Placeholder Content Image

Is Paris 2024 really achieving its goals for gender equality?

<div class="theconversation-article-body"><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/rachael-jefferson-297850">Rachael Jefferson</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/charles-sturt-university-849">Charles Sturt University</a></em></p> <p>The <a href="https://olympics.com/en/paris-2024">Paris Olympics</a> has proudly proclaimed to be the first games in 128 years to offer gender equality.</p> <p>This has been achieved by the <a href="https://olympics.com/ioc/news/genderequalolympics-paris-2024-making-history-on-the-field-of-play">International Olympic Committee (IOC)</a> providing an equal number of quota places for female and male athletes, while also increasing the number of women in coaching, broadcasting and sport governance roles.</p> <p>However, gender equality in sport is not just about the numbers – it involves dismantling systemic patriarchy piece by piece.</p> <figure><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uaCIpFiN6us?wmode=transparent&amp;start=0" width="440" height="260" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe><figcaption><span class="caption">The Paris games will feature the highest proportion of women in the history of the Olympics.</span></figcaption></figure> <h2>Female athlete participation</h2> <p>The ratio of female-to-male athlete parity is significant in the Paris Olympics, given <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jul/28/the-guardian-view-on-women-and-the-olympics-the-athletes-caught-up-now-the-ioc-must">women were banned from the first games in 1896</a> and only permitted to compete in small numbers in “female-appropriate” events four years later.</p> <p>There was a steady increase in female participation as the games became more popular through the 20th century. However, it was not until 1979 that the right of women to participate in sport was formally included in the first international convention (United Nations) on <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/ProfessionalInterest/cedaw.pdf">the elimination of all forms of discrimination</a> against women.</p> <p>It took another 33 years for women to be allowed to <a href="https://library.olympics.com/default/zoom-femme-et-sport.aspx?_lg=en-GB">compete in all events</a> on the Olympic program in 2012.</p> <p>At the Paris Olympics, <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/1090616/olympics-share-athletes-by-gender-since-1896/">50% of competing athletes are women</a>, and the Australian team has its <a href="https://www.health.gov.au/ministers/the-hon-anika-wells-mp/media/australia-supports-unesco-push-for-gender-equality-in-sport?language=en">highest ever proportion of women (55%)</a>.</p> <h2>Women’s visibility</h2> <p>The IOC has been working hard at shaking off its patriarchal reputation for the past three decades or so.</p> <p>Two major milestones were the establishment of the <a href="https://olympics.com/ioc/gender-equality/gender-equality-through-time">Women and Sport Working Group</a> in 1995, and the <a href="https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2019/635560/EPRS_BRI(2019)635560_EN.pdf">amending of the Olympic Charter</a> a year later to include advancing women in sport as an Olympic principle.</p> <p>Despite this progress, women’s Olympic events have often been <a href="https://revista-apunts.com/en/media-representation-of-women-athletes-at-the-olympic-games-a-systematic-review/">sidelined by the media</a>, enabling male athletes to enjoy greater publicity (and associated sponsorship) than their female counterparts.</p> <p>The long-established scheduling of events <a href="https://www.jou.ufl.edu/insights/gender-based-sports-coverage-a-quarter-century-of-prime-time-summer-olympics/">offers male athletes peak viewing times</a> across the globe, thereby consigning many women to the margins.</p> <p>In Paris, this <a href="https://olympics.com/ioc/news/genderequalolympics-paris-2024-making-history-on-the-field-of-play">gender discrimination</a> has been disrupted to better the balance.</p> <p>Combat and strength sports are now based on weight categories, permitting the women’s and men’s events to alternate instead of having men’s events available in the popular evening slot.</p> <p>The women’s marathon – only introduced to the Olympics in 1984 – will <a href="https://worldathletics.org/news/news/key-information-athletics-paris-2024-olympic-games">also conclude the athletics program</a> instead of the men’s for the first time.</p> <h2>Media representation</h2> <p>Amplifying women’s voices and stories from the games has been a key objective for the Paris Olympics.</p> <p>The IOC has been instrumental in this endeavour via its <a href="https://olympics.com/ioc/gender-equality/portrayal-guidelines">2024 Portrayal Guidelines:</a> gender-equal, fair and inclusive representation in sport.</p> <p>These guidelines have led to a large increase in the number of female staff in broadcast roles and production teams in Paris.</p> <p>And <a href="https://olympics.com/ioc/news/olympic-broadcasting-more-women-in-key-broadcast-roles-at-paris-2024">female-targeted training camps</a> in 2023 provided by the Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) have been a timely institutional transformation.</p> <p>Improved media representation of female athletes is also a priority, focusing on how they are visually captured and presented in all forms of media and communication.</p> <p>This helps to reframe persistent patriarchal narratives about how sportswomen must <a href="https://theconversation.com/uniform-discontent-how-women-athletes-are-taking-control-of-their-sporting-outfits-164946">maintain their femininity</a> to be worthy recipients of the <a href="https://vc.bridgew.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1269&amp;context=grad_rev">male gaze</a>.</p> <p>Regrettably, this is still a work in progress for some commentators such as <a href="https://www.skynews.com.au/business/media/you-know-what-women-are-like-eurosport-commentator-bob-ballard-sacked-for-sexist-remark-after-australias-freestyle-relay-win/news-story/739bc7a0efaf9d7007250ab0c4313f15">Bob Bollard, whose recent sexist “makeup” remark</a> went viral when he was reporting on the gold medal win for the Australian women’s 4x100m freestyle relay team.</p> <p>After the Bollard incident, Yiannis Exarchos, the <a href="https://www.scmp.com/yp/discover/news/sports/article/3272286/paris-olympics-camera-operators-told-avoid-filming-women-sexist-way">OBS chief, swiftly reminded</a> mostly male camera operators to refrain from any sexist filming of female athletes. He said the problem was mainly down to “unconscious bias”, with camera operators and TV editors tending to show more close-up shots of women than men.</p> <h2>Leadership and infrastructure</h2> <p>Female under-representation in the IOC is well documented.</p> <p>There were <a href="https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2019/635560/EPRS_BRI(2019)635560_EN.pdf">no women in the IOC from 1896 to 1981</a> before Flor Isava Fonseca (Venezuela) and Pirjo Häggman (Finland) were co-opted as the <a href="https://stillmed.olympics.com/media/Documents/Olympic-Movement/Factsheets/Women-in-the-Olympic-Movement.pdf">first two female IOC members in 1981</a>.</p> <p>In the IOC’s most recent election in July, the number of <a href="https://olympics.com/ioc/news/ioc-session-in-paris-elects-two-new-vice-presidents-and-eight-ioc-members">female members rose to 42.3%</a> – more than a 100% increase in the past decade.</p> <p>Following a long overdue <a href="https://unwomen.org.au/paris-2024-olympics-a-new-era-for-women-in-sport/">IOC rule change in 2020</a>, the traditional male flag bearer in the Olympics Opening Ceremony was accompanied by a female.</p> <p>Gender issues arise with elite sport coaches too – <a href="https://olympics.com/ioc/female-coaches">only 13% of coaches</a> at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics were women.</p> <p>In Paris, it is estimated <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/olympics/2024/07/27/female-coaches-misogyny-olympics-paris-2024-equality-wish/#:%7E:text=At%20the%20Tokyo%20Olympics%20in,10%20coaches%20will%20be%20female.">one in ten coaches are female</a>.</p> <p>Outrage about <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Culture/nikes-olympic-track-womens-uniforms-criticized-athletes-sexism/story?id=109267006">sexist Nike uniforms</a> and the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-olympics-and-fifa-are-trying-to-better-support-mum-aletes-what-are-australian-sports-doing-233218">lack of facilities for “mum-aletes”</a> until the 2024 games both highlight the incessant institutional hurdles elite sportswomen encounter.</p> <h2>A new era for female athletes</h2> <p>The Paris games are a springboard for much needed systemic change in the minutiae of Olympic policies and practices.</p> <p>Female athletes are no longer victims of vast patriarchal conspiracies to lock them out of this male-dominated arena. They’ve gained ground and are kicking sexism to the touchline with relish.</p> <p>We all need to welcome in this new era.<!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/235665/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p> <p><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/rachael-jefferson-297850"><em>Rachael Jefferson</em></a><em>, Lecturer in Human Movement Studies (Health and PE) and Creative Arts, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/charles-sturt-university-849">Charles Sturt University</a></em></p> <p><em>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/is-paris-2024-really-achieving-its-goals-for-gender-equality-235665">original article</a>.</em></p> </div>

Caring

Placeholder Content Image

Don’t give mum chocolates for Mother’s Day. Take on more housework, share the mental load and advocate for equality instead

<div class="theconversation-article-body"><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/leah-ruppanner-106371">Leah Ruppanner</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/the-university-of-melbourne-722">The University of Melbourne</a></em></p> <p>With Mother’s Day right around the corner, many grateful and loving families are thinking about what to give mum to show their appreciation.</p> <p>Should you give her chocolate? Nope. Fancy soaps? Nope. Fuzzy slippers, pyjamas, scented candles? No, no and no.</p> <p>On this Mother’s Day, keep your cash and give your wonderful mother gifts that will actually have a long-term impact on her health and well-being.</p> <h2>1. Do a chore that mum hates and hold onto it … forever</h2> <p>Research <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13545701.2020.1831039">shows</a> men have increased the amount of time spent on housework and childcare and that mothers, over time, are doing less (hooray!).</p> <p>But, women <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1741-3737.2008.00479.x">still do more housework</a> than men, especially when <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/gwao.12497?fbclid=IwAR2dp04p2sFqbDqdehXmXgDSfTYwX3GRzP7ScMJhSOrMePTGQVErR2TTX88">kids are in the home</a>.</p> <p>Further, <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0891243205285212">men tend to pick up the more desirable tasks</a>, like <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3598304">cooking and playing with the kids</a>, leaving mothers to do the less pleasurable chores (think cleaning toilets and clearing out fridges).</p> <p>The chore divide in same-sex relationships is generally found to be more equal, but some critique suggests equality may suffer <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/16/upshot/same-sex-couples-divide-chores-much-more-evenly-until-they-become-parents.html">once kids are involved</a>.</p> <p>This year give your mum (or mums) the gift of equal housework and childcare sharing – start by taking the most-hated tasks and then hold onto them… forever.</p> <p><a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/gwao.12727">Research</a> shows housework inequality is bad for women’s mental health. Undervaluing women’s housework and unequal sharing of the chores deteriorates <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11199-022-01282-5">relationship quality</a>, and <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0038038516674664">leads to divorce</a>.</p> <p>Housework and childcare take up valuable time to keep the family happy, harmonious and thriving, often at the expense of mum’s health and well-being.</p> <p>So, skip the chocolates and show mum love by doing the worst, most drudgerous and constant household chores (hello, cleaning mouldy showers!) and keep doing these… forever.</p> <h2>2. Initiate a mental unload</h2> <p>The <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/health/2017-09-14/the-mental-load-and-what-to-do-about-it/8942032">mental load</a> is all of the planning, organising and management work necessary to keep the family running.</p> <p>The mental load is often perceived as list making or allocating tasks to family members.</p> <p>But, it’s so much more – it is the <a href="https://theconversation.com/planning-stress-and-worry-put-the-mental-load-on-mothers-will-2022-be-the-year-they-share-the-burden-172599">emotional work</a> that goes with this thinking work.</p> <p>The mental load is the worry work that never ends and can be done <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13668803.2021.2002813">anywhere, anytime and with anyone</a> (in, for example, said mouldy shower).</p> <p>Because the mental load is performed inside our heads, it is invisible. That means we don’t know when we or others are performing this labour unless we really tune in.</p> <p>In fact, it is often when we tune in through quiet time, relaxation or meditation that the mental load rears its ugly head. Suddenly you remind yourself to buy oranges for the weekend soccer game, organise a family movie night and don’t forget to check in on nanna.</p> <p>Women in heterosexual relationships are <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0003122419859007">shown to do more</a> of the mental load with serious consequences for their mental health. But we don’t have a comprehensive measurement of how much women do it nor how it is allocated in same-sex couples.</p> <p>So, on this mothers’ day spend some time talking about, cataloguing, and equalising the family’s mental load.</p> <p>This isn’t just making a list about what has to be done but also understanding <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/health/2017-09-14/the-mental-load-and-what-to-do-about-it/8942032">how the mental load</a> connects to the emotional health of the family, and the person carrying this <a href="https://www.newamerica.org/better-life-lab/blog/making-the-mental-load-visible/">invisible labour, worry and stress</a>.</p> <h2>3. Speak up for your mum and all caregivers</h2> <p>Families alone cannot bear the brunt of the caregiving necessary to keep us thriving.</p> <p>Governments, workplaces and local communities also play a critical role. For this mothers’ day, pick an issue impacting mothers (for example, equal pay, affordable childcare or paid family leave) and do one thing to help move the needle.</p> <p>Write a letter to your boss, your local MP, or donate money to an advocacy organisation advancing gender equality.</p> <p>Or, role model these behaviours yourself – normalise caregiving as a critical piece of being an effective worker, create policies and practices that support junior staff to care for themselves, their families and their communities and use these policies.</p> <p><a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0891243216649946">Research</a> shows men want to be equal carers and sharers but often fear what taking time off for caregiving will signal to their employer despite evidence that fathers who request flexible work are perceived more <a href="https://academic.oup.com/sf/article-abstract/94/4/1567/2461609?login=false">favourably</a>.</p> <p>Appearing to be singularly devoted to work was shown to be impossible during the pandemic with kids, spouses, partners, and pets home all day long.</p> <p>Learning to create more care-inclusive workplaces and communities is critical.</p> <p>Paid parental leave, affordable and accessible high-quality childcare, flexibility in how, when and where we work and greater investments in paid sick leave, long-term disability support and aged care are just a few policies that would strengthen the care safety net.</p> <p>We will all be called upon to care at some point in our lives – let’s create the environments that support caregiving for all, not just mum.<!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/182330/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p> <p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/leah-ruppanner-106371">Leah Ruppanner</a>, Professor of Sociology and Founding Director of The Future of Work Lab, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/the-university-of-melbourne-722">The University of Melbourne</a></em></p> <p><em>Image credits: Getty Images </em></p> <p><em>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/dont-give-mum-chocolates-for-mothers-day-take-on-more-housework-share-the-mental-load-and-advocate-for-equality-instead-182330">original article</a>.</em></p> </div>

Family & Pets

Placeholder Content Image

Sickness or health: Healthy life split along gender, education lines

<p>Australians are living and working longer than ever, but the number of healthy years they’re enjoying with this added longevity isn’t shared equally between the sexes, or by those who finished school before Year 12.</p> <div class="copy"> <p>A paper recently <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S2468-2667(23)00129-9" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" data-type="URL" data-id="https://doi.org/10.1016/S2468-2667(23)00129-9">published</a> in <em>The Lancet</em> <em>Public Health</em> from the Ageing Futures Institute at the University of New South Wales shows an increase in longevity in Australia. Other data in the publication reveal detail about “healthy years”.</p> <p>Men, and those with higher levels of education, worked about 2 years longer in good health. For women and those with lower education, the years of healthy life expectancy have gone backwards.</p> <p>The report, led by statistician Dr Kim Kiely who is now based at The University of Wollongong, compared representative cohorts of people aged 50-100 who participated in the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey (HILDA). Those cohorts were measured over decade long periods – the first from 2001-2010 and the second from 2011-2020.</p> <p>Men added an extra 11 months of healthy life between the cohorts, while women lost a month. Similarly those of any gender who had completed year 12 added about 10 months to their healthy life expectancy, while the same amount of time was lost by those who hadn’t.</p> <p>“Everyone’s increasing their working life expectancy, so the years they’re expected to be working,” Kiely says. “What is different is how long they’re expected to be living in good health: women and people with low education didn’t have an improvement in healthy life expectancy.</p> <p>“Everyone’s also living longer than ever before, but for women, those extra years seem to be years of poor health.  People with lower education – they end up going backwards, they’re losing years of healthy life.”</p> <p>Australia’s working life trends are similar to those in Europe and the UK, though this research suggests the Australian labour force works longer in poor health than their antipodean counterparts.</p> <p>Kiely says the findings are important considerations for policymakers pondering questions of retirement and pension ages: the demands of some labour may not be evenly spread when it comes to considering health implications.</p> <p>“We have a pension age that has been rising steadily over the past couple of decades – it’s not rising anymore – but there is a strong expectation for people to be working longer,” Kiely says. “And if that is the case, then we need opportunities for work for mature age, older adults, and those work opportunities have to be suitable for their capacity to work.</p> <p>“We do need to address things like age and gender discrimination in the workforce. And we need to think about how we support people who are unable to work before they reach the pension age.”</p> <p>Kiely is extending his research into how the nature of work in Australia influences these high-level findings. He hopes this can explain why gender and education influence healthy working years.</p> <p>Further drilling down into other subgroups is important, say Dr Marty Lynch and Dr Ross Wilkie from Keele University, UK. They investigated healthy working life expectancy as part of Britain’s Independent State Pension Age Review last year. They too found Briton were working longer, but not at a rate that keeps pace with the national pension age.</p> <p>In a <em>Lancet</em> editorial accompanying the Australian research, they point out that the HILDA data evaluation only shows changes in average ages on gender and education lines.</p> <p>“The extent of HWLE [Healthy Working Life Expectancy] inequalities between subpopulations with multiple specific characteristics are likely to be even wider and will also indicate targets and interventions to increase the number of years that people can be healthy and in work,” they say.</p> <p>The impact of socioeconomic status on life expectancy and disease burden was recently highlighted in a large-scale review of Australia’s 30-year health data.</p> <p><a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/people/society/australias-life-expectancy-is-up-but-healthy-years-are-a-different-story/">It found</a> while Australians have added 6 years to their life expectancy since 1990, those with lower socioeconomic backgrounds had a higher risk of death-causing disease.</p> <p><em>Image credits: Getty Images</em></p> <p><em><a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/people/society/sickness-or-health-healthy-life-split-along-gender-education-lines/">This article</a> was originally published on <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com">Cosmos Magazine</a> and was written by <a href="null">Cosmos</a>. </em></p> </div>

Retirement Life

Placeholder Content Image

The 12 smartest cat breeds that are equally cute and clever

<h2>How smart is your cat?</h2> <p>Cats are delightfully complex creatures. If we dare to sleep in a few minutes late, they paw at our faces and meow, demanding breakfast. They can be warm and affectionate yet aloof when we’ve been away from the house too long. Even some of the smartest cat breeds display unusual cat behaviour.  But there’s no need for standardised tests to verify what we already know – cats are smart! Whether they’re mixed breed or purebred, small cat breeds or large cat breeds, the reality is that there’s no one accurate way to measure the intelligence of individual cats. However, recent research gives us some compelling evidence to back up what we know in our hearts: feline intelligence is unique.</p> <p>Are you clawing to find out which cat breeds are the smartest? Do they happen to be sleek black cat breeds, gorgeous orange cat breeds or all of the above? Experts say the ones on our list stand out when it comes to their trainability, insatiable curiosity, investigative skills and puzzle-solving brain power.</p> <h2>Do cats have a high IQ?</h2> <p>Before we reveal the smartest cat breeds, let’s take a closer look at just how clever these little lions are. We know that a cat’s brain is almost as structurally complex as a human brain. Cats have around 250 million neurons (tiny information processors) in their cerebral cortex, the part of the brain that solves problems, makes decisions, decodes emotions and creates complex behaviour, like why cats purr or why cats sleep so much. (In comparison, dogs have about 429 million neurons, and humans house an average of 86 billion.) And while more neurons in the brain does equal more cognitive ability, it isn’t necessarily a good indicator of intelligence. That’s because cognition can involve other areas outside the cerebral cortex.</p> <p>So why are dogs generally thought to be smarter than cats? Is it because they have more neurons? Nerdy science aside, there are a host of theories. For starters, dogs have been domesticated for thousands of years and have been living and learning social tasks from humans longer than cats. Temperament wise, dogs are more patient and generally eager to please their humans. In contrast, cats are typically less eager to please, though some are exceptionally cooperative. They tend to be more impulsive, have far less patience and get frustrated and lose interest in something that’s boring to them.</p> <p>However, cats are highly attuned to their surroundings, and how they interact and respond is expressing intelligence, says Teresa Keiger, an all-breed judge with the Cat Fanciers’ Association. That awareness is what helped cats survive for thousands of years in the wild. “I notice that cats who were rescued from outdoor living situations tend to be more intelligent, since they’ve had to learn to think on their feet,” says veterinarian, Dr Stephanie Wolf. Whether a mixed breed or pedigree, rare cat breed or fluffy cat breed, one thing is certain: cats are smart and trainable; they just might not all be interested.</p> <h2>1. Russian blue</h2> <p>When it comes to the smartest cat breeds, the Russian blue is so clever that it’s more apt to train you than the other way around. Like an alarm, the Russian blue will wake you up to feed it breakfast and remind you when it’s dinnertime. In fact, if you’re looking for an accountability partner to maintain a strict schedule, this might be the cat for you. “This quiet breed is very attuned to its household,” says Keiger. “They’re incredibly smart, and they wait to make certain that any stranger is not a threat to safety.” Once they’ve issued your security clearance, they form a tight bond and are regarded as an affectionate cat breed with their humans – so much so that they’re known for hitching a ride on their human’s shoulders.</p> <table> <tbody> <tr> <td colspan="2">Breed overview</td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">Russian blue</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Height</td> <td>25 centimetres</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Weight</td> <td>3–7 kilograms</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Life expectancy</td> <td>15–20 years</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <h2>Abyssinian</h2> <p>This gorgeous cat looks like it stepped out of the jungle and into your living room. From the forward-tilting ears to the large almond-shaped eyes and the stunning colours of its coat, it resembles a cougar. “Abyssinians are incredibly intelligent, good problem solvers and full of an insatiable curiosity,” says Keiger.</p> <p>Perpetually alert and busy, the Aby is happiest when patrolling its environment and playing with challenging interactive puzzle toys. “I always think of Abys as the MacGyver of cats – if they had thumbs, they’d figure out how to fix anything,” Keiger says. Intelligence aside, Abys are highly social cats and love people and other felines. Plus, they are one of the cat breeds that gets along with dogds.   Who knows? Maybe the Aby could teach your old dog a few new tricks.</p> <table> <tbody> <tr> <td colspan="2">Breed overview</td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">Abyssinian</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Height</td> <td>30–40 centimetres</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Weight</td> <td>3–5 kilograms</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Life expectancy</td> <td>9–15 years</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <h2>3. Egyptian mau</h2> <p>The key to this exotic beauty’s happiness is sharpening its mental and physical skills. “Being able to offer enrichment is key to ensuring your cat is getting the best level of stimulation and exercise,” says veterinarian, Dr Julie Andino. That goes for all breeds, but this cat craves cat toys and activities that showcase its lightning-fast physical and mental responses. They’re so clever that they can even turn on the faucet to play in water – although we may never understand why some cats hate water when the mau wouldn’t miss an opportunity to splash their paws in it. After they’ve expended their energy figuring out the day’s puzzles, this cutie loves to snuggle up with their human.</p> <table> <tbody> <tr> <td colspan="2">Breed overview</td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">Egyptian mau</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Height</td> <td>17–28 centimetres</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Weight</td> <td>4–6 kilograms</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Life expectancy</td> <td>9–13 years</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <h2>4. Burmese</h2> <p>One of the smartest cat breeds, the Burmese craves attention, something you can learn from its body language.  “This intelligent breed loves to entertain its resident humans so much that it often checks to make certain someone is watching,” says Keiger. They’re also known for being dog-like and enjoy a rousing game of fetch, an unusually quirky cat behaviour. And they’re adorably stubborn. “When they make up their minds that they want something, they simply don’t take no for an answer and usually figure out a way to get it.” And that includes attention from you. Burmese cats are all about give-and-take when it comes to affection, but if you’re busy and ignore them too long, they might take it upon themselves to follow you around the house, rub against your leg  or plop down on your lap and snuggle, all to remind you that you have a cat that needs some loving.</p> <table> <tbody> <tr> <td colspan="2">Breed overview</td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">Burmese</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Height</td> <td>25–30 centimetres</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Weight</td> <td>4–6 kilograms</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Life expectancy</td> <td>9–13 years</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <h2>5. American bobtail</h2> <p>It’s one thing for the smartest cat breeds to learn new tricks, but when a cat also has emotional intelligence, that’s an impressive combo. These cute stubby-tailed felines are noted for their empathy and for providing a calming and assuring presence that’s equal to emotional support dogs. “They are also very in tune with their household and owners, offering a shoulder to cry on when needed,” says Keiger.</p> <p>They even act like dogs – playing fetch, walking on a leash and rushing to greet guests when there’s a knock on the door. Devoted companion, a lover of people and other animals, the American bobtail is an adorable and lovable companion.</p> <table> <tbody> <tr> <td colspan="2">Breed overview</td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">American bobtail</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Height</td> <td>22–25 centimetres</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Weight</td> <td>3–7 kilograms</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Life expectancy</td> <td>13–15 years</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <h2>6. Japanese bobtail</h2> <p>The smartest cat breeds are often breeds we have never heard of before. Take the Japanese bobtail, one of the rarest cat breeds in the world. Every Japanese bobtail has its own unique tail. Yes, you read that right. No two tails are ever alike. They consider themselves family members and are always ready to help, even if that means sitting on your sitting on your laptop. “They are active, intelligent, talkative cats who delight in mischief-making,” says Keiger. They love to travel, stay in hotels and quite literally jump through hoops and over hurdles to impress you – and entertain themselves. As brain power goes, it’s that human-like personality that makes them seem so bright. “Life is never dull with a Japanese bobtail,” Keiger says.</p> <table> <tbody> <tr> <td colspan="2">Breed overview</td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">Japanese bobtail</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Height</td> <td>20–23 centimetres</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Weight</td> <td>3–5 kilograms</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Life expectancy</td> <td>15–18 years</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <h2>7. Siamese</h2> <p>The Siamese is wicked smart and loves to learn new tricks, Dr Andino says. If you don’t provide interesting and challenging outlets to exercise its noggin, it will find its own stimulating activities, whether you approve or not. If there’s one thing that competes with utilising its brain power, it’s the love and affection it craves from humans. If this cat had a daily schedule, “get affection from human” would be a top priority. And Siamese cats will let you know by that infamous yowling. “The Siamese are very vocal and communicative with their human,” says Dr Andino. They’re likely to talk your ear off, especially if they want something. One of the smartest cat breeds, the Siamese gets along well with people of all ages, as well as other animals. Bonus: if you take any stock in choosing cats most compatible with your zodiac sign, the Siamese happens to be very compatible with Libras.</p> <table> <tbody> <tr> <td colspan="2">Breed overview</td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">Siamese</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Height</td> <td>20–25 centimetres</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Weight</td> <td>3–7 kilograms</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Life expectancy</td> <td>15–20 years</p> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <h2>8. Bengal</h2> <p>The Bengal sports a jaw-dropping, highly contrasted coat of distinctive marbling – very similar to what you see on leopards and jaguars. Its striking beauty is why you should keep close tabs on your Bengal, as it’s the cat breed most often stolen. Beauty aside, this very confident and curious cat isn’t shy about asking you to play. Bengals tend to get a little set in their ways, so introducing new people and furry friends should be done at an early age, if possible. Need to lay down a few new house rules or teach it some tricks? No problem. Bengals pick those up lickety-split. Their athletic prowess is unmatched, but they need plenty of space to run, pounce, roam and jump – some even love to walk on a leash and explore the outdoors. Bengals are super sweet and often very chatty (here’s what their meows may mean) and happy to engage you in a conversation.</p> <table> <tbody> <tr> <td colspan="2">Breed overview</td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">Bengal</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Height</td> <td>20–25 centimetres</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Weight</td> <td>4–7 kilograms</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Life expectancy</td> <td>12–16 years</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <h2>9. Korat</h2> <p>Did you know that the smartest cat breeds could also bring you good fortune? The Korat is one of Thailand’s good luck cats, and no, they don’t mind if you pet them several times a day to increase your luck! Korats are freakishly observant and will watch everything you do. Don’t be surprised if they learn how to open their own box of treats. They’re a devoted companion, an outgoing feline and enjoy having guests in the house. One reason is they love to snoop. Like the nosy houseguest who peeks in your medicine cabinet, the Korat returns the favour, sniffing and investigating your guest’s shoes, purses, coats and anything else that piques their interest. Because Korats thrive when they are around people, being alone may cause cat anxiety.</p> <table> <tbody> <tr> <td colspan="2">Breed overview</td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">Korat</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Height</td> <td>23–30 centimetres</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Weight</td> <td>3–5 kilograms</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Life expectancy</td> <td>10–15 years</p> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <h2>10. Bombay</h2> <p>Bred to look like the Indian black leopard, this midnight-black kitty walks with a sway much like its wild counterpart and is equally gorgeous and clever. Bombay cats are exceptionally friendly, outgoing and lovey-dovey. Family life is their jam, including younger humans and furry siblings. “The Bombay kitty is great at being trained, and they’re very motivated to show their people what they are capable of learning,” says Dr Andino. These cats thrive with continuous education, learning new tricks and solving challenging interactive puzzles. And when the love bug hits them, watch out. They will hunt for your lap and crash there until they get enough pets and belly rubs.</p> <table> <tbody> <tr> <td colspan="2">Breed overview</td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">Bombay</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Height</td> <td>23–30 centimetres</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Weight</td> <td>3–5 kilograms</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Life expectancy</td> <td>12–16 years</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <h2>11. Havana brown</h2> <p>The brownie, as its fans dub it, is deeply connected to humans and savours affectionate companionship. (Havana browns insist on being involved in whatever you’re doing, yet they are remarkably sensitive and use both their paws to gently touch their humans. They share DNA with the Siamese, but their meows are quieter, charming and almost flirty. They might prefer the company of one favourite human over others in the family but tend to get along with humans of all ages, as well as furry roommates. Perhaps the most interesting characteristic is how they investigate. While most felines examine things with their nose, Havana browns use both their paws to check out trinkets and treasures.</p> <table> <tbody> <tr> <td colspan="2">Breed overview</td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">Havana brown</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Height</td> <td>23–28 centimetres</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Weight</td> <td>4–6 kilograms</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Life expectancy</td> <td>8–13 years</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <h2>12. Singapura</h2> <p>The Singapura is the smallest domestic cat breed, with a whole lot of feisty goodness in a tiny package. If those big saucer eyes and adorable face aren’t captivating enough to get your attention, you might need some catnip. And don’t let the small frame fool you. Under that fur lies a muscular and athletic body. The Singapura is a social butterfly, always looking to be the centre of attention, in the cutest, playful ways. They are the life of any party, whether they’re invited or not. Conversations with Singapuras are a pure delight as well and never get stale – you could listen to their sweet meows for hours, and they’ll love your high-pitched baby talk just as much. Keenly observant, intelligent and extroverted, these cats still act like kittens well into adulthood.</p> <table> <tbody> <tr> <td colspan="2">Breed overview</td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">Singapura</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Height</td> <td>15–20 centimetres</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Weight</td> <td>2–4 kilograms</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Life expectancy</td> <td>11–15 years</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <p><em>Image credit: Shutterstock</em></p> <p><em>This article originally appeared on <a href="https://www.readersdigest.com.au/food-home-garden/pets/the-12-smartest-cat-breeds-that-are-equally-cute-and-clever" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Reader's Digest</a>.</em></p>

Family & Pets

Placeholder Content Image

There’s a growing gap between countries advancing LGBTQ+ rights, and those going backwards

<p>Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Foreign Minister Penny Wong joined 50,000 people to march in support of queer rights across the Sydney Harbour Bridge for World Pride in early March. A week earlier, Albanese became the first sitting prime minister to march in Sydney’s Mardi Gras, something he’s done over several decades.</p> <p>And yet at the same time, in another part of the world, Uganda’s parliament passed <a href="https://theconversation.com/ugandas-new-anti-lgbtq-law-could-lead-to-death-penalty-for-same-sex-offences-202376">a string of draconian measures</a> against homosexuality, including possible death sentences for “aggravated homosexuality”. Any “promotion” of homosexuality is also outlawed.</p> <p>Seven years ago, I co-wrote a book with Jonathan Symons called Queer Wars. Back then, we suggested there was <a href="https://researchers.mq.edu.au/en/publications/queer-wars-the-new-global-polarization-over-gay-rights">a growing gap </a>between countries in which sexual and gender diversity was becoming more acceptable, and those where repression was increasing. </p> <p>Sadly, that analysis seems even more relevant today.</p> <h2>A growing gap</h2> <p>Some countries have been unwinding criminal sanctions around homosexuality, which are often the legacy of colonialism. This includes, in recent years, former British colonies <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/08/22/singapore-decriminalize-gay-sex">Singapore</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/sep/06/indian-supreme-court-decriminalises-homosexuality">India</a>.</p> <p>But others have been imposing new and more vicious penalties for any deviation from stereotypical assumptions of heterosexual masculine superiority (what Australian sociologist Raewyn Connell <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0891243205278639">terms</a> “hegemonic masculinity”).</p> <p>Anti-gay legislation is currently pending in Ghana, which led US Vice President Kamala Harris to <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-43822234">express concerns</a> on a recent visit.</p> <p>These moves echo the deep homophobia of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has <a href="https://www.bostonreview.net/articles/putins-anti-gay-war-on-ukraine/">bizarrely linked</a> intervention in Ukraine to protecting traditional values against LGBTQ+ infiltration.</p> <p>Meanwhile, reports from Afghanistan suggest that anyone identified as “LGBT” is <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/01/26/afghanistan-taliban-target-lgbt-afghans">in danger of being killed</a>.</p> <p>Indonesia recently passed legislation <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/dec/06/indonesia-passes-legislation-banning-sex-outside-marriage">penalising all sex outside marriage</a>. This follows <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13639811.2022.2038871">years of anti-queer rhetoric</a> from Indonesian leaders and crackdowns in regional areas.</p> <p>And while the Biden administration is supportive of queer rights globally, the extraordinary hysteria <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/mar/07/cpac-anti-trans-rhetoric">around trans issues in the Republican Party</a> reminds us the West has no inherent claim to moral superiority.</p> <h2>Where to next?</h2> <p>Speaking at the World Pride Human Rights Conference, both Wong and Attorney General Mark Dreyfus made it clear Australia would press for recognition of sexuality and gender identity as deserving protection, as part of <a href="https://www.foreignminister.gov.au/minister/penny-wong/speech/sydney-worldpride-human-rights-conference-opening-statement">our commitment to human rights</a>.</p> <p>Wong also announced a <a href="https://www.themandarin.com.au/213443-wong-announces-international-fund-for-lgbt-rights/">new Inclusion and Equality Fund</a> to support queer community organisations within our region.</p> <p>Australian governments have usually been wary of loud assertions of support for queer rights. This is partly due to a reasonable fear this merely reinforces the perception that such language reflects <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/african-studies-review/article/abs/locating-neocolonialism-tradition-and-human-rights-in-ugandas-gay-death-penalty/33A06F4F33CF586E20E208BE790E71E0">a sense of Western superiority</a>, unwilling to acknowledge other societies may have very different attitudes towards gender and sexuality.</p> <p>Australia is part of the Equal Rights Coalition, an intergovernmental body of 42 countries dedicated to the protection of the rights of LGBTQ+ people, and has supported sexual and gender rights in the <a href="https://humanrights.gov.au/our-work/rights-and-freedoms/australias-second-universal-periodic-review-human-rights">country reviews</a> undertaken by the United Nations Human Rights Commission.</p> <p>Australia has a minimal presence in Uganda, and direct representations are unlikely to have much effect. Uganda is a member of the Commonwealth, as are Ghana, Kenya and Zambia, where official homophobia appears to be increasing. But there’s little evidence the Australian government sees this as a significant foreign policy forum, or is prepared to push for sexual rights through its institutions.</p> <p>As persecution on the basis of sexuality and gender identity increases, more people will seek to flee their countries. Queer refugees face double jeopardy: they’re not safe at home, but they’re often equally unsafe in their diasporic communities, which have inherited the <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/01/lgbt-refugees-untold-story/">deep prejudices of their homelands</a>.</p> <p>The UN’s refugee agency <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/lgbtiq-persons.html">reports</a> that most people seeking asylum because of their sexuality are unwilling to disclose this, because of discrimination within their own ethnic communities. This makes it impossible to have accurate numbers. But a clear signal from Australia would be a powerful statement of support – that it understands the situation and welcomes people who need flee because of their sexuality or gender expression.</p> <p>An official Canadian government document <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/refugees/canada-role/2slgbtqi-plus.html">states</a>: "Canada has a proud history of providing protection to and helping to resettle the world’s most vulnerable groups. That includes those in the Two-Spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and additional sexually and gender diverse community."</p> <p>Theirs is a model worth following.</p> <p><em>Image credits: Getty Images</em></p> <p><em>This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/theres-a-growing-gap-between-countries-advancing-lgbtq-rights-and-those-going-backwards-203329" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>. </em></p>

Caring

Placeholder Content Image

What are microaggressions? And how can they affect our health?

<p>Microaggressions are seemingly innocuous verbal, behavioural or environmental slights against members of minority communities.</p> <p>The term microaggressions was coined by American psychiatrist Chester Pierce in his 1970 essay Offensive Mechanisms. He explained:</p> <blockquote> <p><em>Most offensive actions are not gross and crippling. They are subtle and stunning. The enormity of the complications they cause can be appreciated only when one considers that these subtle blows are delivered incessantly. Even though any single negotiation of offence can in justice be considered of itself to be relatively innocuous, the cumulative effect to the victim and to the victimiser is of an unimaginable magnitude.</em></p> </blockquote> <p>While originally conceived in the context of race relations, microaggressions may also relate to gender, sexual orientation, religion, disability status, weight, or a combination of these.</p> <h2>What do microaggressions look like?</h2> <p>Consider these situations. All are real-life stories from people of colour I know (used with their consent):</p> <ul> <li> <p>a woman walks into a hairdresser’s shop. The shop is empty and the hairdresser is cleaning hair from the floor. The woman asks if she could get a haircut – if not right now, perhaps another day. The hairdresser says she can’t help as she is not taking on any new customers.</p> </li> <li> <p>a man is waiting to pick up his partner in his car, parked on a side street near his partner’s apartment, which is located in a predominantly white suburb. He is minding his own business sitting in his own car. Each time a person walks by, they stare at the man, and keep staring as they walk past</p> </li> <li>a couple is waiting to order coffee in a busy city cafe. The server is chatty with the white couple ahead of them. When they progress to the front of the line, the server is curt, avoids eye contact, and is eager to move on to the next customer. After placing their order, the couple stands where other patrons had previously waited for their orders. A staff member comes over and asks the couple to wait outside instead.</li> </ul> <p>Examples of microaggressions towards other identity minorities may include moving away from a trans person on public transport, or not considering wheelchair accessibility needs when booking venues for meetings or events.</p> <p>Each of these incidents in isolation may not seem particularly harmful, and some may even chalk them up to coincidences or “reading too much into a situation”.</p> <p>However, when experienced repeatedly, daily, or even multiple times a day, they can harm people’s psychological and physical health.</p> <h2>Microaggressions are subtle</h2> <p>Microaggressions are often so subtle that even the victim may not realise that they have just experienced one until later – likely because microaggressions are often accompanied with dissociation (i.e. disconnection from thoughts, feelings or personal sense of identity).</p> <p>As psychologist Ron Taffel explains, dissociation is a “psychically handy” tool that helps ease the pain,</p> <blockquote> <p><em>making sure that the moment does not fully register or does its damage until a less vulnerable time later – perhaps during a quiet time alone…</em></p> </blockquote> <h2>Microaggressions affect our physical and mental health</h2> <p>Microaggressions can occur in all environments, from the workplace, to shops, medical clinics, schools, universities, even while walking or parked on the street. So victims often become increasingly self-conscious and hypervigilant.</p> <p>The impacts of microaggressions may extend beyond psychological burden and also impact the body’s physiological state.</p> <p>When humans perceive a sense of imminent danger, the body’s “fight, flight, freeze response” is activated. While this is a useful evolutionary mechanism to protect us from physical danger, when triggered frequently – as may be the case with microaggressions – it can take a toll on the body and contribute to issues such as high blood pressure, anxiety, depression and addiction.</p> <p>Racial microaggressions have also been associated with suicide risk. One study found experiencing race-related microaggressions leads to more symptoms of depression, which in turn increases thoughts of suicide.</p> <h2>Microaggressions may deter people from seeking help</h2> <p>Health issues among victims may be further compounded when microaggressions are experienced in the health-care sector. A study from 2011 found that sexual orientation-related microaggressions (for example, derogatory comments or assumptions about a person’s sexual orientation) reduced the likelihood of LGBTIQ+ people seeking psychotherapy and impacted their attitudes towards therapy and therapists.</p> <p>Research involving Indigenous people also suggests microaggressions impact help-seeking behaviours in this group (such as not scheduling or attending regular health-care appointments), which subsequently increases the risk of hospitalisation.</p> <h2>Indirect effects of microaggressions</h2> <p>Microaggressions may also impact people’s health status indirectly. Research suggests repeated microaggressions can cause marginalised groups to internalise feelings of inadequacy.</p> <p>Over time, this internalised oppression may impact their academic and professional success, and consequently socioeconomic status.</p> <h2>Sceptics and victim-blaming</h2> <p>Sceptics often attribute microaggressions to victims’ “negative emotionality” – a tendency to show negative affect and always feel like a victim.</p> <p>However, proponents argue that this is a form of victim-blaming that further compounds the harm caused by microaggressions.</p> <p>Clinical psychologist Monnica Williams suggests that the years of unchecked microaggressions themselves could be the very thing to cause negativity in marginalised people.</p> <h2>Victims’ responses to microaggressors</h2> <p>Victims’ responses to microaggressions can vary among people, and among events experienced by the same person. Victims have to regularly decide whether to let it slide or confront the aggressor.</p> <p>The discourse on microaggressions in social media seems to be on the rise. One study found that there was a drastic increase in the usage of the term “microaggression” on Twitter between 2010 and 2018. Social media discussions and other online spaces may help victims (particularly younger people) to respond more critically to microaggressors.</p> <p>Other technological innovations, such as the virtual reality-based intervention Equal Reality, are also helping people walk in another’s shoes, recognise unconscious bias, mitigate risk of microaggressions, and promote more inclusive workplaces.</p> <p><em>Image credit: Shutterstock</em></p> <p><strong><em>If this article has raised issues for you, or if you’re concerned about someone you know, call Lifeline on 13 11 14.</em></strong></p> <p><em>This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-are-microaggressions-and-how-can-they-affect-our-health-193309" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>.</em></p>

Mind

Placeholder Content Image

How whiteness was invented and fashioned in Britain’s colonial age of expansion

<p>Fashion <a href="https://www.routledge.com/The-Force-of-Fashion-in-Politics-and-Society-Global-Perspectives-from-Early/Lemire/p/book/9781138274228">is political — today as in the past</a>. As Britain’s Empire dramatically expanded, people of all ranks lived with clothing and everyday objects in startlingly different ways than generations before. </p> <p>The years between 1660 and 1820 saw the expansion of the British empire and commercial capitalism. The <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/ca/cotton-9781845202996">social politics of Britain’s cotton trade</a> mirrored profound global transformations bound up with technological and industrial revolutions, social modernization, colonialism and slavery. </p> <p>As history educators and researchers Abdul Mohamud and Robin Whitburn note, the British “<a href="https://www.bl.uk/restoration-18th-century-literature/articles/britains-involvement-with-new-world-slavery-and-the-transatlantic-slave-trade">monarchy started the large-scale involvement of the English in the slave trade</a>” after 1660.</p> <p>Vast <a href="https://www.routledge.com/The-British-Cotton-Trade-1660-1815-Vol-2/Lemire/p/book/9781138757943">profits poured in from areas of plantation slavery</a>, particularly from the Caribbean. The mass enslavement of Africans was at the heart of this brutal system, with laws and policing enforcing Black subjugation <a href="https://schoolshistory.org.uk/topics/british-empire/economic-consequences-of-empire/slave-resistance/">in the face of repeated resistance from enslaved</a> people.</p> <p>Western fashion reflected the racialized politics that infused this period. Indian cottons and European linens <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/global-trade-and-the-transformation-of-consumer-cultures/A7517EB8FB5003114662BA428501AB79">were now traded in ever-rising volumes</a>, feeding the vogue for lighter and potentially whiter textiles, ever more in demand. </p> <p>My scholarship explores dimensions of whiteness through material histories — how whiteness was fashioned in labour structures, routines, esthetics and everyday practices.</p> <h2>Whiteness on many scales</h2> <p>Enslaved men and women were never given white clothes, unless as part of livery (servants’ uniforms, which were sometimes very luxurious). Wearing white textiles became a marker of status in urban centres, in colonizing nations and in colonies. Textile whiteness was a transient state demanding constant renewal, shaping ecologies of style. The resulting Black/white dichotomy hardened as profits from enslavement soared, with a striking impact on culture.</p> <p>Whiteness in clothing, decor and fashion was amplified, becoming a marker of status. Elaborate washing techniques were used to achieve material goals. </p> <p>British sociologist Vron Ware emphasizes “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822381044-009">the importance of thinking about whiteness on many different scales</a>,” including “as an interconnected global system, having different inflections and implications depending on where and when it has been produced.” Accordingly, fabrics, laundry and fashion were entangled in imperial aims. </p> <h2>Pristine whiteness in garments</h2> <p>Laundering was codified in household manuals from the late 1660s, a chore overseen by housewives and housekeepers. Women with fewer options sweated over washtubs, engaged in ubiquitous labour with the aim of pristine whiteness. </p> <p>In colonial and plantation regions, where lightweight fabrics were key, Black enslaved women were tasked with this never-ending drudgery. Only a few profited personally from their fashioning skills.</p> <p>This workforce was vast. Yet few museums have invited visitors to consider the processes of soaking, bleaching, washing, blueing, starching and ironing required by historic garments. </p> <p>A recent exhibit at <a href="https://agnes.queensu.ca/connect/about-agnes/#about-agnes">Agnes Etherington Art Centre</a> at Queen’s University <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bDY3oy0tbA">curated by Jason Cyrus, a researcher who analyzes fashion and textile history</a>, examined <a href="https://agnes.queensu.ca/digital-agnes/video/black-bodies-white-gold-unpacking-slavery-and-north-american-cotton-production">slavery and North American cotton production</a>.</p> <h2>Laundry labour of enslaved women</h2> <p>The skilled labour of enslaved women was a core component of every plantation and an essential colonial urban trade, given the resident population and many thousands of seafarers and sojourners arriving annually in the Caribbean — all wanting clothes refreshed. </p> <p>Ports throughout the Atlantic were stocked with wash tubs and women labouring over them. Orderly material whiteness was the aim. Mary Prince recorded her thoughts about a demanding mistress in Antigua, who gave the enslaved Prince weekly “<a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5149/9781469633299_prince">two bundles of clothes, as much as a boy could help me lift; but I could give no satisfaction</a>.”</p> <p>Prince only earned money laundering for ships’ captains during her “owners’” absence. Within port cities, including the Caribbean and imperial centres, this trade allowed some enslaved women mobility and sometimes self-emancipation. But fashioning whiteness was a fraught process, with many historical threads.</p> <h2>Colour scrubbed from recovered statues</h2> <p>From the 1750s, European fashion and artistic style was increasingly inspired by perceptions of the classical past. Countless portraits were painted of wealthy people as Greek gods, the classical past becoming, as cultural theorist Stuart Hall observed, a “myth reservoir.” These became sources <a href="https://doi.org/10.1515/9781478021223-023">for imagining Europe’s origins</a> and destiny.</p> <p>European scholars and the educated public viewed this cultural lineage as white. <a href="https://www.rom.on.ca/en/exhibitions-galleries/exhibitions/kore-670">Remnants of polychrome colouring was scrubbed</a> from recovered <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/see-the-vibrant-long-overlooked-colors-of-classical-sculptures-180980321/">Greek sculptures</a>.</p> <p>This supposed heritage of a white classical past defined <a href="https://mymodernmet.com/what-is-neoclassicism/">what became known as neoclassical</a> styles further expanding the craze for light, white gowns, a political fashion needing endless care. </p> <p>In this era, “the term classical was not neutral,” as art historian Charmaine Nelson explains, “<a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/42631206">but a racialized term</a> …” Nelson states that the category “classical” also defined the marginalization of Blackness as its antithesis.</p> <p>Today, some scholars are wrestling <a href="https://www.famsf.org/about/publications/gods-color-polychromy-ancient-world">with the legacy of racism built into classical studies</a>.</p> <h2>Racialized masquerade</h2> <p>Neoclassical gowns reflected this zeitgeist, as ladies disported themselves as Greek goddesses. Ladies’ magazines urged readers to play-act as deities. Simple socializing en vogue would not suffice. Fashion required a wider stage. </p> <p>Masquerade balls became the venue where whiteness and empire aligned, as goddesses robed in white mingled with guests in blackface or regalia appropriated from colonized peoples. </p> <p>Masquerades became staple occasions, revels led by royals, nobles and those enriched through trade and slave labour.</p> <h2>Race hierarchies enforced</h2> <p>Seemingly banal routines (and stylish affairs) reveal cultural facets of empire where race hierarchies were reinforced. In this era, everyday dress and celebratory fashions demanded relentless attention. </p> <p>These routines were enmeshed with empire and race, whether in the colonial Caribbean or a London grand masquerade. </p> <p>The proliferation of white linens and cottons were purposefully employed to enforce hierarchies. The rise of white clothing and neoclassical style can be better understood by addressing mass enslavement as an economic, political and cultural force shaping styles, determining vogues and promoting the fashions of whiteness.</p> <p><em>Image credits: Getty Images</em></p> <p><em>This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-whiteness-was-invented-and-fashioned-in-britains-colonial-age-of-expansion-175027" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>. </em></p>

Art

Placeholder Content Image

Being in a couple can leave women with less savings – here’s how to make nest eggs more equal

<p>Growing <a href="https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/employment/oecd-employment-outlook-2015_empl_outlook-2015-en">job insecurity</a>, <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/signs-of-worst-year-for-stock-market-investors-in-a-decade-after-wall-street-slips-into-bear-market-and-bitcoin-crashes-12633745">financial market volatility</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/may/18/uk-pensioners-cost-of-living-crisis">rising prices</a> have created an extremely uncertain environment for UK savers. The country’s welfare provisions are <a href="https://www.oecd.org/unitedkingdom/PAG2017-GBR.pdf">among the lowest</a> of all OECD countries and a growing number of pensioners are finding it difficult to gain <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/mar/17/number-of-pensioners-in-relative-poverty-in-uk-up-200000-in-a-year">financial security</a> in later life. Even well-known <a href="https://metro.co.uk/2022/03/20/money-saving-expert-martin-lewis-runs-out-of-advice-on-cost-of-living-crisis-16309470/">money-saving experts</a> have run out of ideas to help those struggling with their finances.</p> <p>In such tough times, people planning for old age must be even more canny about their money to ensure there is enough for a comfortable retirement. Pension planning typically starts with a long-term savings goal to ensure an adequate income during retirement. Then savers usually make regular contributions to suitable investment products in line with this goal over the course of their working lives.</p> <p>Our recent research shows, however, that there are differences in the way people decide on and work towards those goals. We believe these differences may contribute to a wealth gap between men and women in the UK, with more women in danger of being left financially vulnerable than men.</p> <p>The commitment you make when you set a goal essentially motivates you to achieve that goal, according to certain <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022053113000033?casa_token=0_ot9tQqosQAAAAA:Br_9n9OaTKs25D1plcAHmBefoy5suGqafNYG3Ab0FZXhlLd4sLnumW6JHa80ArKHx5zfDGNT">behavioural science</a> theories. In other words, people with ambitious savings goals can be expected to end up with more money in their retirement accounts, compared with those with modest savings goals.</p> <p>Less ambitious savers may not strive to put away more than planned because they believe they will fail. Based on our <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/kykl.12294">recent research</a> into long-term savings goals, we believe such differences in attitudes may contribute to the <a href="https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/other/gender-wealth-gap-women-investing">£15 billion wealth gap</a> between men and women.</p> <h2>Growing gender wealth gap</h2> <p>Our study <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/kykl.12294">explores long-term savings goals</a> among 1,760 clients at a well-established UK investment firm, combined with insights from 56 interviews with another group of UK-based men and women savers. It uncovers a third possible explanation for a rising gender wealth gap in the UK, besides income differentials (based on the <a href="https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257%2Fjel.20160995&amp;source=post_page---------------------------">gender pay gap</a>, the <a href="https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/app.20180010">child penalty</a>, <a href="https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.1086/511799?casa_token=icrT0aW2dYUAAAAA%3A7k6cPuNg15qaB6ICZbBe7OO8tffw6404qf-kN-1e5lIVWjNyTlC2MOUD7We4CMNUOVWz8krjIQ">the motherhood penalty</a>) and investment differentials that generally show men earning higher financial returns because they tend to <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1465-7295.2008.00201.x?casa_token=Bf3MjE7ar9UAAAAA%3A3lEvIUQjvDM4OaPUTW5tnUkbMAnn8-EZtknAR9Mx98_BNwNttlxF6i7jEYYCGHxr_3b9BLM_UxCr">take more risk</a>. </p> <p>This third reason, our analysis suggests, is that gender norms influence attitudes towards saving. This tends to negatively affect women in couples most of all.</p> <p>We found that men and women who are married or cohabiting tend to strongly diverge when it comes to their chosen savings goals, compared with those who live on their own. More specifically, married or co-habiting men are more likely to be in charge of long-term saving for the household and they typically choose more ambitious personal savings goals.</p> <p>Those higher savings goals were not affected by expected levels of income and so could not be attributed to a gender pay gap. Similarly, we also controlled for varying attitudes toward risk-taking in investment portfolios.</p> <h2>The role of gender norms</h2> <p>So why do men and women in couples save so differently? Our research shows that these differences are linked to the traditional gender roles often assigned to particular members of households. When women are in charge of caring and domestic work such as childcare, grocery shopping and short-term budgeting, there is a tendency to focus on short-term financial security. Perhaps in anticipation of adverse events affecting their daily budget management, these women tend to choose modest savings goals and accessible financial products such as <a href="https://www.gov.uk/individual-savings-accounts">individual savings accounts</a> (ISAs).</p> <p>On the other hand, we found that men in couples tend to choose more ambitious goals and use investment products that are designed for longer-term savings habits and have the potential for <a href="https://www.vanguardinvestor.co.uk/articles/latest-thoughts/retirement/sipp-or-isa-how-do-you-decide#:%7E:text=SIPP%20or%20ISA%3A%20how%20your%20hypothetical%20savings%20might%20grow">better returns</a>. For example, <a href="https://www.moneyhelper.org.uk/en/pensions-and-retirement/pensions-basics/self-invested-personal-pensions?source=mas">self-invested personal pensions</a> provide more options and control over what you can invest in and when, compared with a standard personal pension or an ISA. </p> <p>Men are also more often assigned to the role of managing long-term investing tasks, according to our research. This encourages a focus on long-term wealth growth and reinforces their willingness to set challenging goals. These findings are intensified within couples with a more “traditional” division of roles - that is, when the man is the breadwinner.</p> <p>For single people, however, men and women perform both the short- and long-term financial tasks and we found no gender differences in savings goals among this type of study participant. This absence of any gender-based effect among the people in our study who are not part of a couple shows a clear need to move beyond simply accepting that all men and women <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1465-7295.2009.00251.x?casa_token=DjyY7QO3AbYAAAAA%3Alqjh1kacbeO6WWPm8a778_QyzCAEYEQ4L5DISL4yRPjIMBh_Vne1e1UkFSyXeIlWpKbDBS9wMJ_V">think differently</a> about saving and investing when discussing retirement planning and financial risk-taking. </p> <p>Exploring the context in which people make financial decisions is much more important. Highlighting when goals are unambitious compared to people with similar wealth and incomes, for example, could reduce the effect of gender norms on financial decisions. </p> <p>In particular, it should be emphasised that, by leaving their male partner to accumulate money for the household, women may increase their financial dependency. In that context, late divorce or separation could have a dramatic effect on financial security for those <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/mar/19/divorce-women-risk-poverty-children-relationship">without legal protection</a>.</p> <p>Given the continued uncertainty around the economic outlook, addressing the gender wealth gap in this way will help to create a more secure future for all UK savers.</p> <p><em>Image credits: Getty Images</em></p> <p><em>This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/being-in-a-couple-can-leave-women-with-less-savings-heres-how-to-make-nest-eggs-more-equal-186269" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>. </em></p>

Retirement Income

Placeholder Content Image

Male artists dominate galleries. Our research explored if it’s because ‘women don’t paint very well’ – or just discrimination

<p>In the art world, there is a gaping gender imbalance when it comes to male and female artists.</p> <p>In the National Gallery of Australia, <a href="https://nga.gov.au/knowmyname/about/">only 25%</a> of the Australian art collection is work by women. </p> <p>This is far better than the international standard where <a href="https://nmwa.org/support/advocacy/get-facts/">roughly 90%</a> of all artworks exhibited in major collections are by men. The <a href="https://www.artsy.net/artwork/georgia-okeeffe-jimson-weed-slash-white-flower-no-1">most expensive</a> painting by a female artist – Georgia O’Keeffe’s Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1 – does not even rank among the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most_expensive_paintings#List_of_highest_prices_paid">100 most expensive paintings</a> ever sold. </p> <p>Why is women’s art valued so much less than art by men?</p> <p>Some economists <a href="https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2005/02/why_do_women_su.html">have suggested</a> the greater burden of child rearing and other domestic duties means women have had fewer opportunities to succeed in the art world.</p> <p>Others have blamed the “<a href="https://www.smh.com.au/culture/art-and-design/report-names-laggers-as-women-artists-win-parity-20191029-p534vy.html">quality</a>” of women’s art. In 2013, German painter <a href="https://observer.com/2013/01/georg-baselitz-says-women-dont-paint-very-well/">Georg Baselitz said</a> “Women don’t paint very well. It’s a fact. The market doesn’t lie.”</p> <p>We wanted to know: is work by women generally valued differently to work by men because it is of a lower artistic quality, or is it just discrimination?</p> <h2>Which painting do you like better?</h2> <p>In <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167268122002669?dgcid=author">our new research</a> we showed average Americans pairs of paintings, painted between 1625 and 1979, side by side. Each of the pairs are similar in style, motif and period, but one work was by a male artist and the other by a female artist.</p> <p>Participants were in two groups. One group saw the artists’ names and the other didn’t. We wanted to see whether more people among those who saw artist names preferred the male painting.</p> <p>If seeing the names – and thereby inferring artist gender – causes more people to prefer male paintings, then there is gender discrimination.</p> <p>Before we tell you the results, think about what you would have expected. And <a href="https://rmit.au1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_e4JBs0wxKeftYF0">take a look</a> at our actual painting pairs and see if you can guess which is the male one (hint: you can’t).</p> <p>We were pleasantly surprised to find our participants did not give a hoot about artist gender. In both groups, 54% preferred the painting from a woman.</p> <p>We repeated this experiment, this time rewarding participants if they could accurately guess the preferences of others – the people in the first experiment. </p> <p>Again, 54% of the people in each group picked the female paintings.</p> <h2>Which painting do you think is worth more?</h2> <p>Next we wanted to find out if people picked male paintings for reasons other than personal taste. Art isn’t just bought and sold on aesthetic value: it is a speculative market, where art is treated as an investment.</p> <p>We conducted two more experiments. In one, participants were rewarded if they picked the more expensive painting. In the other, they were rewarded to pick the one painted by the more famous artist.</p> <p>Gender discrimination emerged in both these experiments. When asked to predict the value of and creator fame of paintings, people suddenly swung towards picking male artists. Preference for female paintings fell by 10% and 9% in these two new experiments.</p> <p>Gender discrimination in art comes not from personal aesthetic preference – Baselitz’ argument that women “don’t paint very well” – but people thinking paintings are more valuable and famous when painted by male artists.</p> <h2>A question of fame</h2> <p>In our fifth experiment, we again rewarded participants who could correctly guess which painting would be preferred by others. This time everyone saw the names of the artists. But only one group was told which of the two artists was objectively more famous – the male artist in 90% of cases.</p> <p>The group with that information was 14% more likely to pick male paintings. People used fame information to predict the painting others liked better.</p> <p>If women artists were discriminated against just because of their gender we would have seen a higher premium put on the male artists even in questions of aesthetics.</p> <p>Here, discrimination only occured when our participants were asked to assign a monetary value to the art works, or when they were given information about the level of fame of the painter. </p> <p>This means our art appreciators discriminated not on gender, but on something closely associated with gender: fame.</p> <p>And because male artists have, historically, been given <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1574067606010234">more opportunities</a> to become artists – and therefore become famous – artwork by men is perceived as having a higher value.</p> <p>Policy is slowly starting to recognise and target institutional factors that perpetuate male dominance because of historical notions of fame, like the National Gallery of Australia’s <a href="https://knowmyname.nga.gov.au/">Know my Name</a> initiative. </p> <p>Discrimination in the arts exists, but it often comes from people’s beliefs about what others care to discriminate about. The task ahead is to change perceptions of people and institutions who do not discriminate – but merely conform to others’ discrimination.</p> <p><em>Image credits: Getty Images</em></p> <p><em>This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/male-artists-dominate-galleries-our-research-explored-if-its-because-women-dont-paint-very-well-or-just-discrimination-189221" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>. </em></p>

Art

Placeholder Content Image

Still counting: why the visual arts must do better on gender equality

<p>You have to get more than a bit mad to single-handedly launch a campaign against inequality. At a recent forum, visual artist Elvis Richardson wryly <a href="http://www.womensartregister.org/">described</a> how anger was the catalyst that sparked her to start <a href="http://countesses.blogspot.com.au/">CoUNTess</a>, a blog that assembles and reviews data on gender representation in Australia’s contemporary art scene.</p> <p>Since 2008, Richardson has analysed the gender breakdown of who gets exhibited, collected, reviewed and rewarded. Converting indignation into statistics and emotion into hard facts, her blog provides irrefutable evidence that gender bias is an ongoing problem besetting the visual arts.</p> <p>The most current snapshot illustrates that only 34% of the artists shown in <a href="http://thecountessreport.com.au/thecountessreport-museums2014.html">state museums</a> are women. In <a href="http://thecountessreport.com.au/thecountessreport-commercial-galleries2014.html">commercial galleries</a>, the proportion is 40%. In the <a href="http://thecountessreport.com.au/thecountessreport-art-media2014.html">art media</a>, 34% of feature articles and reviews are about women, but 80% of magazine covers are dedicated to male artists. </p> <p>Change needs to be embraced at every level, not least in developing art curriculum in secondary schools. Victorian students who sat their final Studio Art exam last week were given 14 images to write about, of which only one was produced by a woman. A cursory survey of exams in previous years and other states suggests such bias is entrenched.</p> <p>Over the past decade, the gatekeepers of the Australian art scene have started responding to the unconscious bias Richardson documents. When comparing the graphs and charts in her old posts with the 2016 <a href="http://thecountessreport.com.au/thecountessreport-art-media2014.html">CoUNTess Report</a>, it is possible to identify small improvements. Still, as Richardson says in her <a href="http://thecountessreport.com.au/">report introduction, "</a>The closer an artist gets to money, prestige and power the more likely they are to be male."</p> <p>A recent <a href="http://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/research/making-art-work/">study</a> by David Throsby and Katya Petetskaya also shows the gender pay gap is substantial in the Australian art scene.</p> <p>The 2016 CoUNTess Report was made possible with support from the <a href="http://cruthersartfoundation.com/about/">Cruthers Art Foundation</a>. This organisation is making a substantial contribution towards rebalancing the statistics via the <a href="http://cruthersartfoundation.com/collections/">Cruthers Collection of Women’s Art</a>, the only dedicated public collection of art by Australian women. </p> <p>Begun in 1974 as a private family collection acquiring women’s art, the collection consists primarily of portraiture, self portraiture and art that is focused on still life, abstraction, early postmodernism and second wave feminism.</p> <p>The collection was gifted to the University of Western Australia in 2007 and is housed at <a href="http://www.lwgallery.uwa.edu.au/">Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery</a>. Cruthers curator Gemma Weston believes the collection plays a role in valuing and making visible the work of women artists, which in turn can provide a pathway to its acceptance in the institutional domain. Individual works are often loaned to other art museums around Australia.</p> <p>Weston identifies visibility as a key factor in determining what gets collected and how an artist gets traction in her career. She says institutional recognition is a long and complicated process of gathering momentum, which often begins with the private collector rather than the art museum. </p> <p>There is no doubt that all-women collections and exhibitions can help to change the depressing statistics assembled by Richardson. There is concern, however, that this strategy can cause ghettoisation. </p> <p>Weston is conscious of this conundrum. Cruthers’ current show <a href="http://artguide.com.au/exhibition/country-and-colony">Country and Colony</a> moves beyond the concerns of previous exhibitions to document “women’s art” and “women’s issues” through biography, autobiography and portraiture. </p> <p>While gender and feminist politics are a subtext, Colony and Country profiles new acquisitions that deal with the fraught history of colonialism. The paintings, prints and objects by Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists tell stories about land, landscape, the body, industry and culture.</p> <h2>Building momentum for change</h2> <p>While the speed of change appears glacial, the momentum to overcome structural inequality for female artists appears to be building. In September, 11 top gallery directors, curators and arts organisation chiefs in the UK united in a <a href="https://www.standard.co.uk/goingout/arts/art-worlds-most-powerful-women-unite-to-call-for-better-representation-for-female-artists-a3646586.html">call</a> for greater representation of female artists. </p> <p>A month later, possibly encouraged by the fall of the American movie producer Harvey Weinstein, the call-out of sexist and abusive behaviour in cultural industries spread to the visual arts. Numerous <a href="https://news.artnet.com/art-world/allegations-against-former-artforum-publisher-knight-landesman-1128926">sexual harassment allegations</a> were made against powerful and prominent gatekeeper, Artforum co-publisher Knight Landesman.</p> <p>Landesman’s resignation from the international art publication has prompted many more women to come forward with stories about his alleged behaviour. An open letter written by women in the art world, “<a href="http://www.not-surprised.org/home/">We are not surprised</a>”, has morphed into a larger campaign linking abuse of power with structural inequality. </p> <p>By providing a graphic illustration of inequality, Richardson’s CoUNTess project has done much to bring the issue into view in Australia. Together with Weston’s thoughtful management and curation, the Cruthers Collection of Women’s Art is another important step in changing the status quo. Many arts organisations and individuals who have the capacity to bring about change have started counting and making an effort to <a href="http://visual.artshub.com.au/news-article/opinions-and-analysis/visual-arts/gina-fairley/are-we-finally-counting-right-254469">rectify</a> the imbalance. </p> <p>Yet when part of the cost of overlooking structural inequality is sexual harassment it is time for more decisive action. While extreme examples of sexual misconduct have not (yet) been exposed in Australia, demeaning behaviour is regularly meted out by the art scene gatekeepers. There are also anecdotal stories of grooming and sexual advances by powerful male gatekeepers. At present, few speak up because they fear damaging their career prospects. </p> <p>The CoUNTess Report <a href="http://www.thecountessreport.com.au/thecountessreport-recommendations.html">recommends</a> that “stakeholders in the Australian visual art sector routinely collect, analyse and publish gender representation data and use it to inform their policy decisions”.</p> <p>A rebalance of gender representation will only occur if all institutions that have a role in shaping the value of artists’ work start counting. </p> <p>As in the tertiary sector, many more girls than boys study art at school. In Victoria, for example, 73% of the cohort who completed <a href="http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/Documents/statistics/2016/section3/vce_studio_arts_ga16.pdf">Studio Art</a> in 2016 were girls. Unless there is significant improvement, why would future generations of women pursue a career in the visual arts? </p> <p><em>Image credits: Getty Images</em></p> <p><em>This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/still-counting-why-the-visual-arts-must-do-better-on-gender-equality-87079" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>. </em></p>

Art

Placeholder Content Image

Something remarkable has happened to Australia’s book pages: gender equality has become the norm

<p>For the first time in the nine-year history of the Stella Count, and perhaps in the entire history of Australian book reviewing, gender equality has become the norm in Australia’s books pages. Our new research for the Count reveals 55% of books reviewed in Australian publications in 2020 were by women.</p> <p>The Stella Count surveys 12 Australian publications – including national, metropolitan, and regional newspapers, journals and magazines – collecting data on the gender of authors and reviewers, length of review and genre of books reviewed.</p> <p><a href="https://stella.org.au/initiatives/research/the-stella-count/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">In 2012 when the Count began</a>, ten of the 13 publications then surveyed reviewed more books written by men. In 2020, only three of the 12 publications currently surveyed review more books by male rather than female authors. All bar one of these publications improved the gender balance of books reviewed significantly over this period.</p> <p>Some publications have dramatically transformed their pages to better represent women authors between 2011 and 2020. The Age has increased its representation of books written by women from 38% to 55%; The Monthly, from 26% to 56%; and Brisbane’s Courier-Mail, from 43% to 54%.</p> <p>The Saturday Paper entered the Count in 2014 with 37% of books reviewed written by women; it hit 61% women authors reviewed in 2020. Likewise, the Sydney Review of Books has increased its percentage from 36% in 2015 to 70% in 2020.</p> <p>These significant gains do not mean gender bias has been eliminated from the Australian book reviewing field. Some publications continue to find the gender parity line a hard one to cross – and in general, books written by men still attract longer reviews.</p> <p>After several years of stasis, The Australian has inched closer to parity with 45% of its reviews now of books by women. Australian Book Review, however, is the only publication in our study that has not significantly improved representation of women authors over the nine years: indeed, the percentage of reviewed books by women dropped from 47% in 2019 to 43% in 2020.</p> <h2>Why does this matter?</h2> <p>About 22,500 new book titles <a href="https://www.booksandpublishing.com.au/articles/2020/09/30/157402/publishing-and-the-pandemic-the-australian-book-market-in-2020/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">are published each year in Australia</a>. In a crowded marketplace, any opportunity to get a book discussed in the public eye is worth its weight in gold. Book reviews are a longstanding means of bringing attention and, possibly, acclaim to new titles.</p> <p>Our surveyed publications published 2,344 reviews in 2020. Some books received multiple reviews, meaning authors of new books have a less than 10% chance of being reviewed in one of Australia’s major book pages.</p> <p>When you look at the demographics, you would not expect Australia’s literary scene to be a place of gender bias. Women make up <a href="https://australiacouncil.gov.au/advocacy-and-research/making-art-work/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">65% of Australian writers</a>, <a href="https://www.booksandpublishing.com.au/articles/2018/11/21/118475/for-love-or-money-analysing-the-employment-survey/#:%7E:text=Show%20me%20the%20money,2013%20to%20%2460%2C207%20in%202018." target="_blank" rel="noopener">77% of employees in Australian publishing</a>, and <a href="http://www.businessandeconomics.mq.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0018/528030/FinalFinalReaders-Report-24-05-17-final.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">61% of “frequent readers”</a>.</p> <p>But until very recently, book reviewing – like <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/may/04/australian-version-orange-prize" target="_blank" rel="noopener">literary prizes</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/old-white-men-dominate-school-english-booklists-its-time-more-australian-schools-taught-australian-books-127110" target="_blank" rel="noopener">school syllabuses</a> – appeared to have a gender problem. There was, however, no comprehensive quantitative evidence to prove it.</p> <p>Newly-formed feminist nonprofit organisation, The Stella Prize, set out to do something about this in 2012. Inspired by <a href="https://www.vidaweb.org/the-count/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">similar counts happening overseas</a>, Stella began collecting statistics about the gender of authors whose books were reviewed. We began working with Stella in 2014 when it expanded the data collection in order to understand how gender bias was operating when it came to the size of reviews, the genre of books reviewed and the gender of reviewers.</p> <p>Over the ensuing years we have seen something remarkable happen: real change. Literary editors, when asked, were often surprised by the statistics, when presented with them. Or they made excuses for them: men pitch more or write books on important subjects that deserve reviewing, they said. These biases are no longer unconscious.</p> <h2>Gender disparities persist</h2> <p>While this is cause for celebration, there is still some way to go. While women writers now receive their fair share of reviews in terms of the overall number published, this does not mean they receive equal access to the actual space devoted to public literary criticism.</p> <p>Books written by women are still more likely to receive shorter or capsule reviews. Long reviews – those of 1000 words or more – continue to be largely the precinct of men, either as reviewers or as authors of books reviewed.</p> <p>Women authors receive 55% of all reviews, but only 45% of long reviews. Long reviews are the most conspicuous and prestigious, not just because of their size and prominence but because they are often written by prominent critics and accompanied by images such as book covers and author photos, which lead to market recognition.</p> <h2>Gender assumptions continue</h2> <p>Long-held assumptions about gender and reading are evident in the Stella Count data. Key among these is the idea that men are interested in books by men, and women are interested in books by women. Australian book reviews are highly partitioned by gender: female reviewers are much more likely to review books by women, and male reviewers books by men.</p> <p>Fiction reviews skew towards women as authors and reviewers (especially those written for children and young adults), and non-fiction skews towards men. This supports broader findings in relation to <a href="https://www.wlia.org.au/women-for-media-2021" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the representation of women in Australian media</a>: that women are less likely to be called upon to offer expert commentary on topics such as politics and sport.</p> <p>Our research also offers a snapshot of the state of book reviewing in Australia. It shows the number of reviews published in our surveyed publications dropped by 15% between 2019 and 2020, when the pandemic arrived here.</p> <p>The Stella Count is now the longest-running yearly count of a nation’s book pages conducted anywhere in the world. Next year will be the Stella Count’s ten-year anniversary. The real impact of COVID-19 on the gender make up of authors and reviewers – and on Australia’s literary sector more broadly – is yet to be seen, but data collection such as the Stella Count is key to understanding it.</p> <p><span id="docs-internal-guid-f28b028c-7fff-d401-9e6a-19a207e5c4ad">This article originally appeared on The Conversation.</span></p> <p><em>Image: Shutterstock</em></p>

Books

Placeholder Content Image

No, chivalry is not dead - but it's about time it was

<p><em>Image: Getty</em></p> <p>It is customary in many Western cultures for men to offer a range of special courtesies to women. This includes paying on dates, carrying heavy objects, pulling out chairs, opening doors, and allowing women to go first, even when the man was there first.</p> <p>Despite being generally seen as polite and even romantic, these acts of chivalry – where men are excessively courteous to women simply because they are women – have a dark side.</p> <p>What does research tell us?</p> <h2>Benevolent sexism</h2> <p>Psychologists refer to the paternalistic attitudes underlying these behaviours as<span> </span>benevolent sexism. Benevolent sexism involves the belief that men should cherish and protect women, and “put them on a pedestal”. This is because women are viewed as being more morally pure, weaker, and in need of protection.</p> <p>Although benevolent sexism has a positive tone, research has found people higher on these attitudes<span> </span>also tend to be higher<span> </span>on hostile sexism. Hostile sexism involves overtly negative and suspicious views of women - this is what people generally think about when they think of sexism.</p> <p>While it may seem paradoxical that benevolent sexism and hostile sexism are correlated,<span> </span>ambivalent sexism theory<span> </span>holds that benevolent sexism is reserved for “good” women who conform to traditional gender roles. Hostile sexism tends to be directed towards women who are perceived to be seeking to usurp men’s power.</p> <h2>Negative effects of benevolent sexism</h2> <p>Research shows there are a range of negative outcomes associated with benevolent sexism.</p> <p>For instance, one experiment found exposure to benevolently sexist comments led women to perform worse on a cognitive task, and to<span> </span>be more likely<span> </span>to think of themselves as incompetent.</p> <p>A more recent experiment found benevolently sexist feedback led to women displaying cardiovascular responses<span> </span>similar to experiencing threat.</p> <p>In the context of intimate relationships, men higher on benevolent sexism have been found to be more likely to provide dependency-oriented help to their female partners, such as providing solutions that overlooked their partner’s skills and efforts. These women<span> </span>subsequently felt<span> </span>less competent and less well-regarded by their partners.</p> <p>It may be harder to recognise this form of sexism because it can’t be measured in a pay gap or in the number of women in executive roles. It happens in everyday interactions between people, and often in private. People<span> </span>underestimate<span> </span>how harmful benevolent sexism is and overestimate how harmful hostile sexism is.</p> <p>The seemingly positive tone of benevolent sexism may even be perceived by some as being advantageous to women, but the scientific research does not bear this out.</p> <h2>Why are women drawn to benevolent sexism?</h2> <p>Despite all the negatives, women tend to<span> </span>prefer benevolently sexist men. This preference is even stronger among women who have<span> </span>high levels of insecurity<span> </span>about their intimate relationships.</p> <p>This preference for benevolently sexist men may be driven by women’s<span> </span>perception<span> </span>that they are warmer people. Recent research has found women saw benevolently sexist men as more attractive partners because they were seen as being more willing to invest, despite also recognising them as patronising and undermining.</p> <p>The preference for benevolent sexism<span> </span>may also be driven<span> </span>by women’s understanding that it offers an antidote to hostile sexism. This is supported by<span> </span>experimental research<span> </span>finding women were more likely to endorse benevolent sexism when they were exposed to information suggesting that men have negative attitudes towards women.</p> <h2>The poisoned chalice</h2> <p>So why are there so many negatives to something that is so widely appealing?</p> <p>One problem with benevolent sexism is the reinforcement of traditional gender roles about how women and men should relate to one another. It’s the same old problem that who we are or what we want should be predetermined by our sex rather than our own preferences and personalities.</p> <p>But as the above research suggests, an even bigger problem may be that benevolent sexism has the capacity to undermine women’s performance and well-being. There’s an inherent condescension in benevolent sexism that views women as less competent than men. This is not to say individual acts of kindness are a problem – but the double-standards driving them are a problem if they disadvantage one gender.</p> <p>The broadest implication of all this may be that benevolent sexism enacts men’s agency and dominance and women’s passivity and subordination. Men take a higher-status role as providers and protectors, while women play the role of weak and dependent followers.</p> <p>By rewarding submissiveness, benevolent sexism is antithetical to women’s power, and<span> </span>an impediment<span> </span>to women’s attainment of leadership roles. It may be an added challenge to be a figure of authority when you are expected to be extra pleasant and deferential.</p> <p>Benevolent sexism enables men to have loving relationships with women while maintaining male dominance in interpersonal relationships. It goes hand-in-hand with hostile sexism, which punishes women who challenge the status quo and seek gender equality. Benevolent sexism is the reward women get for being submissive to men, and that kindness is conditional upon their conformity to traditional gender roles.</p> <p>Achieving gender equality might mean sacrificing some of these perceived perks.</p> <p>This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/no-chivalry-is-not-dead-but-its-about-time-it-was-174197">The Conversation</a>.</p>

Caring

Placeholder Content Image

"I was looking for my equal": Paris Hilton ties the knot

<p dir="ltr">40-year-old socialite and hotel heiress Paris Hilton tied the knot in an extravagant ceremony on November 11, with celebratory events lasting a further two days after the couple said ‘I do’.</p> <p dir="ltr">Hilton married 40-year-old entrepreneur and venture capitalist Carter Reum in a lavish ceremony on Thursday in Los Angeles’ prestigious Bel Air neighbourhood, at late grandfather Barron Hilton’s estate.</p> <p dir="ltr">The couple got engaged in February, when Reum proposed during a surprise birthday vacation on a private island, with a ring designed by Jean Dousset, great-grandson of Louis Cartier.</p> <p dir="ltr">For the ceremony, the bride wore a custom high-necked Oscar de la Renta gown. Hilton told<span> </span><a rel="noopener" href="https://www.vogue.com/slideshow/paris-hilton-wears-oscar-de-la-renta-to-marry-carter-reum-in-bel-air" target="_blank"><em>Vogue</em></a><em>,<span> </span></em>“We spent months designing my dress to perfection with the amazing Oscar de la Renta designers, Fernando Garcia and Laura Kim.</p> <p dir="ltr">“I love how it turned out. I wanted something that was timeless, elegant, chic, and iconic, and I am so happy. My stylist, Sammy K, helped me choose accessories to go with my look.” Hilton explained on Instagram that the gown was inspired by Princess Grace Kelly's timeless elegance.</p> <blockquote style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CWO2mQDvb4G/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CWO2mQDvb4G/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank">A post shared by Paris Hilton (@parishilton)</a></p> </div> </blockquote> <p dir="ltr">As for the reception, Hilton changed dresses three times: off-the shoulder Ghalia Lav style with a corset top and sweetheart neckline, a long, crystal-covered style with cape designed by Pamella Roland and a short dress also by Oscar de la Renta.</p> <p dir="ltr">The reception featured a performance by Demi Lovato and a five-tier wedding cake created by Joanie and Leigh’s Cakes. Attendees included childhood best friend and<span> </span><em>Simple Life<span> </span></em>co-star Nicole Richie, and Hilton’s former stylist turned mogul, Kim Kardashian.</p> <p dir="ltr">The celebrations continued on Friday with a carnival at Santa Monica Pier, and on Saturday with a black tie ball.</p> <blockquote style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CWPQ-NgpeZK/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CWPQ-NgpeZK/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank">A post shared by Paris Hilton (@parishilton)</a></p> </div> </blockquote> <p dir="ltr">Reflecting on her ‘dream wedding’ and being a new bride on her<span> </span><a rel="noopener" href="https://parishilton.com/my-first-reflections-on-my-dream-wedding-and-being-a-bride/" target="_blank">blog</a>, Hilton wrote, “I’ve lived a very unique life in the public eye over the last two decades and throughout the years, I was always searching for my partner. Not only someone to share my dreams with but a man to build a future together. I was looking for my equal. Someone who wasn’t fascinated with “Paris Hilton” but instead, someone who saw the real me and loved me for me.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Someone who is loving and kind. Someone to be a father to my future children. I’m so proud of my love story with Carter, and even more excited that it’s just beginning. My next chapter as a wife is going to be the best yet.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Yesterday was the big day: My Wedding. I finally got to kiss my Prince and begin the happily ever after I’ve been dreaming of since I was a little girl. It was a true fairytale wedding.”</p> <p dir="ltr">Hilton filmed a docuseries for Peacock while preparing for her nupitals, with the first episode of<span> </span><em>Paris in Love<span> </span></em>premiering over the weekend.</p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image: Paris Hilton/Instagram</em></p>

Beauty & Style

Placeholder Content Image

White male artists dominate US galleries

<p>The walls of art galleries in the US are hung, almost to the exclusion of all else, with the works of white men.</p> <p>That’s the conclusion of a team of statisticians and art historians, <a rel="noopener" href="https://doi.org/%2010.1371/journal.pone.0212852" target="_blank">published</a> in the journal PLOS One.</p> <p><span>The researchers, led by Chad Topaz from the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at Williams College in Massachusetts, US, examined the public online catalogues of 18 major US museums and extracted records for 9000 named artists.</span></p> <p>These were then given over to a crowdsourcing platform, and with the help of the many people thereon the majority of the artists were successfully identified and biographies built.</p> <p>“Overall,” the authors report, “we find that 85% of artists are white and 87% are men.”</p> <p>Topaz and colleagues position their work in the context of previous studies that have examined diversity in museum and gallery staff, as well as visitor profiles.</p> <p><a rel="noopener" href="https://mellon.org/programs/arts-and-cultural-heritage/art-history-conservation-museums/demographic-survey/" target="_blank">One study</a>, for instance, found that 72% of members of the US Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD) identified as white. The same study found that while 60% of museum staff are female, women occupy only 43% of senior positions.</p> <p><span>Other studies have looked at visitors, and identified communities to target through outreach programs in attempts to increase diversity.</span></p> <p>The present work, though, is the first to study diversity among the artists represented.</p> <p>“If museums find knowledge of staff and visitor demographics important for programming decisions,” the authors write, “one might ask if demographics of the artists are important for collection decisions.”</p> <p>They cite “anecdotal evidence” that in the field of contemporary American art some collections are being actively augmented to rectify diversity imbalance, with the welcome effect that “it is now not unusual for these museums to compete with each other for major works of African American art”.</p> <p>However, the big picture – no pun intended – remains overwhelmingly coloured by men who are white.</p> <p>“With respect to gender, our overall pool of individual, identifiable artists across all museums consists of 12.6% women,” the authors report.</p> <p>“With respect to ethnicity, the pool is 85.4% white, 9.0% Asian, 2.8% Hispanic/Latinx, 1.2% Black/African American, and 1.5% other ethnicities.”</p> <p>Introducing greater diversity, however, is perhaps not as difficult as some might imagine.</p> <p>“We find that the relationship between museum collection mission and artist diversity is weak, suggesting that a museum wishing to increase diversity might do so without changing its emphases on specific time periods and regions,” the researchers conclude.</p> <p>They also admit that their analysis is constrained by a couple of limitations. First, a small proportion of artists identified could not be satisfactorily identified by gender or ethnicity. Second, artworks made by more than one artist were not included, and, third, many works of art – those from the Graeco-Roman period, for instance – are not assigned to identifiable individuals.</p> <p><em>Image credits: Shutterstock</em></p> <p><em>This article was originally published on <a rel="noopener" href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/people/society/white-male-artists-dominate-us-gallery-collections/" target="_blank">cosmosmagazine.com</a> and was written by Andrew Masterson. </em></p>

Art

Placeholder Content Image

British Airways introduces gender neutral greetings

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">British Airways are adopting new tactics to make their journeys more inclusive to all travellers. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The UK airline giant is joining a growing list of travel companies that are implementing more gender-neutral language, by ditching the traditional "ladies and gentlemen" greeting.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">While the move falls in line with an industry-wide global trend, the decision is also due to a change in the airline’s clientele, with the carrier reporting more children onboard since COVID-19 restrictions have been lessened. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">According to the </span><a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2021/10/09/hello-passengers-inclusive-welcome-announcement/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Telegraph</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, the new policies would adhere to changing social norms, as well as make younger customers feel more included. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The airline is just one of many to make the important change. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Japan Airlines was one of the first major carriers to ditch the traditional “ladies and gentlemen” titles for inflight announcements back in 2020. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">German carrier Lufthansa also changed their language to a more inclusive tone in July, as they pledged their commitment to diversity. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Qantas has also made strides towards inclusivity in 2018, as they changed the use of “mother and father” to “parents” on all flights to include parents of different sexualities. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">At the time, the airline introduced a new staff booklet highlighting language geared towards the</span> <a href="https://www.qantasnewsroom.com.au/media-releases/qantas-releases-video-to-celebrate-the-spirit-of-australia/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">"Spirit of Inclusion"</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">which advised against using language that could be deemed offensive to the LGBTQ+ community. </span></p> <p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Image credit: Shutterstock</span></em></p>

Travel Tips

Placeholder Content Image

No more boys versus girls at the ARIA awards

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The ARIA Awards has decided to majorly reform how the event takes place at a time of upheaval in the industry over gender and racial equality.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Australia’s major music awards has decided to get rid of gendered categories such as Best Male Artist and Best Female Artist for its upcoming November awards, organisers said. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Instead, the awards will be replaced with one all-inclusive award of Best Artist with 10 nominees in the running instead of five in each of the previous categories.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">"The time for separating artists based on gendered categories that exclude non-binary artists altogether has passed," Annabelle Herd, chief executive of ARIA, said in a statement.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">"The music industry is demanding a more equal, inclusive, safe and supportive space for everyone and ARIA is working hard to achieve that across the ARIA Awards and everything we do."</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The change to the awards will be put into effect for the November 2021 ceremony, which will be a digital-only event due to the ongoing pandemic. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The inclusive move embraces celebrated Aussie artist such as Tash Sultana and G Flip, who both identify as non-binary.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">ARIA is the latest organisation to demand more gender equality within the Australian entertainment industry. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In May, artist Jaguar Jonze spoke out about the sexual harassment she endured at the hands of two producers she was working with. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Anonymous allegations on social media about a variety of workplaces gathered pace, bringing further attention to the issue.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Sony Music’s Australian boss Denis Handlin, one of the most powerful figures in the local industry and the chair of ARIA's board, abruptly left the business in June amid a slew of allegations of toxicity in the workplace culture. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">ARIA has worked to establish a safe group to try to devise a way to make the industry — long associated with romantic notions of sex, drugs and rock and roll — a fairer and safer place to work.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">"The important thing is to get everybody involved because real change doesn't happen unless you get change across the board," Annabelle Herd said.</span></p> <p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Image credits: Getty Images</span></em></p>

Music

Placeholder Content Image

Equal best Olympics for Australia ever

<p>The Olympics are over and as a country we are so proud of our athletes and their achievements. Sixth in the medal tally, 9 record Golds in the pool, plus we branched out into new sports. Here's a look back at the Games that was – and why we did so well!</p> <p>It's been 16 days of non-stop action and we’ve said all of our goodbyes to what was possibly one of the most interesting Olympic Games ever held.</p> <p>It can be a sad time because you can get used to watching inspiring performances every day. But the good thing is there’s only three years until we all get to watch our favourite athletes take the stage again in Paris. Plus, the Paralympics will start on the 24<sup>th</sup> August – held in Tokyo again – and that will be just as inspiring.</p> <p>But back to what we’ve just witnessed at Tokyo for the 2020 Olympics. There were amazing feats achieved by athletes from many countries. As well as celebrating these, we also celebrate the countries which scored the most medals.</p> <p>The countries taking part in the Olympics are officially ranked by their gold medals. If two countries equal gold medals, silver medals are counted, then bronze.</p> <p>The United States of America edged out China to be the winner of the Tokyo Olympics, claiming 39 gold medals and 113 combined.</p> <p>The People’s Republic of China finished in second with 38 gold medals and 88 combined.</p> <p>Here in Australia, we had our enjoyed its equal-most successful Games in history with 17 gold medals, 7 silver, and 22 bronze, combining for a total of 46 medals.</p> <p>This was equal to the number of gold medals we won at the Athens Summer Olympics in 2004 so it’s our equal best performance as a country.</p> <p><strong>Here’s where each country ranks after the completion of the Tokyo 2020.</strong></p> <p><img style="width: 24px; height: 24px;" src="/nothing.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/63ee497eee4d45e5a2912e85ffbe20c2" /><img style="width: 500px; height: 267.6211453744493px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7842947/australia-medals.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/63ee497eee4d45e5a2912e85ffbe20c2" /></p> <p><strong>Our gold rush in the pool</strong></p> <p>Obviously, our swimming team performed extremely well with Emma McKeon and fellow swimmers claiming nine gold medals - more than Australia’s entire Olympic team managed at each of London 2012 and Rio 2016.</p> <p>This gold rush in the pool possibly reflected the relative normality that many Australians enjoyed compared to counterparts during the past 18 months.</p> <p>But it led to us winning a wider range of medals. We won gold in the male and female coxless fours, gold in the men’s double kayak, gold in the canoe slalom, gold for skateboarding, gold in the BMX bike riding and two golds in the men’s sailing.</p> <p>As Australia’s chef de mission for these games, Ian Chesterman said: “Success breeds success, everyone rode the wave of our early results.”</p> <p>Chesterman gave some other statistics to show you how well we went. We won 46 medals from 15 sports with 59 percent of our medallists on their Olympic debut. As well, we had 118 Australians finishing fourth or fifth across individual and team events.</p> <p>When asked to give his rating of this Olympics out of 10, Chesterman said: “I’d give it an 11.”</p> <p><strong>Why did we do so well this year?</strong></p> <p>The pundits are questioning what was it that helped our athletes perform so well. Was it the extra year of training – or the absence of high expectations from the Australian public because we’re caught up with lockdowns and the pandemic.</p> <p>Or was it the thought of so many Australians stuck at home in lockdown which actually spurred the athletes on? Whatever it was, there’s no question the Tokyo 2020 Olympics were a huge success.</p> <p>Asked this question, Chesterman said: “It’s such a complicated answer.” But he added it could have had something to do with the holistic approach to Games village life.</p> <p>Others have talked about the camaraderie in the athletes’ village, which by all accounts was of a genuine level that surpassed the past two games.</p> <p>This time, the Australian team had a barista, all types of nutritional treats, ice baths and as many extra services as possible. Chesterman said: “That created lots of spaces where people crossed over ... people tell me the feeling we created in the village did have an impact.”</p> <p>Now we have the challenge of making sure we duplicate or improve on this great success at Paris in three years’ time in 2024. After that it’s Los Angeles in 2028 and then it will be Brisbane in 2032.</p> <p>But with so many young Australians inspired by the past days of inspirational performances, there’s good reason for us all to feel optimistic.</p> <p><img style="width: 24px; height: 24px;" src="/nothing.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/40a1b22d94244bf7a1dd23c5828f7cc5" /><img style="width: 500px; height: 499.99999999999994px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7842948/keegan-palmer-um.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/40a1b22d94244bf7a1dd23c5828f7cc5" /></p> <p><strong>Here’s a list of Australia’s Tokyo 2020 Olympic Medallists</strong></p> <p><strong>GOLD MEDALLISTS</strong></p> <ul> <li>Jessica Fox</li> <li>Logan Martin</li> <li>Matt Wearn</li> <li>Keegan Palmer</li> <li>Izaac Stubblety-Cook</li> <li>Kaylee McKeown</li> <li>Emma McKeon</li> <li>Ariarne Titmus</li> <li>Bronte Campbell</li> <li>Meg Harris</li> <li>Cate Campbell</li> <li>Chelsea Hodges</li> <li>Jean van der Westhuyzen</li> <li>Thomas Green</li> <li>Lucy Stephan</li> <li>Rosemary Popa</li> <li>Jessica Morrison</li> <li>Annabelle McIntyre</li> <li>Alexander Purnell</li> <li>Spencer Turrin</li> <li>Jack Hargreaves</li> <li>Alexander Hill</li> <li>Mat Belcher</li> <li>Will Ryan</li> </ul> <p><strong>SILVER MEDALLISTS</strong></p> <ul> <li>Nicola McDermott</li> <li>Taliqua Clancy</li> <li>Mariafe Artacho del Solar</li> <li>Kyle Chalmers</li> <li>Jack McLoughlin</li> <li>Ariarne Titmus</li> <li>Kevin McNab</li> <li>Shane Rose</li> <li>Andrew Hoy</li> <li>Lachlan Sharp</li> <li>Tom Craig</li> <li>Tom Wickham</li> <li>Matthew Dawson</li> <li>Joshua Beltz</li> <li>Edward Ockenden</li> <li>Jacob Whetton</li> <li>Blake Govers</li> <li>Dylan Martin</li> <li>Joshua Simmonds</li> <li>Tim Howard</li> <li>Aran Zalewski</li> <li>Flynn Ogilvie</li> <li>Daniel Beale</li> <li>Trent Mitton</li> <li>Tim Brand</li> <li>Andrew Charter</li> <li>Jeremy Hayward</li> </ul> <p><strong>BRONZE MEDALLISTS</strong></p> <ul> <li>Patty Mills</li> <li>Joe Ingles</li> <li>Matthew Dellavedova</li> <li>Aron Baynes</li> <li>Jock Landale</li> <li>Matisse Thybulle</li> <li>Chris Goulding</li> <li>Josh Green</li> <li>Nathan Sobey</li> <li>Dante Exum</li> <li>Aron Baynes</li> <li>Duop Reath</li> <li>Nick Kay</li> <li>Ash Moloney</li> <li>Kelsey-Lee Barber</li> <li>Harry Garside</li> <li>Jessica Fox</li> <li>Rohan Dennis</li> <li>Melissa Wu</li> <li>Andrew Hoy</li> <li>Kareena Lee</li> <li>Owen Wright</li> <li>Brendon Smith</li> <li>Emma McKeon</li> <li>Cate Campbell</li> <li>Emily Seebohm</li> <li>Kaylee McKeown</li> <li>Izaac Stubblety-Cook</li> <li>Matthew Temple</li> <li>Alexander Graham</li> <li>Kyle Chalmers</li> <li>Zac Incerti</li> <li>Thomas Neill</li> <li>Ariarne Titmus</li> <li>Madison Wilson</li> <li>Leah Neale</li> <li>Ash Barty</li> <li>John Peers</li> <li>Jack Cleary</li> <li>Caleb Antill</li> <li>Cameron Girdlestone</li> <li>Luke Letcher</li> <li>Ria Thompson</li> <li>Rowena Meredith</li> <li>Harriet Hudson</li> <li>Caitlin Cronin</li> </ul> <p><em>Images: Getty Images</em></p>

News

Placeholder Content Image

68% of millennials earn more than their parents, but boomers had it better

<p>A lot of us are pessimistic about our children’s future. According to the most recent data from the Pew Global Attitudes Survey (in 2019), just 29% of Australians believe today’s children will be <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/global/question-search/?qid=1625&amp;cntIDs=&amp;stdIDs=">better off financially</a> than their parents.</p> <p>Such pessimism is common in many developed nations. In Japan, just 13% believe children will be better off, in France 16%, in Britain 22%. Australians are still marginally less optimistic than Canadians (30%) and Americans (31%), and significantly less optimistic than Swedes (40%) and Germans (48%).</p> <p><a href="https://www.lifecoursecentre.org.au/research/journal-articles/working-paper-series/are-we-richer-than-our-parents-were-absolute-income-mobility-in-australia/">Our research shows</a> things aren’t as bad as many fear, with 68% of millennials (those born between 1981 and 1987 for our research) earning more income than their parents did at the same age. This is close to the highest percentage <a href="https://www.iza.org/publications/dp/13456/trends-in-absolute-income-mobility-in-north-america-and-europe">among countries</a> for which estimates are available. The experience of gen-Xers (born from the early 1960s to late 1970s) has been similar.</p> <p>But it’s not all good news. That percentage is lower than the upward mobility enjoyed by baby boomers (born from 1946 to the early 1960s). For those born around 1950, 84% earned more at age 30-34 than their own parents did at the same age.</p> <p>There are two prime reasons for this decline in absolute mobility since the 1980s. Lower economic growth leading to average incomes growing more slowly; and growing income inequality.</p> <p><strong>How we did our research</strong></p> <p>The share of people whose income is higher than their parents at the same age is known as “absolute income mobility”. It is an appealing indicator of economic progress because it captures aspirations for our children. It reflects economic growth, inequality and opportunity.</p> <p>Estimating absolute mobility, though, is quite hard. The data we need to measure it directly – information about what people earned at a particular age compared to their own parents – does not exist for Australia.</p> <p>To do this exercise, therefore, we’ve applied <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/356/6336/398">new statistical methods</a> that have been developed in recent years to estimate absolute mobility without linked parent-child data. These methods, using separate generational data on income distribution, have been verified in research published <a href="https://4a2bc32e-a967-44a4-9e23-f2b3b9cf578e.usrfiles.com/ugd/4a2bc3_10d644c7d36c42eba03136cca93e56fc.pdf">in 2018</a> and <a href="https://www.iza.org/publications/dp/13456/trends-in-absolute-income-mobility-in-north-america-and-europe">in 2020</a>.</p> <p>Our own approach closely follows leading international studies. We used sources of data including the Melbourne Institute’s Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey, data from Australian Bureau of Statistics surveys and income tax records.</p> <p><strong>What our research shows</strong></p> <p>The main results are below. Of people born in 1950, 84% had higher household incomes than their parents. This fell to about 68% for those born since the early 1960s. It has stayed roughly constant for gen-Xers and millennials.</p> <hr /> <p><iframe id="CxoOP" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/CxoOP/3/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none;" frameborder="0"></iframe></p> <hr /> <p>The main driver of this change is slower economic growth. Boomers’ incomes were much higher than their parents particularly due to decades of uninterrupted economic growth from World War II to the mid-1970s.</p> <hr /> <p><iframe id="qjHQt" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/qjHQt/1/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none;" frameborder="0"></iframe></p> <hr /> <p>The other driver has been rising income inequality over the past 40 years, after falling in earlier decades, as the next chart shows. The relationship between inequality and mobility is complicated, because high inequality for either generation lowers the rate of mobility.</p> <hr /> <p><iframe id="8bQEW" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/8bQEW/1/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none;" frameborder="0"></iframe></p> <hr /> <p>Absolute mobility would be higher if income was adjusted for family size – 78% for millennials, because the younger generation have smaller families than their parents did at the same age.</p> <p><strong>Complicating factors</strong></p> <p>Our results are for income earned in a single year (at about age 32). We have also found similar results when looking at income at around age 37.</p> <p>Ideally, we’d like to calculate absolute mobility of lifetime income. But methods to do this have not yet been developed. So we don’t know what mobility in lifetime income is. The same could be said for indicators of income inequality, which mostly use single-year income measures as well.</p> <p>You also might be wondering about how the cost of housing fits in – an important issue given the escalating cost of a home compared to the median wage.</p> <p>In all the results shown, income is adjusted for inflation using the Consumer Price Index. Housing is a big part of the index though costs such as the price of land and mortgage interest payments are <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/6467.0Feature+Article1Mar+2017">not included</a>.</p> <p>The ABS does factor mortgage debts into its “Selected Living Cost Indices”, but these only go back to 1998, so couldn’t be used in these calculations. However, the changes in the CPI and the SLCI over the past 20 years are similar, which gives us some assurance our estimates account for the cost of housing. Further work could explore this in more detail.</p> <p><strong>Valid concerns</strong></p> <p>Australia has achieved high levels of absolute income mobility for all generations since at least the 1950s. This is still the case. But the pessimism about our children’s financial future is rooted in some valid concerns.</p> <p>Wage growth has been <a href="https://www.rba.gov.au/publications/bulletin/2017/mar/2.html">slow for years</a>. Income inequality has been <a href="https://wid.world/country/australia/">increasing for decades</a>. So has the gap <a href="https://grattan.edu.au/report/generation-gap/">between young and old</a>.</p> <p>So there are clear threats for the prosperity of today’s children – even without factoring in concerns such as climate change.<!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/161647/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p> <p><span><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/peter-siminski-250958">Peter Siminski</a>, Professor of Economics, <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-technology-sydney-936">University of Technology Sydney</a></em></span></p> <p>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a rel="noopener" href="https://theconversation.com/68-of-millennials-earn-more-than-their-parents-but-boomers-had-it-better-161647" target="_blank">original article</a>.</p>

Retirement Income

Placeholder Content Image

Reforming ‘dad leave’ is a baby step towards greater gender equality

<p>Grattan Institute <a href="https://grattan.edu.au/report/cheaper-childcare/">research published today</a> shows the average 25-year-old woman who goes on to have a child can expect to earn A$2 million less by the time she is 70 than the average 25-year-old man who becomes a father. For childless women and men, the lifetime gap is about A$300,000.</p> <p>This earnings gap leaves mothers particularly vulnerable if their relationship breaks down.</p> <p><strong>Unpaid work still falls largely on women</strong></p> <p>The income gap between mothers and fathers is typically due to women reducing their paid work to take on most of the caring and household work.</p> <p>Even before COVID-19, Australian women were doing 2.2 fewer hours of paid work on average but <a href="https://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=GENDER_EMP">2.3 more hours of unpaid work</a> than men every day.</p> <p>The following chart shows how women’s and men’s time use diverges after the birth of their first child. Mothers typically reduce their paid work to take on the lion’s share of caring and household work. The change for fathers is less dramatic. They continue their paid work and take on some extra caring.</p> <p>But habits stick. Even a decade after the birth of the first child, the average mother does more caring and twice as much household work as the average father.</p> <p>When one parent does most of the caring, they become more confident in looking after the child. <a href="https://www.quarterlyessay.com.au/essay/2019/09/men-at-work">They know</a> how to change the nappies, what food the child likes, and when nap time is. This knowledge tends to compound, leaving one parent with most of the parenting load.</p> <p><strong>Dad leave can help</strong></p> <p>Policy change can help different habits to form. Evidence from around the world – including <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0891243213503900">North America</a>, <a href="https://skemman.is/bitstream/1946/22378/1/a.2013.9.2.4.pdf">Iceland</a>, <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-social-policy/article/parental-leave-and-domestic-work-of-mothers-and-fathers-a-longitudinal-study-of-two-reforms-in-west-germany/0091E9A20481C242D73F044FDDDBAC34">Germany</a>, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5415087/">Britain and Australia</a> – shows fathers who take a significant period of parental leave when their baby is born are more likely to be more involved in caring and other housework years later.</p> <p>But the Australian government’s paid parental leave scheme encourages a single “primary carer” model. The primary carer is eligible for 18 weeks of <a href="https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/individuals/services/centrelink/parental-leave-pay">Parental Leave Pay</a> at minimum wage (as well as any employer entitlements).</p> <p>In 99.5% of cases that leave is <a href="https://grattan.edu.au/report/cheaper-childcare/">taken by mothers</a>. Secondary carer leave, called “<a href="https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/individuals/services/centrelink/dad-and-partner-pay">Dad and Partner Pay</a>”, is two weeks at minimum wage.</p> <p>Many other countries provide much longer periods of parental leave for fathers and partners, sometimes referred to as “daddy leave”, as the following table shows.</p> <p>Iceland, for example, provides three months’ paid leave to each parent and a further three months for them to divide as they wish. Sweden’s scheme entitles each parent to three months of parental leave, plus ten months parents can divide as they wish.</p> <p>The schemes with the highest take-up typically pay 70% or more of the recipient’s normal earnings, as opposed to the minimum wage Australia’s scheme pays.</p> <p>But a generous scheme is still no guarantee of success.</p> <p>Social expectations about different roles for men and women at work and home can still be a barrier. This appears evident in Japan and South Korea. Despite generous schemes offering 52 weeks of leave for fathers, paid at more than two-thirds of normal earnings, just <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2020/01/japan-paternity-leave-koizumi/605344/">6% of Japanese fathers</a> and <a href="https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/lifestyle-culture/article/3048455/south-koreas-paternity-leave-taboo-blame-it-confucius">13% of Korean fathers</a> take parental leave.</p> <p><strong>A modest policy proposal</strong></p> <p>For a “daddy leave” scheme to have the best chance of success in Australia, the government would need to spend a lot of money and political capital.</p> <p>Emulating a best-practice parental leave scheme like Iceland’s would cost at least A$7 billion a year.</p> <p>A scheme where government payments are linked to an individual’s normal salary would encourage take-up. But the cost would dwarf the <a href="https://www.dss.gov.au/publications-articles-corporate-publications-annual-reports/department-of-social-services-annual-report-2018-19-0">A$2.3 billion</a> the federal government currently spends on parental leave, and the biggest benefits would go to wealthy families. Almost all Australian government payments are strictly means-tested, so payments proportional to salary would be a radical policy departure.</p> <p>One option is a paid parental leave scheme that gives parents <a href="https://grattan.edu.au/report/cheaper-childcare/">more flexibility to share leave</a>. Six weeks reserved for each parent plus 12 weeks to share between them would allow mothers to still choose to take the 18 weeks now provided to primary carers. But families could also make other choices, and fathers would get more time early on to bond with their child and develop their parenting skills.</p> <p>This would be a relatively cheap reform. If paid at minimum wage like the existing scheme, it would cost at most an extra A$600 million a year.</p> <p><strong>Baby steps to equality</strong></p> <p>Reforming Australia’s paid parental leave is not the first and best option to increase women’s workforce participation. Our research shows changes such as <a href="https://grattan.edu.au/report/cheaper-childcare/">making child care more affordable</a> are likely to deliver more bang for buck.</p> <p>But there is still a case for modest reforms to parental leave. Though it might not be <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0958928712440201?journalCode=espa">a game-changer</a> for women’s workforce participation, if constructed properly it will have some effect.</p> <p>This is supported by evidence from Quebec’s parental leave scheme. Introduced in 2006, it included five non-transferable weeks for fathers, paid at about 70% of their usual salary. A <a href="https://cepr.org/sites/default/files/events/papers/4576_PATNAIK%20-%20Reserving%20Time%20for%20Daddy.pdf">2014 study</a> found it led to mothers, on average, doing an extra hour of paid work a day, earning an extra US$5,000 a year.</p> <p>More fathers taking parental leave is also worthwhile in its own right, promoting greater sharing of the unpaid workload within families and giving fathers more time with their kids.</p> <p>Think of it as a baby step towards greater time and earnings equality between women and men in Australia.</p> <p><em>Written by Owain Emslie, Danielle Wood and Kate Griffiths. Republished with permission of <a href="https://theconversation.com/reforming-dad-leave-is-a-baby-step-towards-greater-gender-equality-144113">The Conversation.</a> </em></p>

Beauty & Style

Placeholder Content Image

Smash hit Senior Moments returns for sequel with no equal

<div> <div> <p><span>A show for people who can remember being told the King was dead - that's George, not Elvis.</span></p> </div> </div> <p>The <em>Senior Moments</em> gang is back for another bout of hilarity from legendary performers Tony Barber, Max Gillies and Normie Rowe.</p> <p>These days Australian TV icon Tony Barber of <em>Sale of the Century</em> fame is having more and more “Senior Moments”. So is master satirist Max Gillies (<em>The Gillies Report</em>) and original rock legend Normie Rowe (<em>Les Misérables</em>).</p> <p>It’s no coincidence. They are appearing as part of the classic cast in the new show that follows the smash hit comedy revue <em>Senior Moments</em>. After wowing more than 55,000 seniors Australia-wide on their national 2019 season, the <em>Senior Moments</em> gang is back with a new show for another national tour in 2020.</p> <p><em>Senior Moments 2: Remember, Remember</em> is another 90 minutes of hilarious comedy sketches, songs and inspired senior silliness from a cast old enough to know better.</p> <p>“The show is suitable for all ages,” says Max Gillies, “As long as that age is in the high double digits or you can remember when we still used pound notes and milk came in glass bottles.”</p> <p><img style="width: 500px; height: 281.25px; display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7833944/senior-moments-hero.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/088a1889a1024f71b4afc9f8da5f9208" /></p> <p style="text-align: center;"><em>The gang getting ready for the show</em></p> <p>Among the highlights of the show: Tony Barber will be asking the questions in the quiz show sketch “Senior of the Century”. Yes, the senior contestants may be a little slower on the buzzers, and their short-term memory may not be what it used to be, but they still remember when “Boomer” used to be a kangaroo that people liked, not a generation young people blamed for everything.</p> <p>The show may be called <em>Senior Moments</em>, but Tony still can’t get away with asking the same question twice in a row.</p> <p>This is a show for people who remember when ‘wireless’ meant the radio, not an internet connection option.</p> <p>Amongst the silliness, Normie Rowe plans to sing one of his classics, but only if Max Gillies doesn’t sing one of his. But Max has even persuaded Bob Hawke to make a cameo!</p> <p>The <em>Senior Moments 2</em> cast also includes Kim Lewis (<em>Sons &amp; Daughters</em>), David Callan (<em>The Goon Show Live</em>) and Dave Gibson (<em>Andrew Denton Breakfast Show</em>) with the shockingly young virtuoso Mitchell Price-Norgaard dazzling on piano.</p> <p>It’s a second serving of hilarious sketches and wonderfully witty songs performed by legendary show business seniors ageing disgracefully before your eyes.</p> <p><em>Senior Moments 2: ‘Remember Remember’</em> is a seriously funny revue for slightly old people. If that’s you (be honest!) then grab some tickets before you forget!</p> <p><strong><em>Senior Moments 2</em> is touring Australia in Feb-March 2020. Dates and Tickets via the website. <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.seniormomentsshow.com.au/" target="_blank" data-auth="NotApplicable">www.SeniorMomentsShow.com.au</a></strong></p> <p>Here's what people said about the original <em>Senior Moments</em>.</p> <div class="fb-post" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/seniormomentsshow/posts/2454727404755605" data-width="auto"> <blockquote class="fb-xfbml-parse-ignore"> <p>I just loved your show ... saw it at Sutherland... so funny. The writing and acting were just excellent. And the walking...</p> Posted by <a href="#">Meaghan Lee</a> on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/seniormomentsshow/posts/2454727404755605">Thursday, April 4, 2019</a></blockquote> </div> <div id="fb-root"></div> <div class="fb-post" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/seniormomentsshow/posts/2453677374860608" data-width="auto"> <blockquote class="fb-xfbml-parse-ignore"> <p>An absolute MUST to go and see. Especially if you're 50+. Laughed from start to finish - Only problem was.... I resemble most of it !!!</p> Posted by <a href="#">Chris Guest</a> on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/seniormomentsshow/posts/2453677374860608">Tuesday, April 2, 2019</a></blockquote> </div> <div id="fb-root"></div> <div class="fb-post" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/seniormomentsshow/posts/2429443733950639" data-width="auto"> <blockquote class="fb-xfbml-parse-ignore"> <p>Thank you for a delightful afternoon of fun at Chatswood on Wednesday. Best wishes for your future shows. Noela</p> Posted by <a href="https://www.facebook.com/people/Diamond-Fish/100012601412031">Diamond Fish</a> on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/seniormomentsshow/posts/2429443733950639">Friday, February 22, 2019</a></blockquote> </div> <p><em>This is a sponsored article written in partnership with the <a href="https://www.seniormomentsshow.com.au/">Senior Moments</a> gang.</em></p>

Retirement Life

Our Partners