I haven’t written anything here for a long time, and it’s hard to say what is the real prompt for me to break my silence today, but here goes.
When I was busy having various cancer adventures, I always felt better after I spewed out all my thoughts and worries onto the keyboard.
It’s funny how much easier it was to be open about my fears and concerns about cancer, than it is to talk about anything in the ordinary humdrumness of life. Besides, no one is particularly interested in the interpersonal and professional vagaries of a middle class middle-aged woman, so I have wisely spared you all the details.
Today, though, is an irritating day, and I have decided to rant about it publicly.
It is March 8th, a date which used to mean nothing to me, another than being in the middle of a rash of family birthdays and therefore a time of brain-wracking and Smyths Toys Superstores overspending. Then I became a “women’s rights” type person, and suddenly International Women’s Day seemed to be bigger news than Christmas. Maybe it was always this hyped, but I feel like it is just in the past 5 years or so that the pinkwashing around it has exploded. I love the premise behind it, and I like having “19th November” ready as the answer to the inevitable corollary question. I have attended some great events celebrating the day and met some fabulous people. My own little family has posed for pictures and pledged our support for the designated theme each year.
This year, however, I may have hit IWD-fatigue. There is no doubt that its collision with Mothers’ Day on Sunday, and the slapdash referendA today, have tipped me over the edge.
Let’s gets this referendum business out of the way first – is it referendumS or referendA???
These are the Cambridge University Press’s thoughts on it all:
The pluralization of referendum is a perpetual orthographic conundrum. Should we use referenda or referendums? Potentially, the plural in English of referendum could be either referendums or referenda. In practice, political science prefers referenda. We estimate that political scientists are three times as likely to use referenda than referendums. In the journals we examined, seven of 10 articles chose to use referenda over referendums. In the field of journalism, the pattern is much different with the standard practice in major media outlets being to use only referendums. Journalism, it seems, has arrived at a different answer to this conundrum than has political science.
Anyway, since the whole thing kicked off, I have had to keep turning off the radio every time I hear the word referendums, so that hasn’t helped my understanding of the precise constitutional changes being proposed. On the face of it, it seemed like a no-brainer; let’s remove the bit where Dev and McQuaid decided to squish their thumbs down hard on the head of those uppity women who thought they should be heard as well as seen. But instead of recognising that all labour has value, and that the labour associated with care has even more value and should be supported and remunerated, the wishy-washy brigade with their eyes on the big juicy prize of re-election have decided to say “well done ladies, you’re doing great work altogether” and pat our little heads, and say they’ll “strive” to do better. Sound.
By holding the vote on a Friday, and using primary schools as polling stations, they very literally took women out of work and back into the home for the day, to mind their children. Sure it’s fierce handy though, because it gives the mams a chance to catch up on all the washing and ironing too. Win-win.
And Mothers’ Day. What’s not to love. Take a look at any advertising over the next few days that purports to sell you “just what Mum wants”. Baileys. Flowers. Chocolates. Electric foot spas. Anti-ageing cream. Smelly candles. All pink. All so lovely.
I know it’s drab and I know it’s boring and I know I should shut up about it, but being able to earn the same amount of money as a bloke would be an absolutely super little present.
Oh and to not get murdered so much. Please.
Thanks!
