R wrote - For some reason I have never been a good lister (is that a word?). Maybe it's because I don't like being told what to do, even by myself. Now my husband, HE likes lists, especially grocery lists. He also likes to dictate while I dutifully take the dictation. It must be the boss, secretary relationship between men and women that he revels in and I rebel against. Another problem with lists is I lose them. They just seem to disappear. Never the less, I will start a list of COG words for you.
Clara says:- Thank you. There is, as usual, so much of what you write which triggers my jostling ideas, but the winner today has to be the relationship between men and women, since I have just read another article re Germaine Greer, from SMH 'Call to a New Generation' - Gabriella Coslovich.
I would like to state my position re the Women's Movement. I am not a women's libber or against men, nor do I believe either gender is better or more important, just different. However, we were young adults in 1970 when Greer's 'The Female Eunuch' was published, and we lived and were no doubt influenced within this climate of change for women.
Paraphrasing this article - Germaine wanted the book to provoke, polarise and galvanise, "...if it is not ridiculed or reviled, it will have failed it's intention", she wrote in the introduction. She incited a generation of women, US, to ponder the significance of their lives, challenging concepts of marriage (domestic servitude), the nuclear family, the obligation to breed, and the culture of sexual harassment. She encouraged women to study, to become doctors, pilots and even fashion designers, stating that being successful was not incompatible with 'femininity'. 'The Female Eunuch' was then and has remained symbolically important, giving a generation of women, US, the impetus for change.
Greer monopolised the limelight with her brash behaviour but it was left to other second wave 70's feminists, such as Eva Cox, leading spokeswoman for the Women's Electorial Lobby, and it's current chairwoman, to effect changes such as domestic violence and sexual assault laws, equal pay legislation, no-fault divorce, unpaid maternity leave, child support and anti-discrimination laws. Cox says,"...she had her role to play and she played it well. Greer galvanised, others organised."
I now see how different we were from previous generations of women, but did we realise how different our underlying idealism and expectations were? How much influence did the movement have on our expectations of our men, who were probably bewildered by the difference from their motherly example of domestic goddess / slave and their wives, US!
Cheers Clara
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< Welcome to my journey as I photograph something I create everyday for a year... RRT
What a Difference a Day Makes...March 9th
Necklace of copper and jasper with shard pendantWhat a difference a day makes, 24 little hours. I feel a song coming on. Necklace of copper and jasper with shard pendant.
Clara - Where has that sun gone? The background is wonderfully bleak and your piece very significant and bold in the foreground. What is shard?
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Dear C,
ReplyDeleteI never thought of myself as a liberated woman but more as a lucky woman. I set up my first little shop back in the 70's when most women were just starting to think about working outside the home. I always said it was more of a women's center than a shop. We gathered around tables and talked over looms about much more than spinning and weaving. Just recently a woman came into my store and purchased one of my knit shrugs. As the sale progressed we discovered that she was an old customer from the niddy noddy. She said "the niddy noddy ascended on Waukesha like shining light, only to disappear too soon." I thought about that alot. It did disappear as all the bright and creative women went back to school and out into the workplace. There was suddenly no time for the crafts that had brought US all together. I miss US.
Love
R
ps..a shard is a broked piece of pottery found in the ground. The piece in the photo came from
New Mexico near our little adobe house. Another time.