Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Happy IWD10

Happy iwd10

So 8th march flew past with not so much as a hiccough (or is it hiccup?) here. But it's still going where you are. So Happy International Women's Day. 

What should probably be more of a big deal than say mothers/fathers day, nurses/secretary/teachers day or even days of holiday in honor of a horse race, didn't rate a mention on my facebook wall, or blogroll bar Catherine

On of the kinder assistants was telling me in Russia it's a huge deal. The first public holiday of spring. Flowers are given to all women/girls. She had 8 bunches from her various males, her husband took the day off & vacuumed the house & took her out to dinner. How nice. 

I know we have it pretty good compared to some (?most) - access to education, healthcare, participation in workforce, participation in democratic processes.  But I couldn't help but, at the end of a particularly ordinary day ponder some of the inequities. 

"what are you doing with your day off?" ( having dropped Owen at kinder, involving getting 3 people fed cleaned clothed & a load of washing) 
Umm agh well the answer would be going home to look after my 7 mo old baby, hopefully fit in a vacuum & mop of floors, several loads of washing, get dinner prepared, sort through 9 boxes of clutter, feed  myself & Gus 4 times (roast beetroot, roast kumara, wholewheat bread, avocado & watermelon - def not beige!) 
On top of the looking after other needs of a small baby (gazing, playing, chasing) which, until I had another, was considered by most to be a full-time occupation. Some "day off". 
Or on the heady occasion of leaving the house without o & g "is Andy going to babysit?" Ah,  No its called parenting. 

Yet this stuff often falls to Womens work (though I know I have it better even on this superficial level- A can cook & does so maybe 2x/week, and "helps" with the tidying up/dishes (his words, not mine, usually preceding an argument). 



So anyway, enough venting. Just wanted to say to one of the awesome women in my life- have a happy day (or night) And congratulations on following your talents & dreams & not settling for mediocrity. 

Love me x

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I've read this post before but not commented. Came back to check for new words but instead re-chuckled about A:

" "helps" with the tidying up/dishes (his words, not mine, usually preceding an argument)."

Gold!