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BLOGS
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The Guyliner
:Not Tall, Not Dark and Kinda Funny-Looking: Dating a Guy Who Isn't Your Type
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Gideon Burrows
:Breastfeeding Is More Successful When Dads Are Involved Too
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Philippa Warr
:Last Words - Vice and the Contagion of Suicide
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Sarah Dean
:Cash and Rocket Tour Reaches Italy: Stopping Traffic and Changing Lives
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Karen Edwards
:Travel Eye: Discovering China
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If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
We have been raised in a society where the only women we see fighting the issues are those labeled as 'feminists' or 'fat' in a demeaning voice. The majority of admired female icons are supermodels in bathing suits adorning sports magazine covers in grocery stores.
Comments on my previous blogs from this trip have noted the tour's "carbon footprint" and how it seemed like "a holiday for rich people". But here, in the words of the women who the hundreds of thousands of pounds it has raised will affect, is why I believe raising money in style is a game-changing concept that shouldn't be sniffed at...
Vice magazine isn't the first to put out a tasteless shoot in the name of fashion and 'art', but considering suicide rates are steadily rising, it could start with a decent apology.
I've found the perfect relationship ... I get told at least three times a week I look beautiful. I get praise for my achievements and support for the difficult bits. I get cards and flowers. Oh and did I mention the fashion advice and the long phone calls that last late into the night?
When I was a teenager, the myth was that men thought about sex every 15 seconds, that's around 4,000 times a day! I didn't know if this was true back then, but it seems much less plausible given what we know now. Men turn out to be nowhere near as heroic as this urban legend suggests.
Grandparents are often more patient and forgiving with their grandchildren than the grandchildren's own parents. This is often the result of having a better perspective and longer experience in raising young ones.
Money and power can afford you many luxuries, and one of those luxuries is being able to take four days out of your schedule to raise awareness and fundraise. And when these women (the Cash and Rocket tour), led by the super-organised Julie Brangstrup, fundraise they do it in a big way.
It might not be a new pair of socks, or even a toolbox, but a 'daddy quota' could be long-lasting and the best Father's Day present he'll ever have. That way dad might even have time to go to Iceland.
Why should men wish to discuss 'women's issues'? Because they are now everybody's issues. Today, the main workplace debate is often about 'work-life' and family, and these have no gender bias.
Rather than focusing on gender quotas, it should always be about putting the right person in the job, regardless of their gender. Businesses need to value experience and loyalty in their people and where appropriate maintain a flexible attitude to employees who have childcare commitments.
Women deserve recognition for their contribution to national life and to the economy; Britain deserves to present at least the appearance of an equal and progressive society; but with its current management, the Bank of England looks both ungracious and reactionary.
According to Times columnist Sarah Vine, "forty only feels good if you're famous". "Hollywood does not reflect the real world" and, in essence, that an invisibility cloak surrounds older women who are civilians rather than movie icons. Much as I admire Sarah Vine as a writer, my response to her theory is, "oh, purleeese. Sarah", it's simply not true,
Why should businesses actively pursue a diverse board? Because diversity creates a more innovative, dynamic boardroom, that incorporates more of the varied skills that make a business successful. So what can be done do to get more women into senior positions?
It's not the fact of replacing Elizabeth Fry with Winston Churchill on the fiver that so many women object to, it's the fact that replacing the only woman, apart from the Queen, with a man means there will be no other woman of achievement represented on our money.
A survey by Stylist Magazine in 2010 found that 96% of women feel guilty at least once a day. I have to admit that I have also found this. In my work as a leadership coach and author I've noticed that the Achilles heel for many senior female leaders and female breadwinners is often guilt.
When it comes to driving, there are a couple of things you can guarantee will be making the rounds in the news - firstly, every other week you'll hear about some celebrity getting caught speeding, and secondly, there will be a new addition each month to the age-old debate about which sex is better on the road.
