Women

Like most females, I am prone to that odd bit of judgment. With the exception of close friends’ birthdays, I forego trashy clubs in favour of nights out at great restaurants.

My fashion icons are from days gone by, so I’m more inclined to emulate the feminine styles of Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly than look for dresses that barely skim my thighs. And although I love the odd cocktail, I am particularly cautious about how far I go for a drink, lest I wind up trashed anywhere – particularly on the internet.

Some would say I’m a little tightly wound, but after my latest social networking discovery, I couldn’t care less about their opinions. And that’s because my recent discovery had me questioning things I’d accepted as fairly concrete aspects of life in the modern day and age, and in the Australian society.

Continue reading "Uncovered meat, Facebook and a simmering melting pot" »

When people ask me what I do for a living I tell them, then I bite my tongue. You see, I’m a community development worker.

In my outer-suburban neighbourhood centre I manage a host of programs for people who need support: grandparents who’ve taken custody of their grandkids in distressing circumstances, playgroups for toddlers with teenage mums, skills training for long-term unemployed, to name a few. 

You could put your last $5 on the response (and I am often down to my last fiver so maybe I should). “Oh, you must be an angel!” they say; and, “it must be great to have such a rewarding job.”

I bite my tongue, because expletives from a woman of my years might come as a shock.

Continue reading "Even for angels a warm inner glow ain’t hard cash" »

Where the heart dares to tread, politicians’ chequebooks follow in an election year. Tony Abbot embraced his (sort of) inner feminist on Monday announcing his proposed maternity leave plan that would see women paid up to $150,000 for six months’ at home after their baby is born.

This, on the heels of Kevin Rudd’s maternity leave proposal that offers women the minimum wage of $544 for 18 weeks, due for delivery in January in 2011, is surely good news for women and men keen to do their bit of our nation’s population growth.

But in this mad scramble to win the hearts and minds and bank accounts of “working families” have Rudd and Abbot paused to consider whether maternity leave is necessarily a positive thing for women?

Continue reading "Could women actually be the losers from maternity leave" »

Bring on the battle for the most generous publicly funded paid maternity leave scheme, in fact, let’s have all all out electoral bidding war on the issue with both sides throwing lots of money.

Tony Abbott has marked International Women’s Day by announcing a proposal to introduce a scheme that would see working women paid 26 weeks of leave at their salary level at the time of the birth.

The Opposition Leader stopped short of calling his plan a policy, saying it needed work and consultation with interest groups. Lots of women will be cheering at even the mention of it so I’m loathe to talk Mr Abbott’s plan down, but there’s one thing about it that really bothers me.

Continue reading "Abbott’s parent plan could pit women against each other" »

With today being International Women’s Day, there will be millions of men around the world thinking – “This is so sexist! Where is my International Man’s Day?”

Heck, I used to be one of those people. I used to think that all the affirmative discrimination was sexist, backward and downright wrong. For my male friends nodding your head in agreement, I challenge you to read on, and to watch the above clip.

It has only been in recent years that my stubborn mindset has changed. I happily admit that I am no expert on this issue, but you don’t need to be an expert to realise that things need to change.

Continue reading "Why there is no International Man’s Day" »

For me and my girlfriends growing up, having babies was definitely a “no-go” area. Going to university, travelling the world and starting a career were the three things drummed into our heads over and over by mothers who came from a generation that married early -  usually between the ages of 18 and 23 - quickly started a family and left their own careers to play second fiddle to that of their husbands.

Almost thirty years down the track and the results are starting to show. The average age of a pregnant woman in Australia is now 29 and 25 per cent of women having their first baby are over 35. There are also more women than ever completing post graduate degrees at university and forging ahead with successful careers.

Continue reading "What is the best age for women to have babies?" »

Angie Jackson, otherwise known as Angie the Anti-Theist, looks defiant in her latest Youtube video.

In case you don’t know Angie, she rocketed to fame a few weeks ago when she had an abortion live online. She twittered it. This week she went online again, to defend her decision – both to abort and to broadcast – in the wake of the backlash.

In the original video, she says: “I’m having an abortion… right now. It’s not that bad, it’s not that scary… I’m at peace with my decision.” “It’s just not that bad.”

Continue reading "Pro-choice but anti-flippancy" »

Dear Trevor Grace,

I write to commend you on your candidacy in the upcoming SA state election.

For too long, our government has been a slave to the neo-leftist, baby hating and quite frankly DISGUSTING collection of man-hating feminists intent on destroying every beautiful soul chosen by God to populate this green planet. And I say green because as you so rightly hint at on your website, climate change is nothing but a LIE perpetuated by beardy-weirdies intent on taxing the hard working because their own laziness and pursuit of the ARTS means they can neither afford air-conditioning nor a house to put it in.

Continue reading "A dear Trevor letter" »

Congratulations Haley Bracken, you’ve made it. You’ve gone to a sporting awards night basically topless and now your photo is in all the papers. Your parents must be so proud.

What next? Attending the 2011 Allan Border medal with no pants on?

Someone needs to explain to me the point of this race to the bottom of the scrap fabric bin that we’re exposed to twice a year: once at cricket’s “night of nights” and then at the other end of the year at AFL’s Brownlows.

Continue reading "Does this even qualify as a “dress”?" »

Andrew Bolt is concerned. Frankly, he’s quite beside himself. As if he didn’t have enough to worry about with the endless squawking from the Doomsday Brigade and their so-called ‘scientists’ fretting about ‘climate change’, when everyone knows it’s naturally occurring heat and why on earth should anyone – let alone large, multinational corporations run by hard-working, faceless billionaires whose fortunes have been built on the back of corporate environmental irresponsibility – have to apologise for that?

And don’t even get him started on the gross incompetence of the Federal Government.. Honestly, sometimes it’s just like beating his head against a brick wall. Is he the only one who cares about this godforsaken country?

But now they’ve gone and given him something else to bite his nails about. You know who ‘they’ are. The stalking, predatory creatures with nothing but lust on their minds and the sweet scent of young flesh propelling them forward.

Continue reading "Ladies, please forget that you have a sex drive" »

Talk about a grand marketing plan!

Last weekend, Love magazine, run by former Pop! Magazine Editor (and fashion industry icon) Katie Grand, started releasing their Issue #3 covers. The nude shots of Lara Stone, Kristen McMenamy, Daria Werbowy and Jeneil Williams were let loose on the internet, and didn’t the bloggers have a field day.

I blogged about it. I got emails from friends to blog about it. I saw it on at least three other websites all marvelling over how we were getting to see these girls practically in their birthday suits. Fashion blogging land was in an excitable hoo hah. Naked supermodel? You’ve got to be kidding me! I’ve never seen that before.

Continue reading "The logical end of fashion - naked clothes horses" »

It would have seemed like an innocent enough question.

Standing at the supermarket checkout, struggling slightly with a bulging belly as I hoisted heavy bags into the trolley, with no children in tow: ‘Will this be your first baby?’

The answer should be simple. If a one word response will suffice, I’ll have no problem. No, this is not my first baby, my first pregnancy. It is my seventh.

Continue reading "Invisible loss: What I learned about tragic pregnancy" »

Tony Abbott is perfectly entitled to his view as an individual - and as the father of three teenage girls - as to whether women should have sex before they are married.

But as the alternative prime minister, the danger for Abbott is that any airing of his private views will sound like a generalised public call for the women of Australia to keep themselves nice.

This is exactly what has happened – not just with the predictable attacks from sworn enemies such as Julia Gillard, but across blog sites and the twittersphere from politically ambivalent women have interpreted Abbott’s statement as an unwelcome free lecture.

Continue reading "Tony’s virginity troubles and the danger of being honest" »

I’m going to confess straight up to having little to zero interest in the underwear choices of Venus Williams.

Yet in recent days her flesh coloured shorts have become a story in sport in themselves and sent twitter abuzz with is she or isn’t she wearing underpants debates.

Perhaps this isn’t so shocking, Maria Sharapova’s green “frocklet” (I kid you not- apparently there is indeed such a thing), got its own press conference launch and then we saw precious column space designated to the diamond earring and necklace choices of Serena Williams, (which she liked “because it had lots of S’s in the design”, and we can all respect that).

Continue reading "Treating women’s sport like a trivial fashion contest" »

I recently let the world know that I am expecting twins.

I had read the chapter on pregnancy and other people in my new bible, ‘What to expect when expecting,’ by Sharon Mazel and Heidi Murkoff so had braced myself for some inappropriate tummy touching and some well-meaning pregnancy advice.

I thought I was prepared. How wrong can you be?

Continue reading "10 things not to say to a pregnant woman" »

A few years ago there was a funny little survey funded by fruitgrowers which spoke volumes about the relationship between men and women, particularly on the vexed question of domestic chores.

The survey found that the overwhelming majority of men refused to eat fruit, but said they would be prepared to eat fruit if someone could peel it, cut it into small pieces and hand it to them on a plate.

The survey has at its centre a kind of male patheticness which many blokes seem to regard as endearing, and which most women probably cannot stand.

Continue reading "In politics as in life, working women can’t win" »

Handbags. They can do a lot for us girls.

Big, small, clutch, tote, sleek, patent leather, tasselled and bedazzled. If you can dream it up, you can probably find it and you’ll probably enjoy the experience.

And while never as coveted as a great pair of shoes, handbags come a close second in the ever-expanding bevy of things considered essential to being ‘us’.

Continue reading "It’s all in the bag" »

“Shoes make me happy. I’m superficial. Whatever.”

I pass this sign, plastered in the window of a cheap shoe store in Bondi, at least once a week.

Whether it’s meant to be funny or represent the views of its customers, I’m not sure. But the marketing manager behind this cringe-worthy sign has tapped into a solid gold business concept: selling ignorance.

Continue reading "Shoes are fine for feet, they just don’t fit the brain" »

There has been a lot of giddiness and hoopla surrounding the use of Twitter by journalists to cover the leadership ructions in the Liberal Party this past fortnight. It certainly made for high-energy reading – with its rawness and immediacy, it made the readers feel as if they were there as journalists passed on factoids from the mayhem and provided links to news and analysis of running events.

The downside of course was that it also gave tweeting journalists the ability to be 100 per cent wrong in real time – and I include myself among their number – where rumour and conjecture was shot into cyberspace, sending frantic packs of gallery journalists sprinting down corridors searching for a reputed Julie Bishop press conference, to find nothing but a Coke machine.

This real-time dissemination of both fact and fiction is an issue for the political parties head of next year’s election, where any degree of tail-chasing undermines their desire for a stage-managed and risk-averse passage through the campaign.

Continue reading "Web women unleash cyber hell on Holy Tony" »

When Demi Moore was quoted a few weeks ago in W magazine saying “I’d rather be called a puma than a cougar,” I was at first quite pleased. Somehow, puma seemed a nicer name (cougar, to me, sounds as cringeworthy as nails scratching on a blackboard) and I hoped it would catch on.

But after some digesting, it dawned on me that calling women who go out with younger men ‘pumas’ isn’t any more flattering. A puma is still a wild animal who feeds on innocent prey – which is where the term cougar comes from – and is just as offensive.

Demi Moore, shame on you for thinking a prettier word will make you feel better. Besides, it’s not going to catch on. Unfortunately, the cougar is here to stay.

Continue reading "Cougar is a dirty word" »

I don’t have the research in front of me but, anecdotally, I have noticed that women use phones, fly on planes, shop and withdraw cash from ATMs.

If my analysis is correct, you’d think the top brass at Telstra, Qantas, Westfield and the Commonwealth Bank would need to know a fair bit about women – a hefty chunk of their customer base and their workforce – and what makes them tick.

I’ve no doubt that these organisations employ many fine strategists, marketeers and consultants who can provide the kind of research that backs up my casual observations.

Continue reading "Getting more women on boards is good business" »

Gender pay equity never fails to raise temperatures.

Like climate change, there are many out there who deny women get paid less than men for doing the same job. 

Continue reading "It’s up to women to get tough on pay equity" »

Two weeks ago I argued that, as a politician, real action on reducing carbon emissions is always going to be more about what individuals do than just what Governments do.

That’s why yesterday I was excited to learn about a new initiative called one million women (www.1millionwomen.com.au). Now I doubt I would agree with the politics of all those backing this scheme, but that’s not the point.

What I agree with is their focus on keeping the politics out of this debate and focussing on the practical choices of individual Australian women.

Continue reading "One million women can’t be wrong" »

Life’s about film stars and less about mothers. It’s all about fast cars and cussing each other. But it doesn’t matter cause I’m packing plastic, and that’s what makes my life so f***ing fantastic.

And I am a weapon of massive consumption and it’s not my fault, it’s how I’m programmed to function. I’ll look at the sun and I’ll look in the mirror I’m on the right track, yeah I’m on to a winner. - Lily Allen.

The body image issues that plague so many women in our society are very real and are, in their essence, rooted in fear.

Continue reading "The fear making mothers invisible" »

On Friday week, October 30, the annual Reclaim the Night marches will be held in cities and towns around Australia. Find more information here. The Punch received this contribution from a young woman who has asked us to publish it anonymously to chronicle her story of surviving sexual assault.

Today I did something I never thought I would do again – I pulled out a figure-hugging outfit from my closet and put it on. I even made it out the door and to work still wearing it.

This particular outfit was a favourite for some years, but ever since an article in a newspaper four years ago I have been unable to wear it without feeling vulnerable and uncomfortable.

You see, I am a rape survivor.

Continue reading "Reclaiming the night: one woman’s story of survival" »

I’m still not sure how it happened. We headed out to Olympic Park on Friday with two other couples to see Beyonce’s Sydney show, planning to bop the night away to her awesome collection of insanely catchy dance tunes.

We ended up wiping away tears and struggling to speak as the concert turned into an emotionally-charged celebration of the best features of life in the west – women’s rights, civil rights, democracy, freedom of expression, a philanthropic sense of community.

The word “pop” of itself sounds frivolous and popular music is generally ignored or ridiculed as the shallowest cultural genre. But at some point during Beyonce’s show, the concert underwent a strange transformation, as if she’d read the “life, liberty and pursuit of happiness” passage from The Declaration of Independence and decided to build a stage show around it.

Continue reading "Beyonce for President" »

The antics of the Minister for Women, Tanya Plibersek, this week are the latest in a long line of Labor tactics that continue to diminish and devalue the vital parliamentary arena of question time.

The point she made so loudly and proudly about the Opposition not allocating many questions to Coalition women is hollow and disingenuous.

Governments use Question Time to crow about themselves, using backbenchers, often in marginal seats, to ask pre-arranged questions.  Political reality necessitates that the leadership team in Opposition use question time to hold the government to account.

Continue reading "The hypocrisy of the Labor sisterhood" »

As any regular moviegoer could attest, it is a truth regretfully acknowledged that to glimpse an actress with a wrinkled forehead has become a rarer occurrence than a genuine sighting of a UFO. 

So perhaps it was inevitable that photographs of the fortysomething stars (indeed fiftysomething, in the case of cast member Kim Cattrall) of the upcoming Sex And The City sequel would unsettle a public unaccustomed to a mature-age woman playing a character outside the confines of mother/grandmother.

Captured on location in New York, the shots reveal Sarah Jessica Parker and her on-screen cohorts in an array of characteristically fashion forward outfits (1980s flashbacks notwithstanding).

Continue reading "Elusive search for footage of women ageing naturally" »

For those who might have been pondering the issue, I can today tell you that Health and Ageing Minister Nicola Roxon has great breasts.

This is not my personal rating. I have taken the advice of an expert. Two Fridays ago mother-of-one Roxon gave a speech and then took questions from an audience in Canberra. A woman rose to compliment Roxon on the number of ministerial tasks she was managing. Slightly embarrassed by the praise she replied, “I have broad shoulders.”

“Yes,’’ continued the voice in the audience, “you do have broad shoulders. And great breasts.”

Continue reading "Women help give Labor breast chance of victory" »

Last night I attended the launch of National Swearing Day without realising it.

Attending functions as a politician can be a bit like an episode of “Thank God You’re Here”.  You walk through the door and suddenly discover that you are giving a speech, cooking a meal, or throwing a first prize sash over a pumpkin.

So last night, instead of being at the launch of National Swearing Day, I thought I was attending a function for the White Ribbon Foundation.  It’s an organisation headed up by Andrew O’Keefe which aims to prevent violence against women.

Continue reading "Swearing for a good cause" »

Filming in the Big Apple started this week on the latest instalment in the Sex and the City hexology, sending upper middle-aged women around the world into mildly incontinent hysterics.

Sarah Jessica Parker was snapped in character as the ever-youthful Carrie Bradshaw, skipping across a Manhattan street in a pair of Hush Puppies, falling into the arms of her on-again-off-again lover Mr Big (who has been played by Zac Efron since SATC V).

All four of the leading ladies have returned for the sixth film, after protracted negotiations rumoured to have almost broken down over the huge cost of providing their health insurance.

Continue reading "Meet the GILFS*: Imagining Sex and the City VI" »

Rome wasn’t built in a day, and the same adage can be applied to women’s equality in society. However, lately it feels like construction has come to a complete halt.

Research released this week by the Australia Institute positioned women as one of the groups hardest hit by the financial crisis in the workplace. While more men had lost full-time jobs than women, women faced worsening underemployment in the form of limited hours and poor pay.

The women hardest hit by this news will be those who can least afford it – struggling lone mothers and women from low-income backgrounds. 

Continue reading "Women are the real losers in the Global Financial Crisis" »

I have four children. That’s not an easy thing for me to admit in public. It’s not that I am ashamed of it, far from it, but it brings with it an expectation from people about how I should be/have that I don’t always live up to. Let’s just say it’s one of many well-worn-out stereotypes I don’t do well.

It bothers me though that I feel compelled to somewhat mask this side of my life, not out of privacy, but for fear that my own identity will be drowned out by the din of social constructs that requires one’s personality to drop out of your vagina when giving birth to your first child.

I can’t believe that “motherhood” is still in need of an image shake-up in 2009, or we at the very least we need to extend the parameters of how we expect mothers to behave.

Continue reading "Apprentice’s tale: mums don’t lose personality in birth" »

Oh the horror. If I could have slapped myself across the chops without it hurting, I would. Lord knows I deserved to.

Instead, I slammed the wardrobe doors in disgust, sat down on the bed littered with shoes, dresses, bags, belts and other crap I don’t need, and had a long, hard think about where it all went wrong – how I had found myself in a global economic crisis with what could have been a year off my mortgage in bits of fabric and leather tat.

I had not always been a label queen, nor had I ever aspired to be. As a young cadet journalist on newspapers, designer clothes were never a consideration or a possibility – not if I wanted to actually eat regularly.

Continue reading "More money than sense: go broke on fashion in the GFC" »

Her voice was clear, eloquent and well-mannered. “I’d like to have the AVO cancelled, please,” she told the clerk confidently.

They see a lot, staff of local court registries and maybe this was nothing new. Curious, I turned to see who was speaking, not entirely sure of what I expected to see. Noting an appearance to match the voice - blonde, well-groomed and aged in her early-to-mid 20s - the young woman went on.

“You see, I was really drunk the other night, and I said a lot of things I didn’t mean.”

Continue reading "When an AVO is just a tactic in a lovers’ quarrel" »

It’s that time of year, isn’t it? When the intention to eat healthily just doesn’t result in the same. Puritanical thoughts of eating only soup for dinner somehow morph into soup plus half a loaf of buttery toast. Steamed fish and vegies ends up as steak with cheesy potato bake.

A roast with all the trimmings is a regular occurrence and apple crumble is, somehow, always okay. Yes, the winter weather is dictating my diet and I have no choice, do I? It’s rather impossible not to put on the “winter two”. Or three, or four.

And as we reach August, this means I’m stuck wearing what fits. One, my fat jeans, or two, my leggings - marvellous creations with lots of stretch. But of course, I’m sick of both. (See boys, when we say “I don’t have anything to wear”, we often mean “I can’t fit into anything in my wardrobe”). I’m afraid that looking great in winter is only achievable if you’re Gwyneth Paltrow. Aka, Wonder Woman.

Continue reading "“Detox” the new code word for dangerous dieting" »

It is 2009 and even Hillary Clinton has to remind people she thinks for herself.

Admittedly it was an African student who yesterday showed such stunning disrespect for the US Secretary of State, by asking her what her husband’s views were on Chinese contracts in the Congo.

I doubt very much anyone in the United States, or here, would dare be so brazen - to her face. But the rest of us put up with it all the time.

Continue reading "What a stupid question to ask the Secretary of State" »

Oh. No. Really. Won’t someone please mop the tears of unreserved mirth? Apparently, Women Love Shoes! And Men Just Don’t Know What To Do With a Vacuum Cleaner! Oh, hahaha, the difference between the sexes. They’re just so funny because they’re just so true.

Jokes about the location of the clitoris or the importance of the shed are every bit as progressive and useful as beta-video. Equally acquainted with the pleasures of both, I’ve never understood the merit of these gags. 

Perhaps this is because I am a mannish girl.  Or perhaps it is because jokes about the “Gender Wars” have their place.  Viz. only on disgraced Austereo breakfast programs or in forwarded emails sent by my father-in-law.

Continue reading "The lame world of men-versus-women humour" »

I finally got around to watching Twilight recently and, as a result, fear for a generation of impressionable, young and deluded women.

Wherever Robert Pattinson, who plays the enigmatic teen vampire Edward in the blockbuster book and movie franchise, goes these days he is swamped by hysterical young girls who appear headed down a rough old romantic road. And now I know why.

You see, Edward is the template of everything I, and so many women like me, tend to go for in a man which, despite the wisdom of age, several broken relationships and all good intentions, remains best described in one word: unattainable.

Continue reading "Us girls are always sucked in by a blood-sucking bastard" »

It’s a good thing the Aussies have their wives and girlfriends along for the Ashes tour.

Had they not been there, it’s quite probable we would have gone down to county side Northamptonshire because we’ve all been assured by Cricket Australia that the boys play better if the WAGs are in attendance.

Seeing as we have managed to win just one of the seven tour games so far, I tremor at the thought of what would have happened if CA hadn’t had the foresight to support the significant others/B-grade celebrities and female wannabes to stay with the cricketers for the first part of the Ashes.

Continue reading "WAGs aren’t about team happiness, but marketing" »

There is an online revolution occurring with women taking to the blogsphere at a phenomenal rate.

They are connecting, supporting, sharing, creating and doing business with people they probably have never met.

It is a new wave of feminism.

Continue reading "Rise of the mummy blogger" »

The other day I couldn’t help but over hear a spirited conversation by a group of girls at an Italian restaurant. 

Their discussion focused on the lack of nice blokes in night clubs and drinking spots. Not to be a grinch, I suppress the urge to inform them that nice guys will soon join the Dodo in extinction.

They will be the latest addition to the graveyard of male archetypes – such as chocks, snags and metrosexuals – that men unsuccessfully adopted when wooing the other sex.

Continue reading "Death of the nice guy may lead to end of the species" »

Who dresses their age anymore? A question on my fashion website last week…

“Dear Nedahl, I was just looking at Kylie in a mini. Is the mini appropriate for all women over 40 or only those who are pop stars/actors? As a 41 year old I’ve been wondering about this for a while. Christina.”

Personally, I think the whole issue of dressing age appropriately is past its use by date, but I’m sure others disagree. With a phrase like mutton dressed as lamb part of everyday vernacular, and a quick google search revealing a click through that said “see Gretel Killeen from Australia’s Big Brother” as their example, it’s fairly clear that people still believe in dressing for one’s age.

Continue reading "Fashion over 40 - who dresses their age anymore?" »

People keep asking me does gender matter in politics? If this week’s news about the gender pay gap in managerial jobs is anything to go by, not as much as it does in management.

I’ve always believed that there is no more basic principle of fairness than equal pay for equal work. Yet it was no surprise to anyone that Macquarie University research highlighted in this week’s The Age found female managers are an average of $13,500 a year worse off than their male counterparts.

The research took into account that women managers work in lower-paid sectors such as health and community services and clock up slightly less hours than male managers. Even accounting for these factors, the work of a woman manager comes at a $13,500 discount.

Continue reading "The gender pay agenda: time women got on board" »

THERE was a time any song list from the ABC’s Triple J would be a talking point for at least a week. This year’s Top 100 songs of all time hardly lasted a day.

The biggest controversy was about the lack of female artists which illustrates Triple J’s appeal and audience.

However, these lists prompt reflection on your own musical choices, as it did with Punch writer Chris Deal who unleased a collection of the crappest songs of all time. That led to some of the best abuse we’ve copped so far, including being called “a bunch of hipster douchebags”, to which most of us plead a fair cop.

Continue reading "The hottest 100, for the slightly elderly" »

Before this commentary gets underway, I feel that it is necessary to close the gate before the horse bolts. So first up, let me say that I am not anti-Islamic, I have lived as a Muslim woman from the age of seventeen until I was twenty two (and admittedly, found it not to my liking for a number of reasons).

Much of my professional life has been spent working with, and for Muslim people in the war zones of Bosnia Herzogovina, Kosovo and Albania as an humanitarian relief worker, and I have traveled and worked extensively in the Middle East, Europe, Africa and Asia - so I have seen quite a bit of the world and can compare how varying societies adapt the Islamic religion to the cultural morays and sensitivities of their regions.

Tory Maguire’s piece yesterday and the reader’s comments that followed had much to say on the reasons often cited by western media and society about what is believed to be the motivation for Muslim women to don the burqa and headscarves. 

The common, misinformed perception is that Muslim women mostly wear the burqa to express their religious devotion. 

Continue reading "The truth behind the burqa" »

If I was married to Carla Bruni I wouldn’t be a big fan of the burqa either, so it is perhaps no surprise that French President Nicholas Sarkozy is not in favour of women covering themselves from head to toe.

But Sarkozy’s forceful condemnation of the Islamic shroud as a symbol of female “subservience”, not religious faith, was absolutely right.

There is no greater way, other than locking the front door, to ensure a woman’s total invisibility in society - and thereby formalise her lack of worth - than to cover every inch of her, including her eyes, in heavy fabric.

Continue reading "Nicholas Sarkozy was right: the burqa is misogynist" »

I can’t decide which takes the cake - the grey vinyl lap top bag for a women who doesn’t own a lap top, or the magazine filled with pictures of kelpies for a wife to browse during labour.

Neither were as cruel as the all-expenses-paid trip to Morocco where the she was promptly dumped. Or as indiscreet as the yoga mat recommended by his “friend” the yoga instructor - who he’s now dating.

It’s incredible what some men think is an acceptable gift for their partner.

Continue reading "You got me what? Men and the terrible gifts they buy" »

Why are they still referred to as the Chaser “boys”? They’re grown men, and they probably have a few more grey hairs after the events of the past week.

Perhaps the idiom has something to do with the phrase “jobs for the boys”? It certainly seems like it. They’ve kept theirs. The person hit hardest by their Make A Realistic Wish sketch, which the ABC says should not have been broadcast, is a woman named Amanda Duthie.

As The Australian reports today:

Before yesterday, Ms Duthie was one of the ABC’s most powerful executives—today her once dazzling career prospects are in limbo.

ABC managing director Mark Scott announced Ms Duthie had been removed as the head of ABC TV comedy following the airing last week of the sketch on The Chaser’s War on Everything that satirised the granting of wishes to terminally ill children through the “Make-a-Realistic-Wish Foundation”.

It has been reported in recent times that the proportion of women on corporate boards and in the top management of Australia’s leading companies is actually shrinking has come as a shock to many.

Australia was once ranked second only to America in the number of top companies with a woman senior executive, and we now fall last on a list of comparable nations including New Zealand, Britain, South Africa and Canada.

In Australian about 55% of the top 2000 companies have at least one woman in an executive management position – compared to 85% in the US.

Continue reading "Some women just don’t want to break the glass ceiling" »