The Misogyny Factor - Anne Summers

[Jane B]

This is a sad indictment of the misogynistic society that Australia still is in the 21st century. I read with horror the statistics that show that we have regressed from the heady days of the 1980's when women thought they could 'have it all' into a society where women are still not given equal pay for equal work and of the inequality of women's lifetime earning prospects as compared to men's. To quote one example p.53 'A report released in October 2012 showed that a 25 year old woman with post-graduate qualifications would, over her lifetime, earn $2.49 million. The 25 year old man who sat beside her in class would by contrast, accumulate $3.79 million.'

I read with even more horror how social media was used by women haters of both sexes to denigrate our first woman Prime Minister and I was one of those people that Anne Summers mentions that went to her website to read her speech to Newcastle University 'Her Rights at Work: the political persecution of Australia's first...' which horrified me even more.

And now we have the Abbott Government and a Prime Minister who prompted Gillard's 'I will not be lectured about sexism and misogyny by this man. Not now, not ever.....' speech that reverberated around the world and that has prompted women to stand up and say enough is enough there needs to be an end to sexism and misogyny. 

Anne Summers has, in this book presented women with a challenge to 'change the rules and change the game." 

[Merilyn]

Hear, hear!