School prom costs are in hundreds
Stretch limousines, catwalk dresses and hours in a beauty salon can soon add up to hundreds of pounds which can be a drain on the average families finances.
For parents of girls, the Prom night bill could well top £370, while for boys it’s likely to be at least £80.
...
“The boys often go to town on their outfits as much as the girls,” Sam added.
“We have had them buying corsages and one boy even wore a pink suit one year!”
PROM PRICES (GIRLS)
Dress £230 upwards
Hair £80 (extensions)
Nails £20
Shoes £20-plus
Ticket £20
TOTAL: £370
PROM PRICES (BOYS)
Suit (to hire) £30
Waistcoat hire £5
Shoe hire £15
Haircut £10
Ticket £20
TOTAL: £80
Now. I appreciate that these costs are not necessarily representative (£230 upwards for a dress? Hair extensions as a matter of course??) but I think that what they are representative of is the difference in cost for women to look socially acceptable in formal situations than men - including the workplace. I know some men will choose to wear designer labels or tailored suits while some women will choose a more minimalist and/or cheaper wardrobe (and, say, grow their hair instead of getting extensions!), but I think that on average there is a difference in how much it costs for a working woman to make herself presentable to clients and bosses than for men, and the difference in these prom expenses is an early indication of that. The boys may well "go to town on their outfits as much as girls", but it no doubt costs them a lot less to do so.
Thursday, 4 June 2009
Wednesday, 3 June 2009
Rising number of women doctors
1) Women are 'taking over the health service'
Since the 1980s, the proportion of male consultants has fallen from 90 per cent to 72 per cent and is on a steep downward trend. Among the youngest consultants aged 30 to 34, just 53 per cent are men.
In medical school, female students already outnumber male students and by 2013 more than half of GPs will be women. By 2017, a majority of all doctors will be women.
The gender balance is changing so fast that the future care of patients is threatened, the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) says.
2) Women doctors will outnumber men within a decade: research
Professor Jane Dacre, chair of the working group which produced the report, said: "This research has shown that women doctors will soon be in the majority and are now reaching consultant status in greater numbers.
"It is likely to lead to an increase in part time working. Also, women on average make different specialty choices from men.
"Understanding now that women doctors tend to favour more flexible working patterns and certain specialties will enable the Government and NHS to secure and maintain the high standard of UK doctors.
"It may be, if current trends continue, that more doctors are needed to provide the same amount of cover.
"More research is essential to find out how reorganising shift patterns and access to childcare facilities will affect the choices doctors make about how they work."
Compare and contrast.
Since the 1980s, the proportion of male consultants has fallen from 90 per cent to 72 per cent and is on a steep downward trend. Among the youngest consultants aged 30 to 34, just 53 per cent are men.
In medical school, female students already outnumber male students and by 2013 more than half of GPs will be women. By 2017, a majority of all doctors will be women.
The gender balance is changing so fast that the future care of patients is threatened, the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) says.
2) Women doctors will outnumber men within a decade: research
Professor Jane Dacre, chair of the working group which produced the report, said: "This research has shown that women doctors will soon be in the majority and are now reaching consultant status in greater numbers.
"It is likely to lead to an increase in part time working. Also, women on average make different specialty choices from men.
"Understanding now that women doctors tend to favour more flexible working patterns and certain specialties will enable the Government and NHS to secure and maintain the high standard of UK doctors.
"It may be, if current trends continue, that more doctors are needed to provide the same amount of cover.
"More research is essential to find out how reorganising shift patterns and access to childcare facilities will affect the choices doctors make about how they work."
Compare and contrast.
Tuesday, 2 June 2009
Feminism: not actually that complicated!
The farce ceiling
It takes a brave, middle-aged, white CEO, or a spectacularly anachronistic old duffer, to come out with the following: "There are really no glass ceilings, despite the fact that some of you moan about it all the time … What else do you want, for God's sake?" Determinedly refraining from replying, "Well, I'd like you to stop addressing female journalists as 'darling', Daddy-O," I will suggest that Rose makes the common error of assuming that just because Nicola Horlick exists, all hurdles have been elegantly scaled.
Yes, childbirth is, as Rose says, "a biological fact". But that women still earn £369,000 less than men during their careers, according to a recent BBC documentary, is not. Nor is the tenacious universal attitude that the woman should bear the major brunt of childcare, even if she works just as hard as the man.
But let's not bully poor Rose. Let's instead turn to an interview with the author Martina Cole, who is a "self-confessed feminist". Great! She's officially less stupid than Shakira. Unfortunately, it comes directly after this other confession: "I have a housekeeper. And it's fantastic. It's like having a wife, it really is." Call me crazy but I don't think that equating a "wife" with a "cleaner" is quite the feminist dream.
It takes a brave, middle-aged, white CEO, or a spectacularly anachronistic old duffer, to come out with the following: "There are really no glass ceilings, despite the fact that some of you moan about it all the time … What else do you want, for God's sake?" Determinedly refraining from replying, "Well, I'd like you to stop addressing female journalists as 'darling', Daddy-O," I will suggest that Rose makes the common error of assuming that just because Nicola Horlick exists, all hurdles have been elegantly scaled.
Yes, childbirth is, as Rose says, "a biological fact". But that women still earn £369,000 less than men during their careers, according to a recent BBC documentary, is not. Nor is the tenacious universal attitude that the woman should bear the major brunt of childcare, even if she works just as hard as the man.
But let's not bully poor Rose. Let's instead turn to an interview with the author Martina Cole, who is a "self-confessed feminist". Great! She's officially less stupid than Shakira. Unfortunately, it comes directly after this other confession: "I have a housekeeper. And it's fantastic. It's like having a wife, it really is." Call me crazy but I don't think that equating a "wife" with a "cleaner" is quite the feminist dream.
Monday, 1 June 2009
Police recruit videos his assault of an unconscious woman cadet, shows the video to his colleagues.
Police recruit 'filmed sex attack' on woman cadet at Hendon training centre
A national newspaper reported how the unnamed PC, in his 20s, allegedly assaulted the woman after she passed out at his flat following a night out.
It then claimed the man showed the mobile phone video to colleagues in the canteen at the Metropolitan Police training college, in Aerodrome Road, last November.
When he was confronted by his bosses, the PC resigned on the spot.
Another man, who had been drinking with the pair, was reprimanded after failing to report the attack.
What strikes me is that this is one of those 'grey-area' rapes, right? They knew each other, she went back to his flat willingly, she was so drunk she might have given permission? If this pitiful excuse for a human hadn't recorded and displayed evidence of his own attack (to his fellow police recruits at their training centre, what the HELL?), it could well have become a he-said/she-said thing that is dropped and swept under the carpet as soon as possible.
A national newspaper reported how the unnamed PC, in his 20s, allegedly assaulted the woman after she passed out at his flat following a night out.
It then claimed the man showed the mobile phone video to colleagues in the canteen at the Metropolitan Police training college, in Aerodrome Road, last November.
When he was confronted by his bosses, the PC resigned on the spot.
Another man, who had been drinking with the pair, was reprimanded after failing to report the attack.
What strikes me is that this is one of those 'grey-area' rapes, right? They knew each other, she went back to his flat willingly, she was so drunk she might have given permission? If this pitiful excuse for a human hadn't recorded and displayed evidence of his own attack (to his fellow police recruits at their training centre, what the HELL?), it could well have become a he-said/she-said thing that is dropped and swept under the carpet as soon as possible.
Sunday, 31 May 2009
"Girls are drowning in equal opportunities at work!" says rich white man.
Women have never had it so good at work, says M&S chief
"Girls today have never had it so good, right?" said Rose. "Apart from the fact that you've got more equality than you ever can deal with, the fact of the matter is that you've got real democracy and there really are no glass ceilings, despite the fact that some of you moan about it all the time.
"Women can get to the top of any single job that they want to in the UK. You've got a woman fighter pilot who went on to join the Red Arrows ... I mean what else do you want, for God's sake? Women astronauts. Women miners. Women dentists. Women doctors. Women managing directors. What is it you haven't got?"
Rose also dismissed the idea that having children can create an uneven playing field for working mothers.
"Childbirth is a biological fact," he said. "Women have children: I can't help that. But I know lots of women who have got two or three kids - Nicola Horlick is a good example - there are many girls in here [Marks & Spencer] who have got two kids who come to work. Kate Bostock [recently appointed to oversee the company's UK merchandising operation, including clothes and homeware] has got two or three kids and she's running the full-time, biggest buying job in the UK, so it can be done."
I emphasised the bits I found disrespectful and/or unbelievable. Girls? Moaning? Dismissing major concerns because there has been ONE female fighter pilot who joined the Red Arrows? And all of this from the male head of a company that until a month ago penalised women financially for having larger breasts.
Just because it can be done doesn't mean that women can do it with the same ease or for the same rewards as men. So some well-paid women (almost certainly middle-class, university educated and very likely white, heterosexual and of a socially acceptable body weight) have children and work. THEY CAN AFFORD NANNIES, CLEANERS AND BABYSITTERS. That's not gender equality, that's class privilege.
"Girls today have never had it so good, right?" said Rose. "Apart from the fact that you've got more equality than you ever can deal with, the fact of the matter is that you've got real democracy and there really are no glass ceilings, despite the fact that some of you moan about it all the time.
"Women can get to the top of any single job that they want to in the UK. You've got a woman fighter pilot who went on to join the Red Arrows ... I mean what else do you want, for God's sake? Women astronauts. Women miners. Women dentists. Women doctors. Women managing directors. What is it you haven't got?"
Rose also dismissed the idea that having children can create an uneven playing field for working mothers.
"Childbirth is a biological fact," he said. "Women have children: I can't help that. But I know lots of women who have got two or three kids - Nicola Horlick is a good example - there are many girls in here [Marks & Spencer] who have got two kids who come to work. Kate Bostock [recently appointed to oversee the company's UK merchandising operation, including clothes and homeware] has got two or three kids and she's running the full-time, biggest buying job in the UK, so it can be done."
I emphasised the bits I found disrespectful and/or unbelievable. Girls? Moaning? Dismissing major concerns because there has been ONE female fighter pilot who joined the Red Arrows? And all of this from the male head of a company that until a month ago penalised women financially for having larger breasts.
Just because it can be done doesn't mean that women can do it with the same ease or for the same rewards as men. So some well-paid women (almost certainly middle-class, university educated and very likely white, heterosexual and of a socially acceptable body weight) have children and work. THEY CAN AFFORD NANNIES, CLEANERS AND BABYSITTERS. That's not gender equality, that's class privilege.
He says that women have children and he can't help that, but I beg to differ; there are many things that large companies can do regarding maternity leave, promotions, breastfeeding or childcare in an attempt to level out the playing field for working mothers. Whether or not M&S do those things is beside the point. To claim that having children is just something women do and that all the employment issues it leads to have been completely overcome is ignorant and offensive to the many, many women who struggle to raise their children and work in a society that, on the whole, does not support this aim unless the women are wealthy enough to afford childcare from the start.
Frankly, I'd be more interested to know if these women he discuss in his article (sorry, 'girls') are paid the same amount as men at the same level of the company, because the evidence overwhelmingly suggests otherwise.
(Countered with some good points in The Guardian a few days later:
Would you buy knickers from this man?)
Saturday, 30 May 2009
Why ladettes are scary but shouldn't be
Women beware women
Aggressive women have always provoked anxiety. We have traditionally invested a vast amount of energy into socialising women to be thoughtful of others, gentle in disposition, and dependent - or, as John Ruskin once put it, "pure womanhood" was "enduringly, incorruptibly good, instinctively, infallibly wise - wise, not for self-development, but for self-renunciation" - traits that don't come naturally to anyone. Consequently, belligerent women are regarded as far worse than their male comrades.
...
Only one-fifth of all reported violence occurs in or around pubs. Simply restricting women's drinking is not going to help, because excessive drinking is a symptom of the problem, rather than the problem itself. In a society that valorises displays of competitive assertiveness, is it any wonder that women are spurning traditional feminine mannerisms? And given that a great deal of male violence is taken for granted, even romanticised, why shouldn't young women decide that they too want "a bit of the action"?
More to the point, the disapproving attention given to ladettes ignores the fact that the main perpetrators of violence are still men. Males are responsible for well over three-quarters of all violent crimes, both on the streets and, more invidiously, inside the privacy of homes.
Aggressive women have always provoked anxiety. We have traditionally invested a vast amount of energy into socialising women to be thoughtful of others, gentle in disposition, and dependent - or, as John Ruskin once put it, "pure womanhood" was "enduringly, incorruptibly good, instinctively, infallibly wise - wise, not for self-development, but for self-renunciation" - traits that don't come naturally to anyone. Consequently, belligerent women are regarded as far worse than their male comrades.
...
Only one-fifth of all reported violence occurs in or around pubs. Simply restricting women's drinking is not going to help, because excessive drinking is a symptom of the problem, rather than the problem itself. In a society that valorises displays of competitive assertiveness, is it any wonder that women are spurning traditional feminine mannerisms? And given that a great deal of male violence is taken for granted, even romanticised, why shouldn't young women decide that they too want "a bit of the action"?
More to the point, the disapproving attention given to ladettes ignores the fact that the main perpetrators of violence are still men. Males are responsible for well over three-quarters of all violent crimes, both on the streets and, more invidiously, inside the privacy of homes.
Friday, 29 May 2009
Are 10-year-old girls tarts, lesbians or girly-girls?
Tart or lesbian? How pupils at all-girl primaries live in fear of labels that stick
Teachers regularly made the word "lady" synonymous with ideal behaviour: "Nice ladies open doors for others" or "Ladies don't talk with their mouths full".
The word was also used to refer to acceptable standards of appearance. Two girls said they were told off because they attempted to go home in their games kit.
One said: "I should not be seen to be dressed like this by people from outside of the school. I could run into builders and perverts on the way home."
Dr Allan said: "Even by doing something as supposedly simple as wearing a netball skirt to travel home from school, this girl appeared to be caught up in judgments about her moral and sexual behaviour."
Teachers regularly made the word "lady" synonymous with ideal behaviour: "Nice ladies open doors for others" or "Ladies don't talk with their mouths full".
The word was also used to refer to acceptable standards of appearance. Two girls said they were told off because they attempted to go home in their games kit.
One said: "I should not be seen to be dressed like this by people from outside of the school. I could run into builders and perverts on the way home."
Dr Allan said: "Even by doing something as supposedly simple as wearing a netball skirt to travel home from school, this girl appeared to be caught up in judgments about her moral and sexual behaviour."
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