(And what would have been my Dad’s 90th birthday!)

For those of you wondering why, here’s some stats :

Globally women do 66% work, earn 10% income & own 1% property.
that’s 66% work, earn 10% income & own 1% property

So that’s bad, right? As in, it’s NOT FAIR. As in, how the hell does anyone go through life thinking that’s right?
(of course, as my Dad always said, “life’s not fair” … he was a bloke though.)

If you prefer something a little closer to home, a little more everyday-insidious, just pick up a copy of this week’s Radio Times and count up the number of women writers and directors listed, I’m guessing it will be 20% or less. It is most weeks. Check out the film listings for your local cinema and count the women directors and writers there. Even less I’m sure. Even the arts (that hotbed of assumed radicalism!!) can’t allow the 52% of the population that is women to rise to their – our – correct place, ie, BESIDE men, doing the running, SHARING our world.

Now, if you want to do something about it, or just for more info, here’s some links :
the International Women’s Day site

Kate Shepherd, Liverpool-born NZ suffragette, part of the universal suffrage campaign in New Zealand/Aotearoa, which meant NZ women (all NZ women) got the vote 25 years before British women. (Not to mention all those women in Switzerland and the UEA!!)

And I’m sure you’ve all seen this by now, but just in case you haven’t : Judi Dench/Daniel Craig and some heartbreaking statistics.

Phew, so, for a little light relief, as well as (I hope!) some politics, you can come along to Brixton Library this Friday 11th to see me, Monica Ali, Sophie Kinsella, Rebecca Chance and Lisa Jewell (how’s that for a brilliantly eclectic lineup?!) reading, talking and, if we’re very lucky, eating cake. (Yes, I do know Marie Antoinette wasn’t the best feminist role model …)
Be great to see you there if you’re in our part of town, do book though as we’re expecting a good turn out.
Contact Marie Ayoola on 020 7926 1075 or email mayoola@lambeth.gov.uk
(Not a women-only event, chaps welcome!)