To Breed of Not to Breed ...

"He's a bit older and has had a few more of life's experiences. He's a parent, father, husband. All of those things," Victorian Premier John Brumby, on why John Lenders was chosen over Tim Holding for the position of State Treasurer. With this comment it seems the new Victorian Premier is precariously following in the notorious footsteps offederal Liberal Senator BillHeffernan, who in the past criticised federal Deputy Labor leader Julia Gillard for being"deliberately barren".

'Mark oh so metro, says Costello' by Michelle Grattan The Age, September 27, 2006.

TREASURER Peter Costello has pooh-poohed Mark Latham's lament about the rise of the metrosexual male, saying the former Labor leader behaves like one himself.
"It's all right for him to throw off at metrosexuals and how men have gone wussy. (But) I might take his criticism more seriously ifhe donned a tool kit on his beltand went out to a construction site every day," Mr Costello said.
"He stays at home to raise his two sons — which is very metrosexual."
Mr Costello stressed there was nothing wrong with stay-at-home dads.
But "ifyou're a stay-at-home dad, don't go out and attack men for losing their masculinity"...

'It's Like Owning Her ... '

"For the male reader it's analogous to sexual conquest. You might not be able to pick her up in a bar and have sex with her, but if you can get her in the pages of a magazine it's like owning her sexually. These magazines are the ultimate form of objectifying women. They're just lying around in their underwear saying 'Look at me'; it's so passive. At the end of the day, Ralph and Zoo do nothing positive for women in any way. Thefact that the mass-magazines are so out-and-out sexist makes me pessimistic about the goals that feminism has kicked."

Andrew Singleton, Doctor of Philosophy, specialising in gender issues and lecturer in sociology at Monash University, commenting on glossy magazines using sex to sell...still. The Age, Metro, September 11, 2006.

'Beware the queen bee', WHAT WOMEN SAY (by Karen Kissane, The Age, Insight, August 12, 2006)

Louise Adler, CEO, Melbourne University Publishing:

LOUISE Adler often quotes American author Nancy Kline in speeches about women and business: “Invited into the seats of power, we agree largely to leave behind and devalue our women’s culture. We respond with‘Thank you, I accept your invitation to enter the boardroom and agree to put all my energies into …lying (andcall it diplomacy), into obsession (and callitloyalty), intoexploitation (and call it resourcefulness), into conquest(and call it reward), and into control (and call it power). I will not cry or … expect tenderness … ’ “I think that’s women’s experience. But I take the view that women can lead differently, that they don’t have to behave in the way men do.”

**

Elizabeth Bryan, NSW branch president of the Australian Institute of Company Directors:

“YOU need a critical mass of women to create a woman-friendly environment. In a lot of professions, the graduates are over 50 per cent women. By the time you reach managerial and professional status, about 44 per cent are women. The next stage up is executive management and that drops to 10 per cent women. CEOsare only 2.3 per cent women. It’s fear of female power. Most of the senior women come up through support roles, where they are not seen as a threat. But you probably won’t get a woman running the core business of the company. As soon as you are a line manager, you have real power and are therefore a real threat. Before we get real change we will have to have lots of women, not just the occasional extraordinary one.”

**

Katherine Milesi, partner with accounting and consulting firm Deloitte:

"There is still some degree of reticence in women about putting themselves up for promotion, particularly from senior manager to director, and from director to partner. Often it's because they are starting on a family and don't believe it's possible to have a family and be a partner at the same time. About12 months ago a couple of peoplehad a word in my ear and they changed my mind about that. I have a part-time partnership; I have every Friday off because of my children. When you are first in management, it's certainly a learning curve asking people to do things for you. Women will often be more apologetic - 'Can you do this as a favour for me?' rather than 'This needs to be done and can you do it?'"

Deliberately Offensive

“I mean, anyone who chooses to deliberately remain barren… they’ve got no idea what life’s about”
Liberal Senator Bill Heffernan (come on, who’s surprised!), commenting on Labor’s health spokeswoman, Julia Gillard, having no children.

BRW June 1-7, 2006 page 82

What A Girl Wants ... *Sigh*

'Samsung Australia has released its E530 handset,hoping to corner the female market. Thepink phone can count calories, measure body fat and store the weekly shopping list. It can even be programmed to tell a woman when she is ovulating. And yes, it has a camera and MP3 music player.'’

As reported in The Age, 6 January, 2006 in an article on new model mobile phones.

Mandy Still Standing

"I’m thinking of trying to buy the copyright to Elton John’s song I’m Still Standing, but I don’t want to tempt fate. So I’ll just play it to myself quietly at night."

The federal Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs, Senator Amanda Vanstone, on calls for her resignation (BRW December 15-21 edition, page 22) 

A Warning to All Crazy Feminists

""She doesn't come with baggage of any kind," Mr Bennett said.

"She does not have any sort of extreme views."

"She will be a very good, balanced appointment."

Mr Bennett added Justice Crennan was not a "crazy feminist".

"Federal Solicitor-General David Bennett, a lifelong friend, said Justice Susan Crennan was a brilliant lawyer and balanced person."

As reported in the Herald Sun, 21 September, 2005 in reference to Justice Crennan’s recent appointment to the High Court of Australia, the second woman to do so.

“Feminism encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians.”

Pat Robertson, US televangelist 1992

“Gee, you must have a lot of testosterone” is a typical response Clio Cresswell gets when men find out she’s a mathematician.

Clio Cresswell is one of seven female mathematiciansin Australia.

The Sunday Herald Sun, Sunday Magazine, July 3, 2005 

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