her perception of her "place" within her family, social circle,community and work place all contribute to how she sees herself in relation to the people around her.


Most working women know what it feels like to be on the low end of the pole in the work place - to have her contribution to the working environment down played by the men around her.  Even when she works harder, contributes more and has a broader knowledge of how the company actually functions.  In social circles, and the community at large, isn't it the women who bring people together to celebrate special occasions, to enlist groups to volunteer and contribute?  And in the family unit, its the mother/wife who holds the family together through"thick and thin", calm the waters when disputes arise, ...................its always the woman.


Why then is equality such an issue at all?  Aren't the contributions women make to the lives around them just as important as the contributions of men?  Are women somehow programmed from a very early age to accept the lesser role in life, therefor contributing to a diminished self worth?  Did the very women who raised us instill a "acquiescent" gene in us that makes us feel that somehow, while we may feel we deserve the same recognition of the men in our lives, that is not so?  We are intelligent, thinking women.  We have in our hands the power to be who and what we want to be.  We know right from wrong, good from bad but do we fight for black or white when it comes to our personal equality or do we settle for shades of grey.


Go ahead.....scroll over "comments" below and put your own words here. 

190 Countries 9 Female Leaders

Australia, Germany, Brazil, Ireland, Finland,Liberia, Iceland, Costa Rica and Kosovo have female leaders, another eleven have female heads of state. Some may be figureheads only.


This ratio stunned me.  I know we have made progress and yet the number still amazes me. So little power in the world.  Does this amaze you?  Or is it only me?


Makes me question equality?  Is it possible?  Are we meant to compete with men for power, for our point of view?  For no wars, less greed, less need to look good to our buddies?  For a more peaceful existence.  We are always the reconcilers in our families, we are the ones who make ends meet, somehow!


I remember the beginning of the women's movement in the 60's. So much hope that opportunities would open for women.  They have somewhat, and at what price?  American women are viewed by others as extremely aggressive, yet we haven't achieved equality in the work place nor the home.


Once again, I want to mention why I started this blog.  To create exchange of ideas, strengthening tolerance and equality. We have a long way to go.  That is how I see it, how do you see it?  Make a comment by scrolling over the word "comments" below. 

WHAT COMES AROUND GOES AROUND

What does equality have to do with this universal law of nature?


Firstly, do you recognise this law as a law of nature?  Whatever you give out to the universe will come back to you.  If  you spend enough time in contemplation, you will recognize that this is true no matter how small or how big the intention coming from you.

Don't Offer Advice Unless They Ask For It

This is an interesting concept in equality.  Especially for women as we are so good at giving advice. Heck, we bring up those kids that need our advice so much - or do they?

Aren't we trying to control them rather than giving advice?  I can hear you saying, hey they need to get to school, or they need to do so and so, and I'm in a hurry, on a deadline.  You just don't understand! Yeah, I do.  I raised two girls, and now a granddaughter.

Not giving advice unless it's asked for creates a level of balance, strength, and inner commitment in respecting the other person.  Respect.  A word with so much weight.  Equality and respect for another goes hand in hand.

Another spin on this idea is unconditional parenting, unconditional relationships, where acceptance of the other person is there regardless of the current behavior.

Why Equality?

What sparked my interest in equality?

This interest has been a lifetime issue for me generated by two incidences in my childhood.

As a young girl going to an Australian school for the first time, speaking no English only Dutch, I remember distinctly the first day starting with another student who also didn't speak English but only Greek. The way the teachers and other students treated us was markedly different.  I was blonde with blue eyes and she was dark with brown eyes.  My treatment was so much better, kinder, more accepting, open and warm. The Greek gal was pushed around, largely ignored and shunned!  Even as a small girl I noticed that the color of my skin, my look, my jacket was judged as good, she was bad?  I never forgot the inequality!!!!!!!