No blogue O Diplomata é feito um link a um interessante artigo escrito no passado dia 6 de Abril por Polly Toynbee, publicado no Guardian Abroad, no qual ela reflecte sobre o papel da mulher na sociedade inglesa em particular, e no mundo em geral. O ponto de partida foram as reacções políticas à detenção da marinheira Faye Turney, mãe de uma criança pequena, quer no Irão quer na Inglaterra. Estas reacções, sobretudo as de comentadores ocidentais, levaram Toynbee a escrever sobre a luta pela emancipação das mulheres que está longe de poder ser declarada como terminada, já que ciclicamente voltam as questões sobre a perda de valores familiares relacionada com a saída das mães para o mercado de trabalho, que se julga ter como efeito levar à desagregação social. Argumento ao qual ela contrapõe: "Sweden and other Nordic countries, who have had good universal childcare for decades, don't do it on the cheap. The UK spends less than half what they spend: half their childcare staff have degrees. No research suggests the Nordics have been turning out generations of sociopaths: their children score at the top of wellbeing charts where the UK is at the bottom. Who would doubt that long hours in cheap nurseries are bad for children?
But watch how this research is used by the "send-mothers-home brigade" and the Tories who want to cut back costs on under-fives. It is a reminder of how precarious still is women's progress, always obliged to defend small gains, from abortion laws to the right to work: it's painfully easy to terrify mothers about their children. Meanwhile the CBI resists longer maternity leave, the right to flexible working hours for all parents or raising the minimum wage, which mostly helps women. The 17% gap in women's pay keeps mothers poor, their traditional but vital caring jobs valued less than men's work just because traditionally low-paid women do it. And how has it come about that unbearably destructive pressures on girls to be beautiful are worse, not better, than 20 years ago?
Leading Seaman Turney is no doubt typical of the 10% of women who make up the armed forces, and she probably thought old battles about gender discrimination long won. But she will get a shocking reminder to the contrary when she reads what has been said about her. It will be a reminder that the women's revolution is still less than half-won."
But watch how this research is used by the "send-mothers-home brigade" and the Tories who want to cut back costs on under-fives. It is a reminder of how precarious still is women's progress, always obliged to defend small gains, from abortion laws to the right to work: it's painfully easy to terrify mothers about their children. Meanwhile the CBI resists longer maternity leave, the right to flexible working hours for all parents or raising the minimum wage, which mostly helps women. The 17% gap in women's pay keeps mothers poor, their traditional but vital caring jobs valued less than men's work just because traditionally low-paid women do it. And how has it come about that unbearably destructive pressures on girls to be beautiful are worse, not better, than 20 years ago?
Leading Seaman Turney is no doubt typical of the 10% of women who make up the armed forces, and she probably thought old battles about gender discrimination long won. But she will get a shocking reminder to the contrary when she reads what has been said about her. It will be a reminder that the women's revolution is still less than half-won."
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