Woman's Hour

I sad now. Gave up knitting years ago. Well, managed a couple of jackets for DGS2. That was ten years ago.

I aint going on no knitting threads.

Bye bye. Sob! sniff!

TriciaF there was a Men's Hour on radio five, but I think t may have been cut due to lack of support. Use it or loose it!

I am definitely NOT a feminist. But I solidly support Equality. Equality of opportunity between sexes, ages, colour and physical abilities. Things have moved on.

As far as I'm concerned you can shout at Jenni Murray all you like apricot grin
I just don't turn her on in the first place (or read any of her articles)
annoying woman

I reckon I need to stick to knitting because I just posted the above on a Jeremy Corbyn thread

(has he been on Woman's Hour?)

I changed my mind, unlike JBC.

you forgot yer do-das.

cutted and pasted and they didn't work

When I qualified, x years ago. 20% of us were female. Now the intake to medical schools is over 50% female.
I think this shows women are succeeding in some fields

I am with you you Nellimoser.....WH is a great programme especially
when Jane Garvey is in the chair, she challenges the guests she does not
acquiesce by any stretch of the imagination! Women need a programme
such as this to inform and educate. It's a b....y hard and dangerous world out there and women are no where near on a equal footing with men, so balanced enlightenment from what ever source, is welcome in my book.

Come on Apricot - show your hand

I can't own up to being much of a fan of WH generally because I rarely turn the radio on but out of the blue I tuned in recently and just caught the end of a piece that has been life-changing. What I heard produced one of those lovely, rare light-bulb moments that mean so much to the individual. Of course it was information from a female perspective, hence the 'ah-ha!' so I think I owe WH a great big thank you. I haven't listened since, perhaps I ought to just to show my sisterly gratitude??

Hello Galen, must be telepathy, I was wondering how you are as I hadn't noticed any posts from you lately

The only time I would listen to WH would be in the car, I never concentrate on the radio in the daytime at home, it is just background noise if it's on at all.

It wasn't a wind up. I'm grateful to those who fought hard for women's rights but Women's Hour is still mostly in the 1950s, convinced that all women are down-trodden victims.
If a girl wants to go into engineering (or almost any other career) there's nothing to stop her. We don't need them to if they don't want to as there are lots of boys who find it interesting.
Isn't the pay gap largely due to so many women doing part-time jobs to fit in with childcare?
I don't want WH to be all about cookery and kids, just a better balance to include a wider audience. My heart sinks when they interview yet another female crane-driver, coal miner or safe-cracker. As long as anyone does their job well it doesn't matter a damn whether they are man or woman. Our gender is only sometimes crucial.

Sorry, apricot, I did wonder

Yes, women are out there doing those jobs but it doesn't mean that everyone wants to strive to do them (I have never met a female safe-cracker, but then I've never met a male one either )
I do know a young woman who drives an enormous dump truck in the mines - and very feminine she is too!

And there is quite a movement of young women who believe it is important not to work when they have young children.

apricot, your point about the pay gap being largely down to so many women working part time in order to care for children seems to have been made without any irony. As someone mentioned earlier on this thread, children have fathers as well as mothers. Despite a lot of progress social, father's generally being much more involved in child care and legislation supporting flexible working it continues to be assumed that women will do the bulk of the child care.
I am not criticising women who make the choice to work part time, or take a break from work when they have children.

I think it's down to biology. Women do the child-bearing. It's natural that they should be the main child-carers. Men should be the bread winners.

And I don't care if that's unfashionable. Or old fashioned. It's fact.

And I don't care if that's unfashionable. Or old fashioned. It's fact.
I agree.

Despite the fact that Nick Clegg fought for equal parental rights for men, it has not had a large uptake.
I wonder why?

Perhaps because many women would really prefer to be at home nurturing their babies than expressing their milk and rushing off to the office, hospital, factory. But it's frowned upon - Patricia Hewitt and her reports that 'Stay-at-Home Mums are a Problem'; now the baton has been taken up by David Cameron.

Well I certainly wouldn't want to be called up to fight in wars and kill the enemy. A few women would, and good luck to them.
The things that first me cautious about feminism were that at the time more male babies died at birth than females, so we're inherently stronger and can fight our own battles. Could be different now.
And men died at an earlier age than women, because of their hard stressful lives. I think this is changing too, as more women are joining the stressed-out workforce.

It's not just about childcare though is it? Is it ok for a young woman , dressed in jeans and sweatshirt to get hassled by men in the street ? Is it ok for the likes of Mary Beard to get mercilessly trolled on Twitter just cos she's a woman on tv? ( I could go on) There's just so many issues which need to be tackled.

Until someone finds a way to stop the mysoginistic, sadistic and sickening porn on the internet and other media we'll never be able to be seen as equals.

Young men are growing up believing women have no pubic hair and absolutely love violent sex - it seems to be a losing battle.

There may be more women in the workforce (of all types) but I believe that the numbers of those who are in 'top' positions and in receipt of the higher incomes are more generally men. Proportionately out of balance...so it is not equal.

Young women in school /college are less likely to take maths /physics or pursue it to degree level even when they get similar or better A level results than their male peers. Proportionately out of balance...so it is not equal.

More women take the lead in childcare even when they are in 'equal' jobs to the child's father. Proportionately out of balance...so it is not equal.

Many more women suffer from sexual harassment than men. Proportionately out of balance...so it is not equal.

The list goes on...this is why we still need feminism. If WH sometimes tackles these issues through personal stories then good!

Well said penstemmon

"There may be more women in the workforce (of all types) but I believe that the numbers of those who are in 'top' positions and in receipt of the higher incomes are more generally men. Proportionately out of balance...so it is not equal."

Perhaps because men are biologically programmed to be go-getters in the (bread-winning) workplace?

"Young women in school /college are less likely to take maths /physics or pursue it to degree level even when they get similar or better A level results than their male peers. Proportionately out of balance...so it is not equal."

Perhaps those subjects are not so attractive to girls because of (again) inbuilt biological differences.

"More women take the lead in childcare even when they are in 'equal' jobs to the child's father. Proportionately out of balance...so it is not equal."

Perhaps nature ensuring women fulfill their biological role?

"Many more women suffer from sexual harassment than men. Proportionately out of balance...so it is not equal."

Well, men have always been the ones on the lookout, and with the instincts, to sew their seed wherever they possibly can. Again down to biology.

Yes women are still steered towards some subjects in school and away from others. Talking to a young friend about A level choices. In a school that claims to priorities STEM subjects. She said that she was unlikely to choose IT or Engineering A levels as she had no idea what those subjects involved. She subsequently achieved 13A* grades plus an AS level (at 16 and 1 month) but 2 potentially lucrative career paths already off the agenda.
It is only because I jumped up and down that she is doing Chemistry as an A level subject. The head teacher was signing off on a very limiting selection of subjects.
It is my personal view that the worlds of engineering and software would benefit from a better gender balance.

And I'd like to add violence to your list Penstemon - there is some violence perpetrated by women on men - but a great deal more in the other direction.

Schools do not steer girls in a direction away from the subjects they are interested in doing. Not unless they are obviously incapable of fulfilling the requirements for that particular subject.

Many girls schools these days specialise in subjects like Engineering.

You don't have to do an 'A' level in Engineering to pursue a career in engineering - even doing a maths and physics degree can be the lead to a Masters in Engineering too.

TriciaF Men do die earlier than women but I don't think there has been any evidence to suggest that this is because their lives are more demanding than women's.

Research has shown that, even when women are working full time, they are much more likely to be responsible for the bulk of the domestic chores and for dealing with childcare/family issues. Men have been found to be much more reluctant to go to the doctors when they have troubling symptoms and are thus presenting for diagnosis and treatment when illnesses are at a more advanced stage. They are much less likely to have close friends in whom they can confide; consequently their stress levels tend to be higher. They are more likely than women to find retirement difficult and, after retirement, to lead more socially isolated and physically inactive lives. I feel at least some of these factors contribute to a slightly shorter lifespan for men than women.