Free Women

I just finished reading Doris Lessing’s The Golden Notebook.  It is a wonderfully bold book charting, amongst other important events and cultural/social changes, the freedom of women.

Free to have careers, sex and their own opinions it is set during the evolutionary stage of female emancipation that we, women of today, can relate to even though the book is set from the 1930s onwards.  This was a groundbreaking novel when it was published in 1962 and I would say it still strikes a chord today. 

A Woman in Delhi

You couldn’t have escaped one of the most tragic and gut-wrenching stories to have come out of India over the New Year period.  A 23 year old med student was gang raped in Delhi on a moving bus, then beaten with an iron rod for 45 minutes, thrown semi-naked off the moving bus and it emerged today that the bus driver tried to run her over but she was saved by her boyfriend who was also violently beaten during the attack.

Reading about this tragic and awful story is hard enough but this story gives me shivers as I live in Delhi half of year and I’m going there this week

White Van Man

It’s true.

White Van drivers, usually men, are infuriating on the roads.

Laughing It Off

Justin Lee Collins has been caught laughing off his meager punishment for domestic violence.

Why Are Women Always To Blame?

Dear Diary

What is it about Asian society that will always blame the woman for everything that goes wrong and for nothing that goes right?

Gossiping among men is as potent as the stereotypes against women portray……. In fact it is even more dangerous because they are taken seriously.

Desert Island Race Row

Desert Island Discs programme on Radio 4 was at the centre of a huge race row as veteran Jewish comedian Jackie Mason implied that racism didn’t exist in today’s society.

He told host Kirsty Young: ‘I wouldn’t say the Jews or the blacks today are suffering from racism…I don’t think it’s such a terrible disadvantage to be black or Jewish today. But because they once were… they are still not comfortable enough with the new situation….They still can’t accept the fact that they are completely accepted everywhere… it’s all in their minds.’

Is it all in our minds???? Or has that is faced now changed?

Love, Marriage, Divorce

Falling out of love has replaced affairs as the main reason for divorce, according to a survey conducted by accountancy firm Grant Thornton. 27% of divorces relate to couples falling out of love compared to the 25% that are a result of an affair. Startling!

Some Are More Equal Than Others

Holier Than Thou and ageing rock star, Bono, will be targeted by groups during U2’s gig at Glastonbury who will throw light on Bono’s tax avoidance.  I hope they manage to make an impact as this guy’s double standards are quite lame and as he is a relentless self-publicist no doubt he will enjoy even the negative attention. 

Say No To Tampon Tax

I don’t mean to split hairs or even cotton fibres on this topic but I hope the Chancellor of the Exchequer will think of us when he sets the budget for the year ahead. I heard on the radio that he is indicating he will be kind to motorists and that’s very nice of him but he should do something bolder for women by abolishing the tampon tax.