As always, so good! Two thoughts came to mind. The riddle from the beginning of the essay? In the 21st century, my teenager didn't even see it as a riddle. "That's easy: the kid has two dads". Ummm....so....from the kid whose pediatricians have all been women. And the end of the essay, as I think I've mentioned in previous years: so much attention on making sure women are acknowledged and have equity in all fields -- and I'm not saying it isn't important -- it very much IS important. AND the assumption is still that work and activities traditionally thought of as "women's" still doesn't have equal status and there's no acknowledgement that a stay-at-home parent (mostly women) makes a contribution to the economy (the be-all and end-all of our capitalistic society apparently). Hopefully, we can maintain the gains we have made, but now I am worried more than ever! Thank you for writing, my friend!
Yes! I worked in federal law enforcement. When I started in 1987 I was the only female agent in the office. There were a couple of other women in the office but they were in admin staff. In the agency I worked for there were only about 10 of us nationwide. It had improved somewhat by the time I retired in 2012 but women were still definitely in the minority.
This reminds me of Ruth Bader Ginsburg's famous quote:
"And when I'm sometimes asked when will there be enough [women on the Supreme Court]? And I say when there are nine, people are shocked. But there'd been nine men, and nobody's ever raised a question about that."
As always, so good! Two thoughts came to mind. The riddle from the beginning of the essay? In the 21st century, my teenager didn't even see it as a riddle. "That's easy: the kid has two dads". Ummm....so....from the kid whose pediatricians have all been women. And the end of the essay, as I think I've mentioned in previous years: so much attention on making sure women are acknowledged and have equity in all fields -- and I'm not saying it isn't important -- it very much IS important. AND the assumption is still that work and activities traditionally thought of as "women's" still doesn't have equal status and there's no acknowledgement that a stay-at-home parent (mostly women) makes a contribution to the economy (the be-all and end-all of our capitalistic society apparently). Hopefully, we can maintain the gains we have made, but now I am worried more than ever! Thank you for writing, my friend!
Yes! I worked in federal law enforcement. When I started in 1987 I was the only female agent in the office. There were a couple of other women in the office but they were in admin staff. In the agency I worked for there were only about 10 of us nationwide. It had improved somewhat by the time I retired in 2012 but women were still definitely in the minority.
This reminds me of Ruth Bader Ginsburg's famous quote:
"And when I'm sometimes asked when will there be enough [women on the Supreme Court]? And I say when there are nine, people are shocked. But there'd been nine men, and nobody's ever raised a question about that."