When I was growing up I didn’t really understand the relevance of International Women’s Day. In my family, my brothers and I were encouraged to believe we could be anything we wanted to be. I didn’t see the structural inequities until later. Not so for my children, in the run up to IWD I was talking to my 9-year-old about the patriarchy, as you do. I told him the world was made for men, and he said “No it’s not”. I said “The Prime Minister is a man, the Premier is a man, most of the Premiers are men. We’ve had one woman PM – one. Most big bosses are men. Cars have been designed for me, air-conditioning has been designed for men. The world has been designed for men, and it is invisible – it’s called the patriarchy.” He said “That’s not fair.” And it isn’t – it isn’t fair. This year’s theme for International Women’s Day was Embracing Equity – equity meaning fairness and justice. We are still so far from equity, and the invisible cultural norms and societal structures still hold and...
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