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Raising Girls vs Raising Boys
The comparison between raising girls vs raising boys is one that I have been making these past years. My children have conformed pretty well to the ‘gender stereotyping’ by being sensitive, artistic and the peacemaker (my daughter) vs rowdy, maths and science fan and dominant (my son). A friend recommended the book by Steve Biddulph, “Raising Boys” a few years ago. I glanced through it, but really didn’t get on well with it. I can’t remember much about it, or why I put it down, but was interested to hear that Steve has followed up with a book about girls, called (predictively) Raising Girls. On Radio 2 this morning,…
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Sponsors Of Mums
It is not often that a multinational company so misjudges their advertising audience as Proctor and Gamble has with their “Sponsors of Mums” campaign. Maybe it is just me, but their ad makes me want to throw things at the TV. The dog goes into hiding when she hears the advert start as she knows that I will be shouting before long. If you haven’t seen it, it is part of P&G’s Olympic advertising campaign. Info here We are informed: “For 80 years in the UK and more than 170 years around the world, Mums have been our boss at P&G. They’ve driven our product innovation and they’ve led…
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Becoming a Feminist
As part of the theme #feministfriday, the blogger Translantic Blonde asked this week, “What moment triggered you to say, ‘I am a feminist'”. To be honest, I am not really sure. I guess I have always been a feminist, but had never considered myself one. A feminist – one of those hairy-legged, dungaree-wearing, elderflower-wine-drinking, hemp-clothed women? That wasn’t me. Sure, I went through a gentle rebellious protest stage in my teens, but I didn’t go on protest marches, I had no strong opinion on feminist topics or politics (although I was always interested in politics in general). When I moved to Germany, “Feminism” was not something that I was interested…
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Life as a Feminist Trailing Spouse
The term “Trailing Spouse” may not be one that you are familiar with, unless you are a fellow expat wife. It is used to refer to the partners of those who move abroad for work. In most cases, we are women, although there are some men out there. I first heard of the term when we were planning our move to Geneva. An email from a colleague of my husband referred to his Trailing Spouse; you can imagine my reaction. When I told a friend about this, she asked if I were planning to wear Laura Ashley dresses and waft about, chiffon scarves floating in my wake. Or perhaps become…
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Being a Stay At Home Mum – My Choice
I discovered this blog today through Twitter. Retro Woman Revolution, which I hope she will not mind me linking to as it is seems a good starting point. To be honest, I am a bit confused by the post – being a working mum means I would be a cold, emotionless shark but being a Stay at Home Mum turns me into a vacuous, easy manipulated zombie. Is there a third option? For our family, several factors contributed to the decision that we made. I am at present a Stay at Home Mum (SAHM) but that may well change in the future. Having time to spend with my children is…
