Does feminism mean the same now as it did in the 60's and 70's?

Oh stop being shocked, Iam64

How do you cope with life if you're so easily shocked?

29% of judges are women. Surely it should be more? The wonderful Lady Hale certainly thinks so.

Maybe you'd like to see more women in prison?

Only 5% at the moment

How can you explain that away?

And no I don't remember girls aspiring to be nurses and boys doctors.

Three of my classmates went on to be doctors. All girls school.

I didn't see oppression everywhere I looked

As someone involved in a childcare situation for a mother who has worked away through two children who are now school age I know how fragile and delicate the balance can be in anyone's domestic situation when children are involved. It only takes a small accident, illness or some other incident to upset everything. That said all employers have a responsibility to offer and arrange child friendly hours for their employees where young children are involved. The fact is that most don't let their employees know this.
Perhaps the next time the glass ceiling is brought up the chamber of trade could discuss how many of them have introduced this for men and women employees.

Ooopsminty, the head caretaker at my last UK school was a woman. Not a 'site manager' in a suit. Proper work clothes, getting stuff done. She was very proactive.

Also, I can GUARANTEE you, I was denied promotion at Lloyds because of my sex. The same bank that at my interview asked me if being a mum would interfere with my work OR if I intended to have any more children. This was in 1990.

Exactly, Galaxy. I have a VERY capable friend. Travels all over the UK in her work for a freight company (not a driver, a business manager), despite being a single parent AND having battled cancer three times. Only reason I know she's working away at the moment, is because she's posted photographs of her lovely hotel.

Women are becoming doctors but many choose not to progress once they are qualified. There are very few women surgeons and consultants. It is changing but very slowly.

I don't disbelieve you, GagaJo

And I too would have been furious.

I was just relating my experience in a bank. Maybe it was due to the fact we had a female bank manager

We all have our own back story.

It's so subtle the messages we receive. I listened to a radio news account a while back detailing a nurse who was a serial killer. My very first thought was how unusual it was to hear about a female serial killer. The broadcaster moved on to name the perpetrator. It was a man. But my first thought when I heard the word nurse was =female. I have spent the last ten years involved in feminism yet that was my first reaction.

My house backs on to a cemetery. Digging a grave is no longer back breaking work, as they have a mini digger. One of the grave diggers is female. Why wouldn't there be female grave diggers?

Galaxy

Grandad if you are struggling with this issue, dh works for a commercial firm, they have women at all levels of senior management, the roles require extensive travel, overnight stays, they also provide consultancy services so perhaps they could offer advise on how it's done. There would be a charge obviously

Galaxy we have no problems in regard to employees travelling and remaining away from home under normal circumstances.

However, due to the skills shortage in our profession, we would have been able to grow the company much larger over the years had the persons with the qualifications we required been available during those years, either men or women.

However, that is another debate. ?

It’s a massive question and women are still trying to find their true place in society.
It was perhaps clearer then.
I think I was primed to be a feminist when my all girls school trained me in flower arranging, dressmaking, and principles of accounts. Instead of maths to help your husbands business it was implied everything to be a useful middle class wife. Extraordinary, this was in Surrey in the turn of 50’s / 60s. The lure of this selective school by myself and friends was that it offered a pre-nursing course to one of the top five hospitals in London. What absolute tosh.
I realised when I was about 15 that nursing wasn’t what I wanted - I wanted to be in a white coat of some sort not a pretty cap and apron.
I got a job at the medical research council as a trainee technician. This involved me in studying for A level zoology at a technical college, as it was subject in which a lot of dissection was required not available for schools. And I was the only girl. And all the boys were going to be doctors and came from local grammar schools and private schools. They weren’t particularly bright, some were more swatty than me and I wish I had been a harder worker. But no one had ever said to me I could be a doctor. That got me thinking.

In the last decade, the road transport industry has been at times up to sixty thousand heavy goods vehicle (HGV) drivers short in Britain.

Despite heavy advertising and training far less than ten percent of HGV drivers in Britain are women at the present time?????????

There was a time Iam when all recognised midwives were men. It was when the link of cross contamination, due to the fact that doctors were dealing with numerous cases and not just delivering babies, that it was recognised midwifery should remain 'exclusive' and kept separate.

growstuff

My house backs on to a cemetery. Digging a grave is no longer back breaking work, as they have a mini digger. One of the grave diggers is female. Why wouldn't there be female grave diggers?

Of course there are female grave diggers, growstuff

I did say that there were women who will do all the jobs I listed, which were just random.

The fact that everyone is saying they know a female grave digger, road sweeper is proving my point though

grannygranby Thankfully, by the time I went to an all girls' school in 1966, training girls to be housewives had been abandoned. I didn't learn flower arranging, cooking or dressmaking. We were taught subjects to get us into university and have careers. In the early 1970s men still outnumbered women at the Oxbridge colleges by a wide ratio. It never occurred to me - ever - that I wouldn't work for my living.

growstuff

grannygranby Thankfully, by the time I went to an all girls' school in 1966, training girls to be housewives had been abandoned. I didn't learn flower arranging, cooking or dressmaking. We were taught subjects to get us into university and have careers. In the early 1970s men still outnumbered women at the Oxbridge colleges by a wide ratio. It never occurred to me - ever - that I wouldn't work for my living.

Sounds like my school

Oopsminty

growstuff

My house backs on to a cemetery. Digging a grave is no longer back breaking work, as they have a mini digger. One of the grave diggers is female. Why wouldn't there be female grave diggers?

Of course there are female grave diggers, growstuff

I did say that there were women who will do all the jobs I listed, which were just random.

The fact that everyone is saying they know a female grave digger, road sweeper is proving my point though

I don't actually know the grave diggers, but I've had plenty of time to observe them over the last few months. I don't really understand why they were on the list.

And yet grannygranby, a student at school, lovely, hardworking but very NON academic boy, was convinced that he was going to be a doctor. Father was a doctor, as was grandfather and it was going to continue down the family line. God help anyone he ended up treating. He'd have a lovely bedside manner but no ability.

growstuff

Oopsminty

growstuff

My house backs on to a cemetery. Digging a grave is no longer back breaking work, as they have a mini digger. One of the grave diggers is female. Why wouldn't there be female grave diggers?

Of course there are female grave diggers, growstuff

I did say that there were women who will do all the jobs I listed, which were just random.

The fact that everyone is saying they know a female grave digger, road sweeper is proving my point though

I don't actually know the grave diggers, but I've had plenty of time to observe them over the last few months. I don't really understand why they were on the list.

I don't really know either

I was just thinking of jobs that are usually done by men

Lol! OK!

Watching the mini diggers has become the highlight of my life. There are usually 2 or 3 burials a week (it's the town cemetery) and it's quite fascinating to watch how they're organised. The grave diggers also trim the hedges and drive around on sit-on mowers. It looks like quite a fun job (apart from in winter).

In my young days starting work I was in female only positions so no males to compare with. Later returning to work and having studied I worked in roles that had equality for females, conditions pay etc. I have been fortunate I know not to have experienced discrimination in the workplace. I did thought still instill in ny late daughter that she was equal to any male and this was somethings she thanked me for in the letter read at her funeral service.

Change was desperately needed - lots of posters have quoted experiences that seem almost unbelievable now, but I know they are true - I was on the receiving end often. Earning an equal salary, I was asked to wait while a shop assistant rang my husband to see if he would 'allow' me to sign an HP agreement for a washing machine. I was so enraged that I said I was intending to pay cash, although a credit agreement would have been a help to us newly weds! Sadly though I have seen a developing trend of real dislike for men, and what I feel are unreasonable attitudes. My husband was a senior manager responsible for staff, and on one occasion, under the impression that he might relieve some stress for a member of his team, he offered her an opportunity to think about which one of two new posts created in a reorganisation might fit better with her life. She was often late and wanted to leave early because of child care. She reported him to HR, and said male management shouldn't bring her home life into her working environment - in spite of the fact she complained loud and long every day about her difficulties. My husband had to agree to never mention her personal life again. This is the sort of situation where the balance has tipped too far - and in some instances I have felt rather sorry for the male.

My mum was 39 when she had me and I remember being really surprised when she asked why I didn’t have ‘housekeeping’! My dad never wanted her to work so she’d always had ‘housekeeping’ from the day she married. I explained I was married and as we both worked it was totally unnecessary and archaic. She still couldn’t get her head round it though, bless her

I have been watching the birds during lockdown growstuff but each to their own

growstuff

Lol! OK!

Watching the mini diggers has become the highlight of my life. There are usually 2 or 3 burials a week (it's the town cemetery) and it's quite fascinating to watch how they're organised. The grave diggers also trim the hedges and drive around on sit-on mowers. It looks like quite a fun job (apart from in winter).

Lots of fresh air and in one of my favourite places!

Always been a fan of graveyards and often go down to our local one for a wander

My first job in 1977 was in a bank. The boys who joined as school leavers were funded to do the banking exams but girls were told they could do them if they wanted but had to pay the fees themselves. If you were over 30, married with children, the youngest at least 5 years old, you could apply for funding; some were granted funding and some weren't. You had to plead your case. Think wages were equal within banding but, as a girl, I was always doing a job one band above my pay grade from about 6 months in.

I was lucky being one of two daughters and parents who felt that I should be encouraged to do what I wanted to do career wise. My mother was a little disappointed that I chose to go into nursing as she felt that was not quite 'nice'.

I joined the RAF in 1962 to do my training and was not aware of inequality in the workplace although, at that time, marriage was not forbidden for servicewomen, but definitely frowned upon. Pregnancy resulted in immediate dismissal. Women were not generally on the front line but, this was slightly different for nursing staff.

After having my daughter, I went back into nursing in 'Civvie Street'. Creche was subsidised as there was a shortage of trained staff. Whilst pay was equal for the sexes, during the 70s, 90% of all nursing staff were female but 90% of senior management were male.