Just awful to be a woman in Ireland today?

[tigerben]

But what about earning the same amount as obsessive, testosterone driven men who work seventy five hour weeks? Isn't that your dream?

I fear I have been grossly misinformed. Somebody should make a law about that.

yes you have, this year at least 4 women in my place of work are going to pack it in, with husbands saying " do if you want , we will always manage, a few whose husbands are iffy are using the pregnancy route, and having two close pregnancies together , as the the cost factor will mean it doesn't pay, the only women that are happy are the single girls or the women whose husbands have lost their jobs, and to be honest , some of them like being the monied partner and in control! Ive a good job, and I've noticed that when the girls are leaving its men that are filling the jobs , no maternity benefits or time off , wonder is this happening in more places?

[statsman]

Whatever about the women, clearly there are a lot of sad men in the country. If P.ie is anything to go by. Which it isn't.

[Darren H]

It started off fairly balanced, in criticising the BBC's ridiculous list of female faces of the year. Certainly Nobel Prize winners and Heads of the IMF should have been included ahead of Pippa Middleton and a panda.

But it did become a bit of a whinge fest, heavy on complaints and light on what needs to be done.

It was slightly redeemed by including "Berlusconi’s crass dismissal of Angela Merkel, Prime Minister of the biggest economy in Europe, as "an unf**kable fat ass". But knee jerk laughter at that aside, unless attitudes like that are challenged then they will come to be seen as acceptable.

Feminism needs to be redefined for the 21st century as support for equality of opportunity.

Would I have written that 10 years ago? Probably not. But I've got two daughters now, and if they end up (as the article says is likely) desiring to be a glamour model rather than a doctor or teacher, something has gone wrong.

[Diawlbach]

Whatever about the women, clearly there are a lot of sad men in the country. If P.ie is anything to go by. Which it isn't.

And that's why sheds and power tools were invented.

To be honest, I reckon most of the major breakthroughs in human technical achievements have been invented by a man, bored and with time on his hands, asking himself that fateful question, "I wonder what happens if I do this..." and then having to frantically come up with a way to fix the results before the wife gets home.

[zakalwe1]

yes you have, this year at least 4 women in my place of work are going to pack it in, with husbands saying " do if you want , we will always manage, a few whose husbands are iffy are using the pregnancy route, and having two close pregnancies together , as the the cost factor will mean it doesn't pay, the only women that are happy are the single girls or the women whose husbands have lost their jobs, and to be honest , some of them like being the monied partner and in control! Ive a good job, and I've noticed that when the girls are leaving its men that are filling the jobs , no maternity benefits or time off , wonder is this happening in more places?

i'd love for my wife to be able to give up work (her stated wish) to look after the kids but unfortunately our mortgage is based on 2 salaries so unless we can feed and clothe ourselves with fresh air, we'll have to continue with the current scenario.

my parents always bang on how hard it was in the 70's and 80's but at least they could afford a mortgage and groceries on a single salary back then.

[borntorum]

Quiet day in Shaft'em'all Towers, I take it...?

I'm all for equality - I'm sexist against both sexes

[Murph]

How many female posts are in this thread?

The fact that whingfest was the second word in the very first sentence of the first post here, might give us a hinteen that Dr. Pat was in wind-up mode, and is a lonely boyeen himself.

[just_society3]

One interesting statistic was the focus on comparing the pay of third level graduates. Conveniently ignores the very large number of young men out of work because they went working on building sites when females (who had their heads screwed on) got degrees. The education system has changed in a manner recently which appears to have benefitted girls also. So perhaps the lads need a bit of positive discrimination in education, maybe?

While I don't favour 'Equality' redressing the balance in this manner to specifically suit the out of work brickies, (although courses to retrain the unemployed, regardless of gender, are always welcome). I don't favour any rule which guarantees that a female in my office is entitled to the same money as I am simply because of gender. If she's as productive at her job as I am, then I'm absolutely in favour.

Perhaps the debate should focus on childcare, which is probably the real reason Women don't focus on careers as much as men.

[Astral Peaks]

Indeed. There are some just awful women in Ireland today.

Really?

There are some fairly despicable men too.

Swings and roundabouts, dear chap.

[Garland Names the Skies]

Those militant lawyers, doctors and accountants. Yeah, I get where you're coming from....


Let's keep adding to the list... [all strcitly non-unionised of course]

An HR manager???

A receptionist????

A vet????

A journalist???

A model???? [oh, yes a woman would be paid much much much more]

No with the exeception of receptionist (which is employed mainly by low paid women anyway) you hit the self employed and the unionised again (NUJ?). Have another swing at it. Third time a charm