Women's Empowerment & Equality

[Levo]

Dear Women on Unilang!

I'm interested in Your opinion about your situation in your home countries. I'm interested in every country of the world.

We usually think women have long been equal to men in practice too in my country, but maybe there are still differences on certain fields to which we men don't pay attention. Of course I would have ideas, but now it's not about my guesses, it's about Your thoughts.

What do You think?

[Varislintu]

I think it's difficult for Finnish women to combine a career and motherhood as well as they would like to. Good public daycare places can be hard to get, and there is pressure to restrict their use (for example that they'd be only for poor families, or that a mother can't stay at home with a younger child and put the older child in daycare -- it has to be either or).

It's also only the employers of women who pay for the costs when a worker goes on mother's leave, thus putting female-dominated fields at a disadvantage, even if children are the result of both sexes.

Women are more likely to not get steady or full employment and rather work in snippets that don't accumulate the benefits of steady employment. Women also earn less money on average.

These things said, there are many good things to being a woman (in Finland, but this probably applies generally). We live longer, are less prone to suicide, are less effected by economic recessions, are better drivers, are more liberal, eat more veggies... Okay, I think I digressed here, this hasn't that much to do with equality .

Politically we have involved ourselves quite nicely, many of our politicians are females, which I sometimes forget isn't how it is even everywhere in Europe. I still don't like how in the group photos of conventions where major world leaders meet, there is about 3 women to 20 men, if that.

[Levo]

Yeah, these are very good observations.

[KingHarvest]

are better drivers

CLEARLY you do not know the Helen Keller joke

[Sol Invictus]

are better drivers

CLEARLY you do not know the Helen Keller joke

That doesn't sound funny, how can you laugh about the disabled ?

I don't pay attention to genders and ignore these differences (not in anatomical sense ofcourse), so I don't know, but certaint jobs are usualy performed by individuals of only one gender (e.g. teachers and nurses are female, profesional car drivers are males, also any kind of repairs are done by males)

[Levo]

are better drivers

CLEARLY you do not know the Helen Keller joke

That doesn't sound funny, how can you laugh about the disabled ?

I don't pay attention to genders and ignore these differences (not in anatomical sense ofcourse), so I don't know, but certaint jobs are usualy performed by individuals of only one gender (e.g. teachers and nurses are female, profesional car drivers are males, also any kind of repairs are done by males)

I'm very surprised to see that newly, in Szeged, tram-drivers are mostly female.

[Meera]

Afghan women were treated extreamly bad in Afghanistan during the Taliban years but ironically before that women had careers and were educated. In my own family women are treated as equals.

[Lada]

I'm very surprised to see that newly, in Szeged, tram-drivers are mostly female.

yes, it's the same here, also trolley-buses drivers are women mostly, but I think that Sol Invictus ment truck drivers or taxi drivers...

As for Russian women, I think their time hasn't come yet, but it will come soon, we feel it already
In business first of all, secondly in politics, now we have 3 ministers who are women - and this is record for Russia.
More and more women learn and will to drive a car, about 15 years ago it was impossible to imagine that in driver's school majority of students would be women, but it's truth now.
Of course I mean women of big cities, situation in villages is quite traditional - men earn money and women take care of children while in cities many women don't agree even for a marriage, they need men only for "making babies" and I know such girls.

[svld]

In Taiwan, compulsory military service is for men only, not women.

[Levo]

Of course I mean women of big cities, situation in villages is quite traditional - men earn money and women take care of children

Really? I thought these times have been over for decades already in rural Russia too!

[mushroom]

In my country, women are in an equal situation with men. But something that I noticed, is that most university students are females (of course, there are "men-oriented careers" like engineering, where women are the minority, and other "female-oriented careers" like teaching, where men are the minority). I mean in careers like medicine, law, accountability, etc. For example, in my post grad course, only 10 of my classmates (we're 70) are men!

[Lada]

Of course I mean women of big cities, situation in villages is quite traditional - men earn money and women take care of children

Really? I thought these times have been over for decades already in rural Russia too!

of course women work there too, many go to work in neighbour towns/cities, sometimes women have to earn money coz men in villages drink too much.... you know I haven't made any research on that issue, I just tell my general impression on the situation, may be it is wrong, coz it's a way big difference between city where I use wi-fi in my apartment and between a village where you have to buy a satellite devices in order to watch at least major TV channels, in a city you can find a job, in a month, in 2 months, in 3, but you will find it for sure, in villages or small towns you can be jobless for YEARS except you are self-employed, so economy element is involved in this situation too.
But Russian society is more traditional anyway then say in Western Europe, even in the cities there are girls who dream about the role of house-wife....everything is too personal.

[Levo]

Of course I mean women of big cities, situation in villages is quite traditional - men earn money and women take care of children

Really? I thought these times have been over for decades already in rural Russia too!

of course women work there too, many go to work in neighbour towns/cities, sometimes women have to earn money coz men in villages drink too much.... you know I haven't made any research on that issue, I just tell my general impression on the situation, may be it is wrong, coz it's a way big difference between city where I use wi-fi in my apartment and between a village where you have to buy a satellite devices in order to watch at least major TV channels, in a city you can find a job, in a month, in 2 months, in 3, but you will find it for sure, in villages or small towns you can be jobless for YEARS except you are self-employed, so economy element is involved in this situation too.
But Russian society is more traditional anyway then say in Western Europe, even in the cities there are girls who dream about the role of house-wife....everything is too personal.

It's very interesting.
Hm, then this could have also been a reason why each Hungarian man learning in the Soviet Union came home with a wife and a zhiguli given by her father. (Note that almost all of these marriages ended with a divorce.)

[Lada]

It's very interesting.
Hm, then this could have also been a reason why each Hungarian man learning in the Soviet Union came home with a wife and a zhiguli given by her father. (Note that almost all of these marriages ended with a divorce.)

if a father had zhiguli, it means that the family was rich, so such girls married not because of money. It was a shick to marry a foreigner, Soviet girls lived in illusions that each foreigner is a prince on a white horse and just imagin what a privilege it was to live abroad while all the rest country was closed - Soviet people weren't allowed to leave the country. Why so many divorces - that's hard to say, different culture the best answer probably, though who knows Now I think things have changed - naive poor girls dream about Abramovich....

[Rasa]

In Lithuania women are almost equal to men except some facts. Women average earnings are lower, also the highest positions often belongs to men because they are usually not going on maternity vacation, although they are allowed to do that. We also have those stereotypes about driving.. Politic is dominated by men, however, we are having president elections on this Sunday and it seems that we’re going to have a lady as the head of the state for the first time. Keep in mind that in Lithuania the duty of the president is not only to smile and wave - president in Lithuania has some influence.

[densou]

I live where male chauvinism reigns.... I dare to say it's the worst place across entire Europe when it comes up to gender equality.

You must be born to fortune here or ....

[darkina]

Well, in Italy, as densou noted, things are not great, but I think the situation is quite p be peculiar and needs to be elaborated a bit more...

Of course, women have jobs and careers, mostly in the North obviously as there are more job opportunities in general and the mentality is more open-minded. I personally do not know any woman of my age who is a housewife, and my mum has always worked etc etc.

However, it appears to be true that women need to cling to their jobs, are less paid and don't get as high position as men. I heard it's not uncommon for a woman at job interview to be asked if she's in a steady relationship and planning to have children - not a good idea to have children unless you are sure you won't have problems at work when you go on maternity leave... Or so I've heard more than once.

A lot of our politicians are men, however as you might have heard, our beloved prime minister has tried to involve women in politics (of course there were some before too, but never as many as in other European countries for example, and never in extremely high positions), unfortunately choosing them also (if not only) by their looks (or possibly by some kind of non-political performances...that hasn't been proved but it wouldn't surprise me). Just this morning I was reading about how he is finally losing the support of Catholics because of his happy behaviour. (I'm not saying he can't have a private life but as he's governing a country he should make sure that remains private and has nothing to do with politics, but I'm digressing).
He often makes very offensive jokes about women and plays the role of the playboy at political meetings...

And of course here I am talking of only one man, but I am afraid it is representative. Italians somehow apparently

like him, and according to a friend of mine that is partly because he has the image of the Italian macho, latin lover, who measures his success in terms of his sexuality... I think there's some truth in it.

The current image of women in Italy, the one that is frequently on media, is therefore of a skinny pretty girl with heavy make-up who's only dream is to work in a tv show, like some of our beloved prime minister's young friends. Surely, as again a commentary on a newspaper I was reading this morning noted, Italian women are also succesful in sport, business, and such, but nevertheless the idea of a woman having to be primarily pretty and aspiring to be a showgirl is on our face all the time (I know Italian tv has often been criticised on international newspapers for the useless display of female bodies).

Socially, I personally have a feeling that, even in the most developed areas of Northern Italy, a woman's independence is still something suspicious. Certainly, at least where I'm from, it is not a real problem but a subtle Middle-Ages mentality remains. When I started travelling on my own, which I loved, I was criticised and it felt it had a lot to do on me being female (as well as the idea that a person in his/her 20s is still a child...). One reason why I sometimes have to defend my choice of living abroad is that I am there on my own, and my family would be happier if I were with a man. It seems like a woman's choices are not okay if taken on her own, but would be more legitimate if she was in a couple. I think it wouldn't be the same for a man. Maybe because of how family-oriented how society is, a woman seems to be thought to need to have a family around her, first her original one and then her partner. And I am making these assumptions on specific examples based on my personal experience, but I think they are an example of a widespread, underlying mentality that can take various forms, it is not really forbidding anyone to be free but nevertheless it's still there - you can do what you want but it's not straightforwardly accepted in society, and the mentality is changing very slowly and I believe it will never fully change.

This will sound as a silly example but I recently was with a group of people in their 20s, mostly couples. Some boy played a CD, it turned out to be Metallica, and the boys' comments were like "oooh great! Oh but now the girls will run away!". It is so silly but it made me feel like those people's mentality was so traditional, like it was a clear fact that girls wouldn't like metal music. Of course I suppose that those girls in particular weren't fans of that kind of music, but I happen not to mind it, sure I wasn't part of their usual group so they didn't care, but I felt that comment to be more universal than specific, like it was a simple reality. I also noted from some other talks of their traditional idea of holidays, with the boys playing football on the beach and the women sunbathing. Again, that might be the specific case but it felt like it was talked about in such general terms like it's the way to be, and male and female roles are just clearly clear-cut as they have always been and a woman is expected to act so and do so. Failing to conform to that rule wouldn't represent a problem, rather a mild surprise, but I feel that it is not contemplated until it happens, it's not part of the traditional role.

[densou]

This will sound as a silly example but I recently was with a group of people in their 20s, mostly couples. Some boy played a CD, it turned out to be Metallica, and the boys' comments were like "oooh great! Oh but now the girls will run away!".

Need any advice for allowing them to shut up forever ? I don't think they would like my stuff Already done it maaany times

It is so silly but it made me feel like those people's mentality was so traditional

Nah, childish

[mōdgethanc]

Women's rights are generally respected in Canada and they have easy access to birth control, abortion and day care (though it's expensive). There aren't as many women in politics as in other developed countries, nor in the highest levels of business, but this is changing.

In my country, women are in an equal situation with men. But something that I noticed, is that most university students are females (of course, there are "men-oriented careers" like engineering, where women are the minority, and other "female-oriented careers" like teaching, where men are the minority). I mean in careers like medicine, law, accountability, etc. For example, in my post grad course, only 10 of my classmates (we're 70) are men!

You mean accounting. Accounting = contabilidad, accountability = responsabilidad.

[johnklepac]

I've got a huge burden of a country with lots of UL members to carry here, so I'll be cautious.

Women's rights are a mixed bag here.

If you're willing to work for it, your gender won't really affect what career you can get or how high up the rungs you can climb - obviously, there are gender discrepancies in fields like engineering and education, but the statistics seem to show that these can mostly be blamed on factors within one's own head. Legally, both sexes have the same rights, barring things like abortion that only happen to affect one gender.

On the other hand, the U.S.'s culture fosters a certain amount of sexism against women, most visible in ads featuring scantily clad ones. Some allege that we have a "rape culture" - I disagree but I won't get into that here. And of course, there's the pay issue, though the causes of it are more complicated than just "I'm going to pay you less because you're not going to do as good a job as a man would."