tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10487991.post2578484657365495139..comments2023-04-18T05:29:21.623-07:00Comments on Laura, Queen of the Universe: Some Thoughts on FeminismLaurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02432041328889618278noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10487991.post-78056385847232529932007-01-30T06:51:00.000-08:002007-01-30T06:51:00.000-08:00Ok, so I won't even pretend to be as eloquent as L...Ok, so I won't even pretend to be as eloquent as Laura and Erin. But, I will try as best I can here to get my thoughts across. <br />I was just watching tv the other day, and they were talking about world leaders old and new. I was surprised to realize just how many other countries have had women leaders. Even Canada had a woman Prime Minister, however short a term it was. And I found this very sad, that I would be so surprised. Don't get me wrong, I am no huge fan of the American Boys Club Government, but I hadn't realized just how brainwashed I had become by the patriarchical society which has been rammed down our throats. I consider myself a feminist, and always have, even when it wasn't "politically correct" (Yuck, I hate that term!), but still sometimes, I seem to lapse into such dismally archaic thinking. <br />I had always wondered if and when a woman ran for president, if I would vote for her just because she was a woman. Fortunately, I do not have to worry about that now, because Hillary seems to be very well qualified and perfect for the job. But just the fact that I even had to wonder about it shows how American I am. <br />By the way, and I am sure Craig will appreciate this, Laura, Hillary is spelled with two L's, not one.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10487991.post-27302083269437079902007-01-28T14:04:00.000-08:002007-01-28T14:04:00.000-08:00Damn it the link didn't work. Screw it, here's th...Damn it the link didn't work. Screw it, here's the whole damn messy thing.<br /><br />http://www.weforum.org/pdf/Global_Competitiveness_Reports/Reports/gender_gap.pdf<br /><br />If it's too damn long, just cut and paste folks.Archaeogoddesshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09305683483488880519noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10487991.post-84615271749267294102007-01-28T14:01:00.000-08:002007-01-28T14:01:00.000-08:00It’s an interesting ol’ world all right. I never ...It’s an interesting ol’ world all right. I never really thought too much about my gender bending. My pension for men’s clothes aside. I guess I’ve always been lucky because my field is chock full of strong women who got things done. Take one of my heroes, Kathleen Kenyon. She was running an excavation in the Middle East back in the 50’s, the only woman on site, bossing men from a patriarchal society around and slamming back shots of whiskey. QEII knighted her for it. Well, probably not for the whiskey, but the rest of it. And then there is Gertrude Bell (1868-1926), the mother of Mesopotamian archaeology, who founded the Iraq Museum in Baghdad and was a spy in WWI. There are simply oodles of famous women archaeologists.<br /><br />But your post made me think for a minute about feminism and our patriarchal society. The rest of Europe thinks we are so backwards. And we are. The next prime minister of Denmark is probably going to be a woman. Well, if her party comes to power at any rate. And that fact isn’t even part of the campaign issue! It’s a non-issue, if you will. I have had long talks with Danes about American politics. Most of them want to know why the hell we haven’t had a woman in charge yet. They laugh at our so-called belief in equality, because it is so obviously not. And then I read the most fantastic article (which I wish I had kept, I can’t find it on-line) about the meaning of equality in America vs. Europe. Americans believe in equal opportunity, Europeans believe all people are equal. We don’t believe all people were created equal, even though we profess it in our Declaration of Independence (of course the signers said “men” and they meant white land-owning educated men, but we pretend that they meant all of us). We know that there are stupid people and lazy people and mean people and that these people are certainly not equal to smart, energetic and nice people. So our country has come up with the idea of equal opportunity so that the smart, energetic and nice people can take a hold of these opportunities and rise above the others. Well, that was the idea; the reality is that the greedy and ruthless usually rise because the nice people are often too busy volunteering at the local soup kitchen. But in Europe it’s not about equal opportunities, it’s about equality. Everyone gets the same education, health care, retirement, benefits, etc. The stupid, lazy, and mean are given these things in equal amounts to the smart, energetic, and nice people. Since the benefits are being shared equally, that goes for women as well as men. It is much better to be a woman in Europe than it is in America. For proof I send to you a link to the <a HREF=“www.weforum.org/pdf/Global_Competitiveness_Reports/Reports/gender_gap.pdf”> World Economic Forum Global Gender Gap Report.</a> It’s a pdf, so give it some time. <br /><br />I’d like to proudly point out that Denmark is #4 in the rankings for gender equality. The US… #17. And no, in Denmark, women are not part of the draft, never have been, and are not assigned to the front either. That women have to accept this condition in order to have equal rights is an old scare tactic that brought down the ERA. I, for one, have no problem adding women to the draft or allowing them to fight at the front, but that is because I am dead set against ANYONE getting drafted and ANYONE other than volunteers getting sent to war zones. But as the Nordic countries have shown, women in the military are not a prerequisite for equality.Archaeogoddesshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09305683483488880519noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10487991.post-82958627621623232492007-01-28T13:54:00.000-08:002007-01-28T13:54:00.000-08:00The link in the last post didn't work. I'm going ...The link in the last post didn't work. I'm going to try again.Archaeogoddesshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09305683483488880519noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10487991.post-54634950130755465762007-01-28T13:53:00.000-08:002007-01-28T13:53:00.000-08:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Archaeogoddesshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09305683483488880519noreply@blogger.com