This week we had a pretty big week on socio-logic with so many things happening…
The f-word conference
This conference was held in Sydney over the weekend of 10-11 April 2010 to discuss contemporary feminist issues - something we should all be interested in.
Over the years I have found that many of my students feel that feminism has become an dirty word: something that they cannot relate to or is relevant to them.
This is deeply problematic as many of the issues that have faced women remain in our society. Sure, we have a female deputy prime minister as well as a female CEO at Westpac Banking Corporation but there are some fundamental inequalities that remain that we must confront as well as new issues that have emerged.
For example, women are still the primary carers for children and elderly parents and do more housework. They tend to do this while balancing careers or simply casual/part-time work. We still have a small percentage of women in executive/senior positions and women earn about 60 percent of what men do in the same positions: these issues have been raised repeatedly by some impressive and successful women including Ann Summer, Eva Cox and Jane Caro.
There are also some new issues that need to be confronted. The rise of cosmetic surgery and the pressure on women to remain looking young is incredible.
Again, this does not dismiss the amazing achievements by many women or the changes in our society, but does return us to why feminism is so important: structural inequalities and discrimination remains in our society – and women often suffer from these.
It is for this reason that feminism is as relevant today as it has ever been.
Unfortunately the f.word conference blog has not been updated but please keep an eye out on some of the amazing things that are happening with this group and I am sure there are more to come: though this article appeard today in the SMH by Nina Funnell.
2. The decline of western civilisation?
The Sydney Morning Herald’s Phillip Coorey reported on a get together over the weekend of conservative thinkers including former Prime Minister John Howard and Arch Bishop Cardinal George Pell.
This is part of a broader trend of conservative thinkers who have been raising concerns about the ‘direction’ in which our society is heading.
I too hold some concerns – mostly to do with the fact that we seem to worship economic growth and progress ahead of everything. Authors such as Ronald Wright and Jarred Diamond have raised such issues: both authors I recommend you read.
This was not the focus of this group. Rather their concerns revolved around issues such as:
- - The collapse of Judeo-Christian values;
- The rise of secularism;
- The emergence of a strong green movement;
- Loss of the family unit; and
- The influence of Islam in our society.
These types of concerns are nothing new and have emerged throughout Europe and the USA. The issue of the direction of society is important but I found their concerns miss the mark. For example, why would a religious ethic be more important that a secular ethic? We should not dismiss one, nor the other.
Further, we are not been over run by other religions but are a multicultural society: and many young Muslims are adopting secular values as much as Christians are.
The family unit is important – but there is no reason that non-traditional family units including same sex couples are not just as important.
Rather than being concerned about these issues, these incredibly influential and bright men (and some women) should focus on tackling some fundamental structural issues in our society: poverty, inequality, environmental degradation, displacement of people, racism and so on.
If we could sort these issues out then we would live in a better world and no matter your religion, you cannot disagree with that.
Refugees
Over the last few months the Rudd Government has been under increasing pressure by the Abbott Opposition to respond to the number of refugee boast arriving in Australia. This resulted in a freeze in processing applications from those seeking refugee status from Sri Lanka and Afghanistan.
Australian migration has a long and problematic history based around the fear of invasion. I do not have the time to write about this now but it I worth check out Ben Eltham’s piece on this from New Matilda.
We are part of a global humanity and to take this position on the most vulnerable shames us as Australians. There are better ways to do things and we should expect more from the Rudd Government.
Screw light bulbs: real climate change solutions
Can we have a clean, green future? Yes we can! This is the message from a new nook by Dr Donna Green and Liz Minchin. Their book is being launched at Gleebooks this Thursday evening – come along if you can – as well as buy the book to see some of the solutions they offer.
That is all from me… remember to email me at askjames@fbiradio.com if you have any questions or leave a comment below.
Cheers, james
No comments:
Post a Comment