European Tribune - Community, Politics & Progress.

Happy Women's Day!

by DoDo
Wed Mar 8th, 2006 at 08:53:59 AM EST

One of the dates men always forget...

Happy International Women's Day to

Fran our tireless breakfast maker,
Alexandra, our WikiLibrarian,
DeAnander, our best commenter (and frontpager-in-hiding),
poemless, our art specialist,
Izzy the peanut butter lover,
Agnes, our tawdry love story writer,
...and dozens of others I forgot to mention!

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Happy Women's Day! | 43 comments (43 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

Re: Happy Women's Day! (none / 1)

including those were we are not sure about the gender...

[waves at LondonYank who only recently came "out"] (-:

by PeWi on Wed Mar 8th, 2006 at 09:01:03 AM EST

Re: Happy Women's Day! (4.00 / 2)

Fitting news for the day: Swedish second-league (male) hockey team Malmö Redhawks hired 19-year-old Kim Martin, goalie for the Swedish women's national team in the just ended Winter Olympics! This weekend, she will be on the ice in a match against Bofors.

*Traitor*, n.
A benighted individual who perceives an illusory distinction between serving his nation and abetting the criminals who govern it.

by DoDo on Wed Mar 8th, 2006 at 09:07:12 AM EST

Re: Happy Women's Day! (4.00 / 3)

"I can assure you : man are finished ! When this mother of all wars is over, woman will have to rebuild society !"

The struggle of man against tyranny is the struggle of memory against forgetting.(Kundera)

by Elco B (elcob at scarlet dot be) on Wed Mar 8th, 2006 at 09:09:12 AM EST

Nice Roses, DoDo (4.00 / 2)

Woman seen by...

a lover
a pervert
a programmer
a psychologist
a religious authority
a kid
a physicist
a harvester (hard to translate, maybe an "exploiter")

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes

by Jerome a Paris (jeromeguillet@yahoo.fr) on Wed Mar 8th, 2006 at 09:13:23 AM EST

Re: Happy Women's Day! (none / 1)

Hey, thank you DoDo. BTW you remind me I am seriously lagging behind my release schedule.

For a change, a serious diary, the topic of which is, guess what ? International Women's day ! :-)

When through hell, just keep going. W. Churchill

by Agnes a Paris on Wed Mar 8th, 2006 at 10:13:46 AM EST

Re: cool : another opportunity for e-hugging (none / 1)

I also vote for DeAnander as the best female commenter, even if Izzy and poemless are very close, with different writing styles though.
Did not know she she was front-pager to be though.

When through hell, just keep going. W. Churchill

by Agnes a Paris on Wed Mar 8th, 2006 at 10:16:50 AM EST

Re: cool : another opportunity for e-hugging (none / 1)

Or just plain best commenter.

by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Wed Mar 8th, 2006 at 10:20:08 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: cool : another opportunity for e-hugging (none / 0)

Watch your back Colman... We have a prominent male commenter around, and they are not to be left ignored, otherwise we can expect strong retaliation. Remember what happens when we misspell his first name... <s>

When through hell, just keep going. W. Churchill

by Agnes a Paris on Wed Mar 8th, 2006 at 10:25:32 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: cool : another opportunity for e-hugging (none / 0)

I fully support DeAnander's nomination to best commenter, all categories (you can vote for her over at the Koufax Awards: http://wampum.wabanaki.net/vault/2006/02/002446.html, and for the "can" post here:http://wampum.wabanaki.net/vault/2006/01/002325.html)

Go here to vote in all other categories: http://wampum.wabanaki.net/

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes

by Jerome a Paris (jeromeguillet@yahoo.fr) on Wed Mar 8th, 2006 at 10:32:09 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: cool : another opportunity for e-hugging (none / 0)

ever seen a deer in the headlights?

nomination? me? yikes. there I was just dropping by to check on things, and got a bit of a shock.

anyway, I'm taking it as a subtle hint from Jerome (the UeberGnome) that I should be getting back to energy literacy, the topic I promised to write about back when ET was founded :-)

What I've been doing instead (among other things)

The difference between theory and practise in practise ...

by DeAnander (de_at_daclarke_dot_org) on Thu Mar 9th, 2006 at 04:42:52 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Happy Women's Day! (4.00 / 2)

In Italy, men have to give Mimosa flowers to all the women they know in this day... but in the UK it's really difficult to get hold of them :/ -- mimosa flowers, not women ;D

by toyg (g.lacava@gmail.com) on Wed Mar 8th, 2006 at 11:08:50 AM EST

Re: Happy Women's Day! (none / 1)

Happy Women's Day!

by Alex in Toulouse on Wed Mar 8th, 2006 at 11:20:05 AM EST

Re: Happy Women's Day! (none / 0)

The head needs to be a tad bigger in proportion to the body.

A vivid image of what should exist acts as a surrogate for reality. Pursuit of the image then prevents pursuit of the reality -- John K. Galbraith

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Mar 8th, 2006 at 11:21:18 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Happy Women's Day! (none / 0)

And the hands a few decades younger :)

by Alex in Toulouse on Wed Mar 8th, 2006 at 11:22:58 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Happy Women's Day! (none / 0)

That, too, but the pinhead is the most striking.

A vivid image of what should exist acts as a surrogate for reality. Pursuit of the image then prevents pursuit of the reality -- John K. Galbraith

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Mar 8th, 2006 at 11:23:53 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Happy Women's Day! (none / 0)

Is this better? (I'm new to The Gimp)

by Alex in Toulouse on Wed Mar 8th, 2006 at 11:31:59 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Happy Women's Day! (none / 0)

Hmmm, it just doesn't seem to fit. Maybe she's not fit to wear that costume.

by Alex in Toulouse on Wed Mar 8th, 2006 at 11:33:50 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Happy Women's Day! (4.00 / 2)

When locusts move on, they leave nothing behind

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Wed Mar 8th, 2006 at 12:09:23 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Happy Women's Day! (none / 0)

so that's what de anander look like!

i figured something similar...

Peace is not the absence of war -- peace is the absence of fear. Ursula Franklin

by melo (melometa4(at)gmail.com) on Thu Mar 9th, 2006 at 04:28:42 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Happy Women's Day! (4.00 / 6)

Thanks Dodo! Happy women's day to everyone at ET.

Now to add a few stats....

According to a press release from Eurostats on the occasion of Women's day (pdf)

Women in the EU25 live on average 6 years longer than men
55% of tertiary students in the EU25 are women
Almost a third of managers in the EU25 are women
Women work longer hours than men (see below)

Although patterns of time use are generally quite similar throughout Europe, some interesting differences can be observed between women and men and between the countries surveyed.

On average, women aged 20 to 74 spend much more time than men on domestic work, ranging from less than 50% more in Sweden to over 200% more in Italy and Spain (table 1). Women spend most time doing domestic work in Italy, Estonia, Slovenia, Hungary and Spain, around 5 hours or more per day. The lowest figures are found in Sweden, Norway, Finland and Latvia - less than 4 hours per day.

Men spend on average more time on gainful work/study than on domestic tasks whereas the opposite is true for women in most of the countries surveyed.

The total hours worked per day - i.e. gainful work/study and domestic work - is highest for women in Lithuania, Slovenia, Latvia, Estonia, Hungary, Italy and Spain (around 7½ hours or more). It is shorter for men than for women except in Sweden, Norway and the United Kingdom, where it is almost equal or only slightly shorter (table 2).
Source pdf.

Methodology note: "The average time spent on various activities is calculated for all persons aged 20 to 74, and across the whole year including working days and weekends, as well as holiday periods. This explains why, for example, the time spent on gainful work is significantly less than a normal working day. "

The press release doesn't mention women in politics but among national/federal Parliaments members women are between 48% in Sweden and 9% in Turkey and they make up 28% of the European parliament. (see below for all the country statistics).

Here is the proportion of women in the single/lower houses of the national/federal Parliaments and in the European Parliament
country Percentage_women Women_total Men_total
Austria 33 60 124
Belgium 35 53 98
Bulgaria 21 51 189
Cyprus 16 9 47
Czech Republic 16 31 169
Germany 31 191 426
Denmark 40 68 102
Estonia 19 19 82
Greece 13 40 260
Spain 36 126 224
Finland 38 76 124
France 15 75 427
Hungary 9 35 351
Ireland 13 22 144
Iceland 34 21 41
Italy 12 71 540
Liechtenstein 24 6 19
Lithuania 23 32 109
Luxembourg 20 12 47
Latvia 22 22 78
Malta 9 6 59
The Netherlands 39 58 92
Norway 35 44 82
Poland 21 95 366
Portugal 25 58 172
Romania 11 37 294
Sweden 49 170 179
Slovenia 13 12 78
Slovakia 17 26 124
Turkey 4 24 527
United Kingdom 20 127 519
EU Parliament 28 204 528
Source: European Commission, DG EMPL, Database on women and men in decision-making

There is also an earlier diary on that topic: Women active in European Politics by whataboutbob.
For more statistics go to the European Commission's website on women and men in decision-making.

So what's your time use structure and do you have any plans to join a European parliament?

by Alexandra in WMass (alexandra_wmass[a|t]yahoo[d|o|t]fr) on Wed Mar 8th, 2006 at 11:30:09 AM EST

Re: Happy Women's Day! (4.00 / 3)

Thanks for all this, Alexandra. The table on time use is fascinating. Not only because of the gender differences, but the light it sheds on time use overall.

Presumably people replied to this survey by giving the time they estimated they spent on the different categories of activity. I'm surprised to see that, men and women combined, there's less difference between time spent in gainful employment in the UK and in France than one would have expected, given the apparent consensus that the British work long hours and the French don't do much at all.

On free time: the French do spend considerably more time on meals and personal care than the British, but if you totalize meals/personal care with free time, the numbers are quite similar:

French women......7h10mn
British women.....7h20mn
French men........7h47mn
British men.......7h36mn

Apologies to other nationalities, but those were the ones I looked at first!

When locusts move on, they leave nothing behind

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Wed Mar 8th, 2006 at 12:39:43 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Happy Women's Day! (4.00 / 3)

<snark> It's a scandal that French women sleep longer than French men.</snark>

by Alex in Toulouse on Wed Mar 8th, 2006 at 12:49:38 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Happy Women's Day! (4.00 / 5)

I wonder if this is because they fall asleep during..?

When locusts move on, they leave nothing behind

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Wed Mar 8th, 2006 at 01:05:30 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Happy Women's Day! (none / 0)

hehe afew there isn't anything that you can't twist into a funny comment

About sleeping times, have you noticed how French men and women both sleep longer than all their European peers?

by Alex in Toulouse on Wed Mar 8th, 2006 at 01:20:56 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Happy Women's Day! (none / 0)

Look at the small print - it looks like a methodology issue.

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes

by Jerome a Paris (jeromeguillet@yahoo.fr) on Wed Mar 8th, 2006 at 01:23:20 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Happy Women's Day! (none / 0)

Just saw it a minute after writing my comment, I wonder why they did this too.

by Alex in Toulouse on Wed Mar 8th, 2006 at 01:24:13 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Happy Women's Day! (none / 1)

True, but also the time declared spent on gainful employment/study is almost identical for French and British women, and only 15mn a day greater for British men than French. I know this is an average over ages 20-74, but retirement age is later in the UK, the employment rate is higher, and the working week is longer... It's all the same surprising.

When locusts move on, they leave nothing behind

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Wed Mar 8th, 2006 at 01:57:12 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Happy Women's Day! (none / 0)

Ah, they actually explain that as a footnote in the table (they say that long periods of rest were counted as sleep in France but as free time in other countries). Ok. God knows why, by the way.

by Alex in Toulouse on Wed Mar 8th, 2006 at 01:23:38 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Art specialist? (4.00 / 3)

Don't know about that...

I'm going to be a spoil sport and say that I think this whole Women's Day business is downright silly.

1/2 of the human population and we get one day of recognition out of 365? Ridiculous...

Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. -Voltaire

by p------- on Wed Mar 8th, 2006 at 12:01:45 PM EST

Re: Art specialist? (none / 1)

No your wrong, we get 2 days, you forgot mother's day.

But DoDo thank you for the flowers anyway, the gesture is much appreciated.

by Fran (fran at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Mar 8th, 2006 at 12:05:11 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Art specialist? (4.00 / 3)

Not all of us are mothers.

Oh, yes, didn't mean to undermine DoDo's or anyone else's gestures & comments. Sorry...

Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. -Voltaire

by p------- on Wed Mar 8th, 2006 at 12:09:23 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Art specialist? (none / 1)

Forgot to add that my above comment was a snark.

by Fran (fran at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Mar 8th, 2006 at 12:13:20 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Art specialist? (none / 0)

"International days" have become the Calendar of Saints of the UN.

A vivid image of what should exist acts as a surrogate for reality. Pursuit of the image then prevents pursuit of the reality -- John K. Galbraith

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Mar 8th, 2006 at 12:19:53 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Art specialist? (none / 1)

I agree with you -- quite seriously, poemless. Women's Day is a gadget.

Let's say today is the day we forget about women and the 364 others, we take care not to.

So today is Not Women's Day.

(er...?)

When locusts move on, they leave nothing behind

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Wed Mar 8th, 2006 at 12:22:18 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Art specialist? (4.00 / 2)

I'm opting for caring everyday...

Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. -Voltaire

by p------- on Wed Mar 8th, 2006 at 12:33:42 PM EST
[ Parent ]

OK, you win... n/t (none / 1)

When locusts move on, they leave nothing behind

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Wed Mar 8th, 2006 at 12:51:31 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: OK, you win... n/t (none / 1)

I do?

If I won, there would be no need for any International Women's Day! ;)

Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. -Voltaire

by p------- on Wed Mar 8th, 2006 at 01:04:43 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: OK, you win... n/t (none / 1)

Heh!

Unfortunately, I was only speaking for myself...

When locusts move on, they leave nothing behind

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Wed Mar 8th, 2006 at 01:58:29 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: OK, you win... n/t (none / 0)

So you acknowledge there is a need for an International Women's Day after all?

A vivid image of what should exist acts as a surrogate for reality. Pursuit of the image then prevents pursuit of the reality -- John K. Galbraith

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Mar 8th, 2006 at 04:53:12 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: OK, you win... n/t (none / 0)

Is this about the Nivea??? Hahaha.

Ok, I acknowledge there is a need for an International Women's Day. It shoud just be everyday.

Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. -Voltaire

by p------- on Wed Mar 8th, 2006 at 05:18:25 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: OK, you win... n/t (none / 1)

Representatives of the International League of Hermaphrodites just stormed out of the room.

by Alex in Toulouse on Wed Mar 8th, 2006 at 05:22:48 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Art specialist? (4.00 / 3)

I'm actually inclined to view it like you, but

the women around me do appreciate women's day (bouquets) (and don't appreciate men forgetting it), so I am conditioned...
here on ET yesterday, it seemed the women won't get the recognition from the other men even on that day...
I'm personally undertalented at expressing recognition, but the Women's Day traditions make it easier (or so I thought)...

Anyway, to reduce the ratio at least to 2:364, Happy Second Women's Day :-)

And a poem hopefully not inappropiate:

Freedom, Love!

Freedom, love,
This two I crave.
For my love, I sacrifice
My life,
For Freedom, I sacrifice
My love.

(Sándor Petőfi, 1 January 1847)

*Traitor*, n.
A benighted individual who perceives an illusory distinction between serving his nation and abetting the criminals who govern it.

by DoDo on Thu Mar 9th, 2006 at 08:41:16 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Happy Women's Day! (none / 0)

Beautiful flowers

-- Fighting my own apathy..

by Naneva (mnaneva at gmail dot com) on Thu Mar 9th, 2006 at 03:00:33 AM EST

Happy Women's Day! | 43 comments (43 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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