Benazir Bhutto

I wonder why more women don't go into politics.

Could it be that we worry about creating orphans?
What sort of message does the assassination of Benazir Bhutto say to all the women and girls around the world who wish to get into politics? Specifically what does it say to the women of Pakistan?

I worry about the gender inequality in the world. I worry about such widespread hatred - and why we are so tolerant of this behaviour.

I understand that Benazir was not only assassinated because she was a women (although that was a trait which marked her for death from the beginning with the Taliban). But it played a role and the loss of Benazir is a loss to the whole world - women especially.

Women are under represented in every area of government and management. I am sad to say that this is also true of my profession. I am a social worker (front line) and in my small office the team leaders are 50 - 50 gender split (despite the fact that women make up 80% + of the workforce). Our administration staff is 100% female. I am forced to ask the question why? During my BSW we were educated about social change and how to affect change in our communities. So why can we not shake the trees and promote more women into positions of power? The majority of our adult clients are female. The majority of our support agencies are staffed by women.

I do not believe that this is due to male intellectual superiority - please. I know that some Harvard professors are debating the differences between the level of IQ in men and women. If IQ testing had been invented by a woman she would have built in multi tasking components which included creating shopping lists, balancing cheque books and figuring out if 1=8 then 2=X. That would be a true test of capacity and IQ. In short I believe that men and women have different strengths intellectually - but this does not place one above the other.

If anythings these differences should reinforce the need to have both men and women equally represented in world government and all levels of business and public service.

So farewell Benazir, you will be mourned by your fellow Pakistanis and women around the world.
I hope that this cowardly act will invigorate women and motivate them to vote in the coming elections in Pakistan.

I also hope that it will light a fire under every mother, daughter, wife, best friend and sister to get out there and get involved. I believe that we can change the world. Vote as is your right and your duty in democracy.

GO HILARY GO!!!

Too Posh To Push

My husband said this to me last night. I have had two c sections and will be having another in May 2008.

This is the same man that stood by and watched me deal with coupling contractions so serious that I was unable to catch my breath during our first child birth experience. I could barely eeck out the words 'epidural' before the next contraction hit my body like a prize fighter. I was crying and had never experienced so much pain in my life. After 16 hours of labour, our son (whose head refused to engage in the birth canal) was born via c section. He was a 7 pound baby and my doctor determined that I had a tilted pelvis and this was what caused the lack of movement despite the 2 hours of pushing and a scary amount of petocin.

Due to the reason for requiring a c section for number 1, I did some research and determined that there was far too much risk to attempt a v-back with my second pregnancy (only 19 months apart). This was confirmed for me when my water broke at 33 weeks and we knew that we would having a baby who would require immediate medical care and special care nursery services. I opted to go ahead with my 'planned' c -section. This c section was very painful (due to babe prematurity it meant that the abdominal wall did not thin and there was more muscle & tissue involved in the operation. I also contracted an infection which was gross.

So in May when I will be having our third and last baby, I will be having a third c section. There isn't much choice for the 3rd time around as the risks for placenta abruption is significant and this is not a risk I choose to place my baby in. I have researched the risks to me and to my baby and I have determined that I am too smart to push.

I have not made my decisions without significant refection. I know how this story can and will end. I know that there will be some women who will always think that they are superior because they gave birth through their vaginas. I don't hold it against them - but until you have walked a mile in my shoes you can keep your mother earth crap to yourself. But I will save my rant for those people for another day.

Back to the real reason why I am blogging about this today...

To give some context to my husband's comment - this is the man that is too scared to have a blood test done to confirm that he has gout.

I can only hope that he gets kidney stones as we age and I am afforded the opportunity to lean over and say - "what honey? Too posh to push?"