inequality - oppose and change it

It is International Women' Day today. The inequality that women face, pretty well everywhere, is unacceptable to me, as a man, All men must bear responsibility for this inequality and all men must work with women to oppose and change the inequity. I wish all of the women of the world a better today and an even better tomorrow. Today I am going to contemplate the powerful and important women of my life. My mother, my wife, my sister, my nieces, my grandmothers, my tūpuna, Papatūānuku , Hineahuone and Hine-nui-te-pō.

Facts about the day - where it came from and why it is still needed from The Independant.

Socialists first put forward the idea of advancing women's suffrage through a day to mark women's enormous contribution to humankind.
An annual "international women's day" was first organised by the German socialist and theorist Clara Zetkin along with 100 delegates from 17 countries in March 1911...
Today, when only a fifth of parliamentary seats are held by women and only 19 heads of state out of a possible 196 are women - only seven more women than 20 years ago - there is much progress still to be made.
The number of female cabinet ministers has at least tripled between 1994 and 2014 - but remains low compared to men, at only 17 per cent...
The United Nations first began celebrating the day on 8 March in 1975, and each year has given focus to women's status around the globe.
The current goals fit in with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The new agenda, which is meant to build on the unfulfilled Milennium Development Goals, has a stand-alone goal just for the empowerment of women and girls as a core means of tackling economic underperformance, global overpopulation and poverty worldwide.
It also celebrates the achievements of women throughout history...
Aside from the older motivations surrounding political office and the pay gap, there is also increasing awareness of the disproportionate amount of abuse women suffer at the hands of others.
An estimated 120 million girls and women under the age of 20 have been subjected to forced sexual intercourse or other forced sexual acts - around 10 per cent...
More than a third of women worldwide have also experienced physical or sexual violence at some point in their lives, with this being most common between a woman's teenage years and menopause.
Meanwhile, nearly a quarter of a billion more women are in the global workforce today than a decade ago, but they are only earning what men did in 2006, according to the World Economic Forum.
And one in 10 married women are not consulted by their husbands on how their own cash earnings will be spent.

The inequality women face is almost absurd if it wasn't so devastating - come on humanity GROW UP

birds of a feather

If anyone says they don't want sex with you and then you force them to have sex with you - that is rape. It doesn't matter if you had sex with them 5 minutes ago, it doesn't matter if you are in the middle of sex - if they say no, that means no. There are some people who do not agree with that view even though it is the law here in this country. George Galloway has said

NZH

In a video podcast which sparked outrage, the Bradford MP and notorious polemicist suggested sex without consent should not always be thought of as rape, if a woman has previously consented to what he called "the sex game". He added that Assange was merely guilty of "bad sexual etiquette".

This attitude seems to infect men of a certain age. On The Standard many debates have raged around this issue and posters such as RedLogix, Colonial Viper, Morrissey, vicky32 and others have added their views and they are similar to galloways, and IMO they all support rape culture with their comments and attitudes.

They are no better than Todd Akin and his sicko comments about legitimate rape.

Then on Sunday, he was asked by local news station KTVI-TV about his no-exceptions view on abortion. The 65-year-old lawmaker replied: "It seems to me, from what I understand from doctors, that is really rare.

"If it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down."

The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has said Mr Akin's claim "contradicts basic biological truths".

Galloway and the assangefanboys are guilty of failing equality 101 - it is very basic stuff but the truth is easily hidden when privilege is being protected. 

courageous women

Courage - speaking the truth, even at great risk - being afraid and doing it anyway. I remember another saying that I'm going to redo - a display of courage worries the weak and inspires the strong. Be inspired by the courage of Veena Malik

From Archive Fire

What is truly amazing is that, in Pakistan, Malik is probably risking her life not only speaking to a mullah this way, but completely ripping through his illogical rants with undeniable passion and intelligence. What a courageous person:

I agree with Michael.

There are some truths we struggle to accept and oppression of women is one. Patriarchy is insidiously everywhere - here, as well as there. It is so much a part of the fabric of our society that we hardly notice it - men that is, women notice it of course, because they are living under it's oppression every day of the year. How can men support women in their struggle for equal rights? Listen and learn is my advice - don't think that your view is required - I know it is hard, men often believe that it is an expression of empathy to talk about how they feel about it, but that is not correct actually. It is a derailing technique that men often unconsciously use. I find if you read the comments and listen to the arguments you can learn a lot.

This post from QoT on The Standard is worth reading to learn about an issue that, as men we may not have considered and that is - that women have the absolute right to have control over their bodies, just as men do. The absolute right to be equal and make decisions for themselves. It is the bottom line. I recommend  QoT's blog it is awesome.

Of course there is a place for men's views in debates like this, but many of the points raised by men are red herrings and irrelevant - read the post from QoT and see if you can spot men who support the right of women to be equal and those who derail - such as raising the 'tone argument' - "you're angry, you're emotional, you are hurting your cause, you are alienating allies" and so on. I really recommend reading 'derailing for dummies' - it is a must-read for bloggers and commenters.

I cannot half-support equality - it is not my nature. As men we need to front up to the privilege we enjoy as men, in our patriarchal society. It takes women of courage to open our ears and close our mouths.