MY OPINION
WHY THIS DAY MATTERS
A BRUSH WITH COVID
Jane Stephens is ready to celebrate International Women’s Day, and she reminds us all why we should take notice too.
Ashley Robinson has wondered whether drinking Coopers beer was protecting him against catching COVID – but no such luck.
I
t is confession time: International Women’s Day used to be a mystery to me. I couldn’t see the point because my life has not been marked by inequity. My parents raised my brother and me to each know our capabilities and believe in our possibilities and I went to schools where learning choices were not tempered by gender. As an adult, I have had choices in life and career. I have worked in professions where parity of pay and conditions exist. But now I have been made aware not all are so privileged even in Australia, and that is why marking the day is important. Women in Australia might make up just over half the population, but full-time workers with ordinary earnings take home more than $250 less each week than men do. Part of this is because the so-called female-dominated industries such as aged and childcare, health and community services are historically undervalued and are not very well paid. Women also have far less in their super, making them more likely to spend their older years in poverty. We should remember we have only had a federal Sex Discrimination Act since 1984,
which has played an important role in changing attitudes about equality. I was also wrong in presuming the day itself was some creation of noisy newbies, learning that International Women’s Day has been marked every year since 1911. Its purpose is to celebrate women’s achievements and continue to push for parity. That ticks a lot of boxes for me. There is so much to celebrate. There is now no ASX200 company without a woman on its board and last year they comprised 41 per cent of appointments. Nine in 10 women and men believe men should be as involved in parenting as women and just need more employers to get on board and give dads greater flexibility at work. It is an international day, and precisely because we are in the Lucky Country, we must think of others who live elsewhere. Consider the women in Qatar who recently won the right to get a driver’s licence without a man’s permission. Or the women of Nigeria, where men are legally allowed to beat their wives ‘for the purpose of correcting’. Or those in Kyrgyzstan, where kidnapping a woman to make her your bride is said to be socially acceptable.
F
irstly, I want to start with a disclaimer: I am about to make light of a serious situation and mean no disrespect to people who have suffered pain and loss. I am talking about COVID, which I have written about many times. In my last column about it, I wondered whether Coopers Sparkling Ale may have stopped me from catching it. But alas, I was wrong. A couple of Tuesdays ago, I started with a persistent cough, then sneezing then runny nose, then Dr Google to check symptoms. I was urged by workmates to do a RAT test, which came up negative. That night, aching limbs and coughing. Another RAT test, also negative. The next morning, feeling like I had a bad hangover, I did another RAT test, which was also negative. By this time I was positive the RAT couldn’t find its way up my nose, so I went and got a PCR. The next morning I got the text that I was positive and would be enrolled in the virtual ward and phoned on a daily basis. To be honest, I got sick for about two days in total and on the the third day, which I slept for nearly half of, I woke up feeling
Jane Stephens is a USC journalism lecturer, media commentator and writer.
okay. No cough, no runny nose and no aching body, but still sleepy. Two weeks later, I still feel like having a lie down around lunchtime. The virtual ward and nurse were awesome and I have no complaints, but for the next four days I did get a look in the window of what my retirement might look like. I have to say, I really didn’t like what I saw. The fact that old mate has been in retirement for over a decade means one thing: get out of her way. Get out of the kitchen, laundry and anywhere else that may impede her daily routine. I did learn how to dust and clean shutters, kill cobwebs, clean skirting boards and clean ‘my’ shower. I had to manage all this as well as a death stare from George on why he wasn’t getting walked and why I spent most of my time hiding in the garage. So COVID one, Ashley nil. But as I looked into that retirement window, I knew I was adapting a saying from a mate of mined who is retired: “All I know is I am going somewhere on a daily basis and sometimes I don’t even know until I get to the corner. I just know I have somewhere to be?”
Ashley Robinson is the manager of Alex Surf Club and the chairman of the Sunshine Coast Falcons.
The opinions expressed are those of the authors. These are not the views of My Weekly Preview publishers.
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