Opinion

A shot across the bows in unending battle of the sexes

IT'S International Women's Day this week and I'm wearing camouflage after my seven-year-old son handed me a tampon and said, "Here's one of your vagina bullets".

It's still a battle of the sexes. Quilting conventions, goddess weekends, hens' nights, book groups, chick flicks, women's studies and scrag fights aside, the gender war is still raging. The rumoured truce is a myth. Who said we're waving a white flag? Listen closely and you'll hear many still screaming blue murder. It's a bit hard to hear them, though, because most are gagged, bound and kept in cellars.

The gloves are off but we're still wearing the matching belt. Although I'm not one of the missing in action, I have war wounds and battles to fight despite my thin veneer of shock and awe and my reputation as a shoecide bomber.

The truth is, for most nice middle-class white women reading this, we're pretty sorted. Shut up. We are. We have access to education, health care, welfare and we have freedom of speech. Sort of. More on that later.

If you don't believe we're doing better than most, ask any functionally illiterate single mother struggling on benefits with no financial help from the children's father. Or the woman working full time raising her children and caring for her own elderly parents and her partner's elderly parents. Or the asylum seeker with no extended family, working nightshift while her children are cared for by their older siblings because her husband went to war and never came back. Or the alarming number of single women over 60 struggling on a pension despite having raised children, supported husbands and contributed hundreds of thousands of hours of unpaid labour to the community. Or the indigenous women trying to keep families together despite the epidemic of abuse, addiction and welfare dependency in many of their communities. Or the women battling discrimination because of their disability, mental health issues, race, sexuality or religion as well as their gender.

White, rich, clever ladies are doing better than most, but don't be sucked in by those who try to make women feel as if they are doing us a favour by giving us 70 per cent of what we're entitled to. We must keep rattling the cage for ourselves and our less fortunate sisters.

The Axis of Evil in our gender conflict still consists of religion, government and media. It's not only a battle for hearts and minds but for fertility control, economic equality, sexual expression, financial freedom, family-friendly work solutions and healthy relationships. I'd love to walk you through the endemic and relentless oppression of women by government and religion but I need to be at my son's 21st in 2019.

The alarming lack of females in mainstream media screams out in 2009. Let's reflect on that mirror into our society.

Examine how often women are permitted a voice in print, on the airwaves or on telly. Take note of what they're allowed to say, how they are expected to say it and how they're forced to look. If we were to subvert the present gender balance, things might be a little clearer. Rove, for example, has seven regulars; only one is female. If the gender balance were inverted, it would be classified as a "women's show".

A photo of ABC radio 774 personalities appearing in the Melbourne Comedy Festival shows five men and two women, and one of those women broadcasts only on Saturday mornings. Our ABC? Now that's a laugh.

Panel shows are perfect microcosms of the accepted gender bias. More often than not the ratio is two women to five men. If you're lucky. Commercial television aside, the ABC has a code of conduct that is, apparently, committed to gender balance.

Two of Channel Seven's local news presenters are female and six are male. Of Channel Nine's national news presenters, 20 are men and 10 are women. Channel Ten comes out on top with 13 women to 17 men. But if you look closer, a disproportionate amount of the women are weather presenters or weekend newsreaders.

This newspaper itself reflects the ingrained gender imbalance in media. It's not uncommon for the opinion page to feature a middle-aged, middle-class white man in a suit, followed by another middle-aged, middle-class white man in a suit, followed by another middle-aged, middle-class white man in a suit, followed by Peter Costello. Of the last 69 opinion pieces, only 13 have been written by women. And when women's voices are heard, they are less likely to be writing opinion and more likely to be "sharing experiences" than men.

What does it say about Australian media and culture when the only loud, strong, funny and opinionated woman with any longevity in our country is Dame Edna? A man who lives in London. The gender battle is the mother of all wars.

Source: the age.com

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Posted By: Catherine Deveny on 4/03/2009 6:00:43 PM | Comments (22)

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Did I read that first paragraph right? Your seven-year-old said what to you? Did you consider paddling his insolent backside for speaking to you like that Catherine?

Posted by Trevor, 4/03/2009 7:20:19 PM

I'll remember this article next time I hear about a father committing suicide after the Family Court took his kids off him merely because he's male (discrimination, which, according to law, is supposedly illegal in this country). Get over yourself.

Posted by Oppressor, 4/03/2009 7:27:42 PM

Dear Catherine - I am Pisces, a male, loved fatherhood and was commited within marriage and have the emotional capacity that far outreaches the 'femaleness attributes or caring, sharing, thinking of other's first, nurturing and giving'. The SNAG to those who are of this Generation Y- means Sensitive. New. Age. Guy. My mother said to me when her marriage was disintergrated back in 1973- "Steve, give a woman just a small amount of affection and she will do anything for you". I married 6 years later after various girlfriends and found that girl's are cruel to each other, criticise behind their friends backs with venomous spite, create a superscillious smile to please and cover their real identity, lie, steal and cheat, use men like a 'fashion statement' to out-do and compete with each other and 'use' men to pro-create to obtain "my children" and are lazy lovers, inattentive to their husbands physical intimacy and would rather 'shop til they drop'- "do coffee" with their girlfriends and pump aerobics just to out-do any other female. So, after 18.5 yrs of faithful marriage was told after a year of counselling "I don't need a man in my life anymore", she asked me to break the family fabric and without a shed of a tear - told me to leave 'our marriage'. I went into marriage with love and demonstrated my commitment over and over again. Yet rejected. I am a male femminist by nature with all womens status and issues but with the way women treat men, generally I became 'street-wise' so I now live with a mature woman 24 yrs older than myself (52 on 19/3) and skipped all three generations 'on-offer' as she has the friendship values, the listening skills and just wants to be loved and appreciated for the real woman who she is. A good hard look in the mirror called 'Attitude' is what exhubrates from the users to the more beautiful who just want a man for his genuine affection and love- not for money or taking him for granted. That was in year 2000, we exchanged rings of commitment over a romantic evening meal with no one else present- no words, just a commitment. Many a woman and man will go to their graves to have what we have and people feel our presence. I do most of the cooking, cleaning and 'woman's chores'- and care for her is just part of my nature. She is Spanish, raised in England and has culture, something Aust. women rarely have. At 76 I would not change for a younger model even if she died. Most women are self-depreciating of themselves and undervalue their self-worth. Here lies the essence of their feelings of valueness. Sincerely Stephen J

Posted by adaptapensioner.com, 5/03/2009 12:41:59 AM

The truth is a man needs to be employed all his working life. Most women are merely tourists in the work-world. Women can chop and change to suit their family needs. When the crunch comes down to money all eyes are on the man. He is judged on his ability to provide. And when the wife decides she has had enough, the financial burden of the separation or divorce is again shouldered by the man. The work world is a mans domain. Get used to it Barbie.

Posted by Andrew, 5/03/2009 8:13:33 AM

How are we meant to redress the gender imbalance when it looks like the first government in Australia's history to appoint a woman GG and a woman deputy leader is abandoning the prospect of universal maternity leave at the time when we need it the most?! You're right, we white, middle class, educated women are doing quite well, when we look at our sisters in other situations - but a paid maternity leave scheme will help us all. But this new idea of a national panel to support women's self esteem and self image is a joke. Women who want to be on the telly must be young, slim and attractive - if they're not they're criticised all over town. Do you hear us saying "that Jason from Better Homes is fat" or "Peter Overton has a funny chin" or the Channel 7 news reader's got "loads of wrinkles". And us women are the worst at criticising women in the media, eg GoFugYourself blog. When we give other women a break, then we can rightly demand men do.

Posted by Lexi, 5/03/2009 8:45:21 AM

7 year old son.....My God

Posted by Lorraine, 5/03/2009 11:21:39 AM

Always has been that way - always will be. Get a grip and get used to it! The Glass Ceiling is there!!! Find your own inner peace and stop trying to be a man.

Posted by PomonaGirl, 5/03/2009 1:17:12 PM

The "how they look" issue for female presenters/announcers really intrigues me. Do these women really think it's normal to have hair lacquered in "dead wig" mode, so much lip gloss that their mouths can barely move, enough foundation to cover an army of extras in a remake of Cleopatra, and teeth that probably glow in the dark? I always expect the ad segments during the news to have plugs for cosmetic dentistry after the vast expanse of glittering white enamel I see flashed throughout the news and weather. Ahhh, for some real looking women!!

Posted by terry, 6/03/2009 8:53:30 AM

i got married 17 had 5 babies by 29,was verbally abused,and bashed which i thought was normal never went far from home only family and football hubby had his mates and fishing and beer wanted steak each night and when it wasnt there food was thrown across the room had the guts 2 give him ultimation after cing social worker thet was only a few things ,now 20 years later my life has turned around with a new husband been 2gether 10 years this year marr 6 onmay 1 and this man is beautiful ,loving caring,we fight bt its trivial yes i have scars most of us do and if u ever want 2 talk send me email as i have talked 2 hundreds of people all u do 2 start again is baby steps enjoy your day lov beppie

Posted by beppie, 6/03/2009 12:51:49 PM

I find it rather ironic that in an article expousing the evils of gender bias, there is no examination of a male veiwpoint, or the discriminations that males suffer. To paraphrase Thomas Paine " Those that would secure their liberty must guard even their enemy from opposition, otherwise they set a precedent which utilimately reaches themselves." If there is to be any measure of equality, then these issues need to be assessed on the basis of the rights of the individual, not the rights of a gender. To say that the only a womans freedom of expression is subject to oppression, is quite frankly sexist, and only serves to divide humanity. I also find the mindset of this article interesting, that there is a "Battle of the Sexes", which suggests the author believes there are "winners" and "losers", that this is a conflict which the outcome is settled by force, the "strongest" dictating terms. I would prefer to believe that equality can only be achieved by mutual respect and understanding.

Posted by James, 6/03/2009 2:52:41 PM

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