The time of year for what, you might ask? Well, in Ottawa we are experiencing Winter Part Deux, snow, sleet, ice pellets, rain and puddles that are more like small lakes. I’m preparing for a birthday party tonight and knowing that we all need a little summer, I found a recipe for a drink called “Summer Breeze,” (pineapple juice, pink grapefruit juice, soda, mint leaves and two ounces of gin, if you must know.)
I’m sampling one right now–because gin is pretty much what is required for a gal like me to read an entire Judy Rebick column.*
Yes, it’s that time of year–International Women’s Day. The centennial, I gather.
I could go on about why I don’t see things Judy’s way. But quite frankly, I’m enjoying this Summer Breeze too much, plus I believe I’ll have a column in the Ottawa Citizen next week on this very topic. We don’t want to be like Sweden, ladies, is the only thing I’ll definitely write here. They have a very different concept of feminism, and it’s actually a whole lot more traditional than many of us (Judy included) realize. (All their social programs are geared to helping women stay home, such that most women do. Any given day in Sweden, there’s 20 per cent absenteeism on the job, and a much lower percentage of their corporate managers and CEOs are women in the private sector.)
I believe in freedom. I believe women ought to do what they want. I believe they should also fund what they want to do themselves, alone or within families. Relying on a husband’s wage to stay home with kids isn’t insulting, it’s common sense. I don’t think a government program makes women “more equal,” hence my constant railing against Status of Women Canada. And I believe if women work fewer hours in different industries, which they do, as per Statistics Canada, then they should actually be paid less, and that 100 per cent “pay equity” would be evidence that we gave up on the free market.
This may well be the gin talking. Here ends the rant. Enjoy the lead up to International Women’s Day. And make sure you have the beverage of your choice on hand for every time they mention “abortion as a hard fought right.”
*I really don’t drink very much. I had to use egg cups to measure out my ounces–perhaps too generous a proxy, come to think of it.
by 
It doesn’t particularly bother me that there isn’t the same percentage of women in parliament that make up the Canadian population. It doesn’t even particularly bother me that women have more “unpaid” hours of work in the home than men (although you could probably find me quoting that when I’m doing the compost bin in the summer). On the whole, more women want to stay at home with the kids than men, it’s not our job to change that. It’s not an insult to call someone stay-at-home mom. It’s just evolution. What does bother me is the perception of women and their social status. How do we, on the whole, value and respect the stay-at-home mother and women in general? How do we curb the hyper-sexualization in the media that perpetuates unhealthy images of women and devalues them as human beings? How do we adequately value the women who rear our future citizens and taxpayers? Does such a value require monetary compensation? Will more compensation make motherhood “easier” and therefore make abortion less appealing? In my opinion, there’s plenty of work to be done, but it’s not all fiscal.
All their social programs are geared to helping women stay home, such that most women do
Actually, it’s the opposite. We have an “equality bonus” for the couples who split the eighteen month parental leave 50/50. It’s not a lot of money, about 1300 EUR, but the intention is clear. There is constantly a debate in the press about how to increase the number of parental leave days that men use up, and there’s even been talk about ear marking more than the forty days that are currently ear marked for men.
The person, woman or man, who stays home after the eighteen months are over get no money, no pension benefits and is generally seen as a bit odd.