The momentum seems to have carried through to other countries and cultures as well. Women are beginning to assert themselves. In some Muslim countries they are beginning to reassert themselves to where things were a before non-secular governemt came to be.

The problem of male domination is so ingrained in so many poorer nations – in Africa – for sure – that women just take their lot in life for granted. And their men (who may even love them dearly) continue on happily unaware of wrongdoing in their pursuit of male entitlement.

My problem with any group promoting itself as being “pro” anything, is that that the membership often becomes adversarial in nature. I really was turned off by some of the anti-male attitudes expressed by the Womens Rights Movement in the sixties and seventies. We need these guys – not to compete with but to continue on united in what we believe to be right or wrong.

I guess their attitude worked though. We have come a long way in Canada.
And you are right – we still have a long ways to go! love mom
P.S you know what I would like to see? An International Children’s Day. No other species allows their young people – even babies – to be treated in such horrific ways.

Maybe except for this subject, which might be more a matter of education and information than belief. I’m reading a book right now called ‘Half the Sky’ (which I recommend, you can get it through the library), written by a pair of journalists and very well researched and credible, exploring the current situation for women around the world.

And it’s extremely bad, still, it really is. More women are killed in gender-related violence than any other way… no disease, war, or accident can compete. And sex slavery, trafficking of girls into brothels is a way of life in many countries. That’s just a couple of things; I don’t have the book with me at the moment or I could come up with a lot of quite chilling statistics.

Leaving aside the issues that remain for women in the West (equal pay for equal work, which we are still a long way from, for example), International Women’s Day is about raising awareness of the plight of women in the developing world, which lags pretty far behind. That’s what I was getting at in this.

with love,

Jean

A phrase from (I think?) the Bible has sustained me over the years. The words: “EVERYTHING IS AS IT SHALL BE” would sometimes pop up from somewhere when I became overwhelmed by struggles and strifes.

My young neighbor insists she’s not religious but her intelligently expressed ideas and beliefs do not conflict with mine. A fellow on CBC Radio this morn. has a theory that belief in a higher power is implanted in our gene structure – It is biological, this learned fellow proclaims. He too insists he’s not religious.

My feeling regarding International Women’s Day has changed over the past 30 or 40 years – I think we’ve already “come a long way Baby,” as they used to say. Now I think we need to get past celebrating our victories and complaining about our inequalities. We’ve achieved our status (well, maybe not completely) Now I think we need to march arm and arm with our guys (and there are plenty that are on our side) to make this world a better place.

It’s my religion that makes me believe this to be possible, but I know agnostics and even a few atheists that believe it to be true as well.

Sorry for going on and on – hope it made sense. Much love Mom