In China’s Himalayan region is a tribe run by women, where all of the major rules and transactions are handled by women. Children are cared for communally and may not know their true fathers. They are raised in homes with grandmothers, aunts, uncles and cousins.
Jump to The Guardian’s article The kingdom of women: the society where a man is never the boss.
Hat tip to Leen De-Weerd Mosley for the fun share.
Sleep.Eat.Write responds on Medium to a women who doesn’t believe in women’s rights or the Women’s March entitled, “You Are Not Equal. I’m Sorry.” Here’s an excerpt:
You are not equal. Even if you feel like you are. You still make less than a man for doing the same work. You make less as a CEO, as an athlete, as an actress, as a doctor. You make less in government, in the tech industry, in healthcare.
You still don’t have full rights over your own body. Men are still debating over your uterus. Over your prenatal care. Over your choices.
Imagine being born a women into a traditionalist culture which assigns many sex-specific duties and obligations that determine what you can do and how you must act, becoming an athlete who broke sports and social boundaries with her stellar performances and then being banned from competing after reaching majority age because your body was deemed to possess too many male characteristics or hormones. This happened to India’s Dutee Chand when she turned 18 – but only after she was unwillingly subjected to a series of intrusive and humiliating physical checks.
A Mighty Girl reports on Facebook:
After spending years developing a simple machine to make inexpensive sanitary pads, Arunachalam Muruganantham has become the unlikely leader of a menstrual health revolution in rural India. Over eighteen years, Muruganantham’s machine has spread to more than 400 production sites that serve 1,300 villages in the poorest and least developed sections of India. Moreover, since most of his clients are NGOs and women’s self-help groups who produce and sell the pads directly in a “by the women, for the women, and to the women” model, the average machine also provides employment for ten women. His success, both at providing women with more hygienic options and creating local economic opportunities for women, is generating interest in his machine in many developing countries.
Londoner Nicola Thorp doesn’t want to wear high heels to work and apparently, a lot of other UK women don’t want to either. After Ms. Thorp’s new employer sent her home because she came to work in flat shoes, she started a petition, “asking the U.K. government to make it illegal for companies to require that women wear high heels to work.”
I got sent home from work for wearing flats. It's still legal for employers to require women to wear heels..pls sign https://t.co/2VxzAQhdoC
The UN shares these key facts about the practice:
The Guardian’s Jessica Elgot reports,
In Guinea, where 97% of girls aged 15 to 49 are FGM victims despite the practice being outlawed, Unicef staff described seeing girls taken away from their families against their will to be cut, on the orders of village authorities. One five-year-old died from her wounds.
Grown ups portrayed:
Amy Schumer: #iLookLikeAComedian
Hillary Clinton: #iLookLikeAPresident
Ruth Bader Ginsburg: #iLookLikeAJustice
Isis Anchalee: #iLookLikeAnEngineer
Beyoncé: #iLookLikeAnEntrepreneur
Nicki Minaj: #iLookLikeASuperstar
Jen Welter: #iLookLikeAnNFLCoach
Viola Davis: #iLookLikeAnEmmyWinner
Misty Copeland: #iLookLikeAPrincipalBallerina
Abby Wambach: #iLookLikeAWorldChampion
Life was not easy for Melody and Georgina. In their small towns and Georgina’s crowded, one room house there was little room for laughter, serenity, dreams. But music changed that for these young women. Melody says, “Necesitaba una palabra para decir que extrañaba algo que nunca había tenido.” (“I needed a word to express that I missed something that I had never known.”)
Filmmaker Marialy Rivas tells their story of escape from the drudgery of poverty through a 15 minute documentary. Be advised — you might want some tissues before it’s over!
Oil Change Procedure For Women:
• Drive into Ultra Tune when the odometer reaches 10,000 miles since the last oil change.
• Drink a cup of coffee , read free paper.
• 15 minutes later, pay bill leave with a properly maintained vehicle.
Money spent:
• Oil Change: $35.00
• Coffee: $2.00
• Total: $37.00
Oil Change Procedure For Men:
• Wait until Saturday, drive to auto parts store and buy a case of oil, filter, kitty litter, hand cleaner and a scented tree, write a check for $50.00.
• Stop by the Bottle Shop and buy a case of beer, write a check for $25. Drive home.
• Open a beer and drink it.
• Jack car up. Spend 30 minutes looking for jack stands.
• Find jack stands under old Buick.
• In frustration, open another beer and drink it.
• Place drain pan under engine.
• Look for 9/16 box end wrench.
• Give up and use crescent wrench.
• Unscrew drain plug.
• Drop drain plug in pan of hot oil: splash hot oil on you in process. • Curse and swear.
• Crawl out from under car to wipe hot oil off face and arms.
• Throw kitty litter on spilled oil.
• Have another beer while watching oil drain.
• Spend 30 minutes looking for oil filter wrench.
• Give up; crawl under car and hammer a screwdriver through oil filter and twist off.
• Crawl out from under car with dripping oil filter splashing oil everywhere from holes.
• Cleverly, hide old oil filter among trash in trash can to avoid environmental penalties.
• Install new oil filter making sure to apply a thin coat of oil to gasket surface.
• Dump first liter of fresh oil into engine.
• Remember drain plug from step 11. Hurry to find drain plug in drain pan.
• Drink beer.
• Discover that first liter of fresh oil is now on the floor. Throw kitty litter on oil spill.
• Get drain plug back in with only a minor spill. Drink beer.
• Crawl under car getting kitty litter into eyes. Wipe eyes with oily rag used to clean drain plug.
• Slip with stupid wrench tightening drain plug and bang knuckles on frame removing any excess skin between knuckles and frame.
• Begin swearing fit.
• Throw stupid wrench.
• More beer.
• Clean up hands and bandage as required to stop blood flow.
• Drink beer.
• Dump in five fresh litres of oil.
• Beer.
• Lower car from jack stands.
• Move car back to apply more kitty litter to fresh oil spilled during any missed steps.
• Beer.
• Test drive car.
• Get pulled over: arrested for driving under the influence.
• Car is impounded.
• Call loving wife, make bail.
• 12 hours later, get car from impound yard.
What is this trend, that even women refer to women as bitches? Stop doing this. Demand respect.
is generating quite a bit of discussion. Lady friend Marilyn admits that she uses this word, but in a popular language context (meaning, not with derogatory intent) and @Han Broekman points out that language mutates with time and across cultural lines. But a bunch of my Facebook friends say they’re glad I took a stand.
(BTW, if you’re interested in the Wonderwomn Poster, one of the twin sister artists talks about it here. And, they have an Etsy store where you can order a print.)
Bergen Community College Chapter of NAACP in Paramus is sponsoring a screening of Half the Sky today 4/29 at 11:45am-2:15pm in Room A-104 (in the Student Center atrium), followed by a panel discussion on empowering women as full citizens across the globe and ending targeting violence against women. Please feel welcome to join.
Renée from Half the Sky organization is coming out from their New York office to tell us about the movement that has been sparked by the book and film, and as one of the discussion panelists I (Kimi Wei) will share my own perspectives as a widow, single mom, domestic violence survivor, sustainability advocate and Happiness trainer.
