It is interesting that females out score males throughout school, they represent greater numbers of the student population at university, where, they also outscore males. They perform better than males in the early parts of their careers and then, blip, they are suddenly under represented in upper management roles. Yet people can still argue that there are no gender biases when it comes to selecting people for promotion at work. Suddenly women become seriously out performed by men?
Women also have to manage childbearing as well as maintaining their careers, so yes they need some extra flexibility in the work place to achieve this. But resistance to providing flexibility discriminates against women and prevents them from being able to reach their full potential. Not only that, the workplace loses out because it is not utilising a good proportion of its talent.
I find this line very interesting:
Australia has one of the world’s lowest rates of educated women participating in the workforce and one of the world’s highest rates of female education, a situation that is "uniquely acute" in Australia, the report added.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/business/some-men-fear-competing-with-women-20131025-2w5i8.html#ixzz2ihcpHp1L
Can Australia really afford to ignore half of it's talent?
It is convenient for a male dominated workforce to effectively get rid of fifty percent of its competition by removing women from being contenders in the climb up the corporate ladder. It also means that nothing culturally has to change and business can continue as usual. It takes some more evolved thinking to structure our workplaces in order to make them fairer for women and to encourage their greater participation.
Nearby childcare, flexibility of hours, part time positions, management that understands the needs of women with families, are just a few of the things that need to change. Understanding the needs of families also extends to the male partners of women, who may also need flexibility within the work force. A male dominated culture can discriminate against other males who do not share the same views on putting work above the needs of family and home life. Many men would like to be able to support and facilitate their partners back into the work force by sharing some of the child care load. But they fear that by asking for flexible hours or the ability to work from home they will be seen as 'not serious' about their careers and they too will be discriminated against and have progression in their careers hampered.
Again, women lose out, as they may feel that for the good of their partner's careers they themselves have to accept less work or no work in order to bare the majority of the demands of child rearing.
The old model of nine to five, Monday - Friday, can change. By extending work hours, but making the hours at work more flexible, parents can easily both combine child rearing and paid work. The workforce benefits and the workers benefit in maintaining key employability skills. The years of child bearing are just a proportion out of a person's career. We can't afford to lose good educated women out of the workforce long term, just because they have spent some time out raising children. We need to value the role these women (and men) play in raising the next generation and then facilitate their re entry into the work force by adequately recognising their skills and talents.
Friday, 25 October 2013
Thursday, 24 October 2013
Homemade soy yoghurt
I just can't keep up with the amount of yoghurt my family is eating since I started to make my own soy yoghurt.
It's yummy, it's cheap and it's as easy as making a cup of tea. Here's how I do it:
You will need:
1 carton of UHT soymilk
1 Easiyo jar and insulator
boiling water
yoghurt starter
Step 1.
Boil the kettle
Step 2
Clean and sterilise the yoghurt jar
Step 3
Pour the UHT soy milk into the yogurt jar
Step 6
Put the bevel into the insulator and add boiling water only up to the bottom of the bevel
You will need:1 carton of UHT soymilk
1 Easiyo jar and insulator
boiling water
yoghurt starter
Step 1.
Boil the kettle
Step 2
Clean and sterilise the yoghurt jar
Step 3
Pour the UHT soy milk into the yogurt jar
Step 4
Sprinkle in a tiny amount of yogurt starter culture
Step 5
Put the lid on and shake the jar
Step 6
Put the bevel into the insulator and add boiling water only up to the bottom of the bevel
Step 7
Put the yoghurt jar into the insulator and put on the lid
Step 8
Leave for 8-10 hours
Step 9
Remove the yoghurt from the insulator and chill.
Then it is time to ENJOY
YUM
Notes
About 15 years ago I used to make soy yoghurt from an Easiyo packet mix. Probably due to poor sales the soy yoghurt packet mix disappeared from the shelves. I pretty much gave up making yoghurt at that stage and gave my Easiyo maker away.
Recently, after some internet research I decided to give the soy yogurt making another go. I experimented with different ways to insulate the milk for the required length of time to produce yoghurt with varying degrees of success. Once I settled on my method, I decided to buy another Easiyo and use it. I was using commercial soy yoghurt as my culture, but my success rate was very hit and miss. Plus, I was also mixing in powdered soymilk to try and thicken the yoghurt and give it a more creamy consistency.
Then I found a website where I could buy non dairy yoghurt culture. It was nice and cheap and they delivered to my address.
It was with some trepidation that I used the culture the first time. It was not very clear about how much to use, just a tiny amount was all that was necessary.
The first batch was an outstanding success, and the family loved it. Since then I have been making soy yoghurt regularly and it always works. It's so easy and so delicious. The only failure I had was when I decided to get clever and branch out and try and make yoghurt out of Chai and Quinoa milk. Big mistake, it just didn't work at all.
One litre of yoghurt costs a little over $2. About $2 for the carton of milk and the culture which was about $25 for 100 doses. Recently I purchased milk at half price. I bought up a lot because being UHT it has a nice long shelf life. The cost of my yoghurt making has dropped dramatically to about $1.25 a litre.
The advantage of using UHT milk is that you don't need to scald the milk. That means one less step in the yoghurt making process and less washing up!
Wednesday, 23 October 2013
Feeling very uncomfortable about cheap clothes
I have a moral difficulty with buying clothes now.
I have noticed that the price of clothing has dropped markedly in recent years. This doesn't feel right. Logically, with the effects of inflation, I should be paying 2, 3 or 4 times as much for clothing as I did when I was a teenager in the eighties. Instead I am faced with a wide choice of clothing options that cost many times less. This feels wrong and quite frankly makes me feel uncomfortable.
I can accept that with the popularity of certain common clothes and advances in manufacturing techniques, clothing costs could be rationalised to a certain degree. I remember jeans costing around $60 - $80 dollars, that was very expensive for a teenager back in the eighties. But jeans were something that we all wanted. We didn't have a lot of choice of jeans and tended to have to buy them from specialist jeans shops. Last year, I bought a black pair of skinny jeans for $10 from Kmart. Hmmm almost 30 years down the track and the price has dropped from $60 to $10?
I can understand prices in technology dropping like that over time, but actual physical, manufactured items being so cheap, feels completely unsustainable. The raw materials, the manufacturing of the cloth, the transport to the factory, the production of the article, the transport to the warehouse, (including in most cases international transportation) then the transport to the shops. Each stage requires mark up so each person makes some money out of the supply chain. How is this possible? How do we manage to create fair and equitable profit in each step of the chain?
This is where the discomfort comes from, as instinctively I know we can't. Some people in the chain are getting seriously squeezed. What conditions do these people endure to enable me to buy a $10 pair of jeans?
It is not just jeans either. T-shirts for $5, shoes for $10, sometimes less. The raw materials alone, should surely cost more than that. Then add in wages and transportation cost and profit margin. It makes me feel like we are rushing towards a mighty abyss. The day of reckoning must one day come.
We can't hide from the fact that there are people in third world countries who are working in awful conditions, being paid bugger all, to produce this clothing. All this cheap stuff from Big W, Kmart and Target flash sweatshop and human suffering to me like a neon sign.
So now I have the dilemma of what can I do about it? Not buy the cheap clothing?
That, unfortunately is a little too simplistic.
1. How does me stopping buying cheap clothing affect the sweat shop workers livelihoods? Even if their wages are disgustingly low, surely some wage is better than none.
2. If I actively buy more expensive clothing where is the guarantee that they too are not still produced by people in third world country sweatshops?
My teenage daughter suggested only shopping in Op shops. Then my money would pay forward in a good way by helping charity.
That's an OK idea, but I've never been a particularly good Op shopper. Maybe it's something to do with being the youngest in my family and the recipient of too many hand me downs as a youngster. I don't know. But I struggle to find styles and sizes I like and that suit me in Op shops. I do shop there occasionally, but I never feel that I find the plums like other people seem to do.
I think what I'd really like is some good moral labelling, so that when I walk into a shop I can make a choice about whether I agree with the way the product has been produced. I buy organic food where I can so as to support the concept of encouraging organic farming as a viable food production method. In a similar way, I'd like my dollars to be able to go towards encouraging a fairer system of the manufacture of my goods.
I would also like one of those major chains to show some initiative and leadership and move beyond the model of dirt cheap is best and support a more sustainable and fairer system. I'd like to see them proudly and bravely stand up and denounce this trade in human suffering and insist that their suppliers source goods from companies that pay their workers reasonable wages and provide decent working conditions. Of course the goods are going to cost us more. But then it is up to us consumers to get on board and support those retailers doing the right thing and spend our money with them. Surely once one retailer makes the move and shows how it can be done, the others will be shamed into following suit.
I have noticed that the price of clothing has dropped markedly in recent years. This doesn't feel right. Logically, with the effects of inflation, I should be paying 2, 3 or 4 times as much for clothing as I did when I was a teenager in the eighties. Instead I am faced with a wide choice of clothing options that cost many times less. This feels wrong and quite frankly makes me feel uncomfortable.
I can accept that with the popularity of certain common clothes and advances in manufacturing techniques, clothing costs could be rationalised to a certain degree. I remember jeans costing around $60 - $80 dollars, that was very expensive for a teenager back in the eighties. But jeans were something that we all wanted. We didn't have a lot of choice of jeans and tended to have to buy them from specialist jeans shops. Last year, I bought a black pair of skinny jeans for $10 from Kmart. Hmmm almost 30 years down the track and the price has dropped from $60 to $10?
I can understand prices in technology dropping like that over time, but actual physical, manufactured items being so cheap, feels completely unsustainable. The raw materials, the manufacturing of the cloth, the transport to the factory, the production of the article, the transport to the warehouse, (including in most cases international transportation) then the transport to the shops. Each stage requires mark up so each person makes some money out of the supply chain. How is this possible? How do we manage to create fair and equitable profit in each step of the chain?
This is where the discomfort comes from, as instinctively I know we can't. Some people in the chain are getting seriously squeezed. What conditions do these people endure to enable me to buy a $10 pair of jeans?
It is not just jeans either. T-shirts for $5, shoes for $10, sometimes less. The raw materials alone, should surely cost more than that. Then add in wages and transportation cost and profit margin. It makes me feel like we are rushing towards a mighty abyss. The day of reckoning must one day come.
We can't hide from the fact that there are people in third world countries who are working in awful conditions, being paid bugger all, to produce this clothing. All this cheap stuff from Big W, Kmart and Target flash sweatshop and human suffering to me like a neon sign.
So now I have the dilemma of what can I do about it? Not buy the cheap clothing?
That, unfortunately is a little too simplistic.
1. How does me stopping buying cheap clothing affect the sweat shop workers livelihoods? Even if their wages are disgustingly low, surely some wage is better than none.
2. If I actively buy more expensive clothing where is the guarantee that they too are not still produced by people in third world country sweatshops?
My teenage daughter suggested only shopping in Op shops. Then my money would pay forward in a good way by helping charity.
That's an OK idea, but I've never been a particularly good Op shopper. Maybe it's something to do with being the youngest in my family and the recipient of too many hand me downs as a youngster. I don't know. But I struggle to find styles and sizes I like and that suit me in Op shops. I do shop there occasionally, but I never feel that I find the plums like other people seem to do.
I think what I'd really like is some good moral labelling, so that when I walk into a shop I can make a choice about whether I agree with the way the product has been produced. I buy organic food where I can so as to support the concept of encouraging organic farming as a viable food production method. In a similar way, I'd like my dollars to be able to go towards encouraging a fairer system of the manufacture of my goods.
I would also like one of those major chains to show some initiative and leadership and move beyond the model of dirt cheap is best and support a more sustainable and fairer system. I'd like to see them proudly and bravely stand up and denounce this trade in human suffering and insist that their suppliers source goods from companies that pay their workers reasonable wages and provide decent working conditions. Of course the goods are going to cost us more. But then it is up to us consumers to get on board and support those retailers doing the right thing and spend our money with them. Surely once one retailer makes the move and shows how it can be done, the others will be shamed into following suit.
Tuesday, 22 October 2013
Delivering Catalogues
Tried delivering Penny Miller catalogues as a way to make some money for a stay at home mum.
"make up to $200 a week" was the ad.
The literature said 1 hour each on Thursday and Friday to deliver, Two hours each on Monday and Tuesday to pick up. Then the delivery of the goods will add another couple of hours, works out as a nice hourly rate of at least $20.
Hmmm well that was very optimistic.
Delivery took me about 5-5 and a half hours and I didn't even get them all delivered. Pickup was quicker than expected. I thought it would take 11 hours. So far it has taken six hours. I'll need at least another hour tomorrow to pick up some stragglers.
The take up rate is very small of around 240 magazines delivered there were 14 orders. I may pick up another tomorrow, but it doubtful.
Commission plus delivery will net me around $125. So at 12 and half hours, plus another hour and half at least to deliver the goods, the hourly rate is looking more like $9 an hour, and that's being generous.
"make up to $200 a week" was the ad.
The literature said 1 hour each on Thursday and Friday to deliver, Two hours each on Monday and Tuesday to pick up. Then the delivery of the goods will add another couple of hours, works out as a nice hourly rate of at least $20.
Hmmm well that was very optimistic.
Delivery took me about 5-5 and a half hours and I didn't even get them all delivered. Pickup was quicker than expected. I thought it would take 11 hours. So far it has taken six hours. I'll need at least another hour tomorrow to pick up some stragglers.
The take up rate is very small of around 240 magazines delivered there were 14 orders. I may pick up another tomorrow, but it doubtful.
Commission plus delivery will net me around $125. So at 12 and half hours, plus another hour and half at least to deliver the goods, the hourly rate is looking more like $9 an hour, and that's being generous.
Monday, 21 October 2013
Happy Anniversary
Eighteen years ago I married my Husband, Steve, at Boydtown NSW. We chose the Seahorse Inn as our place to wed because we had had some special moments there in the past. On the day of our wedding the Inn was closed for renovations, but they kindly opened a room for us to get ready in and allowed us to use their grounds for the ceremony. It was really nice to have the place to ourselves.
Steve and I chose to have a quiet wedding ceremony. We both came from fairly big families so a traditional wedding would have been a reasonably big deal. We wanted a wedding that would mean something very personal and special to us. We didn't want to please others or conform to convention.
So.... we eloped.
Well, almost eloped.
At the time Steve was living in Bombala and I was living in Canberra. We saw each other on the weekends, with mainly me, driving down to Bombala for the weekend. This arrangement continued for a while after we were married.
We planned our wedding in secret. This was in the days before everyone had mobile phones. So when we invited our parents down to Bombala for the weekend, we had them at our mercy. I came down in my parents car and we drove through snow. It was a slightly magical experience being driven through the snow knowing that I was getting married the next day. Also knowing that my parents had no idea that they were transporting their daughter on the day before her marriage. The snow felt like a good omen to me.
Both sets of parents knew that we had a big announcement, and they were right! I was pregnant with our first baby and we had a very strong relationship, so an engagement announcement was not to be unexpected. What was unexpected was the announcement that came next.
We made dinner on Friday night for our guests and then made the big announcement:
"we are getting married.......tomorrow"
No mobile phones, so no way to let the rest of the family know. No need for us to worry about gate crashers.
On Saturday morning we awoke to a winter wonderland with a soft coating of snow on the ground. Although Bombala has altitude and is cold, snow is not such a common occurrence. We got all dressed up and headed down to the coast to the Sea Horse Inn at Boydtown. It was a rainy day, but that didn't bother us a bit. The rain seemed to bring out the beautiful colours in the gardens.
My father complained about the lack of warning as he felt a little lacking in suitable clothes for a wedding. That didn't bother us a bit either.
My mum was my 'bridesmaid/matron of honour' and Steve's dad was his best man. They were also the witnesses on our wedding certificate. Steve's mum and my dad were given some readings to read out as part of the ceremony. Steve's grand mother was there too. Just the seven of us ( is that a lucky number?) making it very small, very personal and very special.
After the ceremony we adjourned to the Eden Fisherman's Club for lunch and a cake.
Steve and I spent the night at Bumblebrook cottage in Candelo, a farmstay B and B.
Then it was back to life and back to work. We always joke that we spent our honeymoon with other people. On the Monday I went to Long Beach on a camp with my year 3/4 class from Yarralumla Primary School. Steve was at a course in Sydney.
Steve and I chose to have a quiet wedding ceremony. We both came from fairly big families so a traditional wedding would have been a reasonably big deal. We wanted a wedding that would mean something very personal and special to us. We didn't want to please others or conform to convention.
So.... we eloped.
Well, almost eloped.
At the time Steve was living in Bombala and I was living in Canberra. We saw each other on the weekends, with mainly me, driving down to Bombala for the weekend. This arrangement continued for a while after we were married.
We planned our wedding in secret. This was in the days before everyone had mobile phones. So when we invited our parents down to Bombala for the weekend, we had them at our mercy. I came down in my parents car and we drove through snow. It was a slightly magical experience being driven through the snow knowing that I was getting married the next day. Also knowing that my parents had no idea that they were transporting their daughter on the day before her marriage. The snow felt like a good omen to me.
Both sets of parents knew that we had a big announcement, and they were right! I was pregnant with our first baby and we had a very strong relationship, so an engagement announcement was not to be unexpected. What was unexpected was the announcement that came next.
We made dinner on Friday night for our guests and then made the big announcement:
"we are getting married.......tomorrow"
No mobile phones, so no way to let the rest of the family know. No need for us to worry about gate crashers.
On Saturday morning we awoke to a winter wonderland with a soft coating of snow on the ground. Although Bombala has altitude and is cold, snow is not such a common occurrence. We got all dressed up and headed down to the coast to the Sea Horse Inn at Boydtown. It was a rainy day, but that didn't bother us a bit. The rain seemed to bring out the beautiful colours in the gardens.
My father complained about the lack of warning as he felt a little lacking in suitable clothes for a wedding. That didn't bother us a bit either.
My mum was my 'bridesmaid/matron of honour' and Steve's dad was his best man. They were also the witnesses on our wedding certificate. Steve's mum and my dad were given some readings to read out as part of the ceremony. Steve's grand mother was there too. Just the seven of us ( is that a lucky number?) making it very small, very personal and very special.
After the ceremony we adjourned to the Eden Fisherman's Club for lunch and a cake.
Steve and I spent the night at Bumblebrook cottage in Candelo, a farmstay B and B.
Then it was back to life and back to work. We always joke that we spent our honeymoon with other people. On the Monday I went to Long Beach on a camp with my year 3/4 class from Yarralumla Primary School. Steve was at a course in Sydney.
Sunday, 20 October 2013
God is like a woman
I found a reference to God being like a woman in our church bulletin today.
I must say that I have always heard God referred to in the masculine, apart from that joke (when God made man she was only joking). Literature, film and art all seem to depict God in the masculine. He is the father and many metaphors are based around the idea of him being our father. It has bothered me for a while because God should have no gender.
This is an excerpt from the parish bulletin
' ...we are often old in the bible that God is like a woman. For example, like a woman in labour; like a woman who can never forget the child of her womb; like a mother eagle that shelters her chicks beneath her ample wings....(of course God has no gender. However we humans are obliged to use both masculine and feminine images in order to talk about God).....'
It's interesting because apart from images of Mary, we don't see too many female depictions of God in our culture.
I must say that I have always heard God referred to in the masculine, apart from that joke (when God made man she was only joking). Literature, film and art all seem to depict God in the masculine. He is the father and many metaphors are based around the idea of him being our father. It has bothered me for a while because God should have no gender.
This is an excerpt from the parish bulletin
' ...we are often old in the bible that God is like a woman. For example, like a woman in labour; like a woman who can never forget the child of her womb; like a mother eagle that shelters her chicks beneath her ample wings....(of course God has no gender. However we humans are obliged to use both masculine and feminine images in order to talk about God).....'
It's interesting because apart from images of Mary, we don't see too many female depictions of God in our culture.
Saturday, 19 October 2013
To cot or not to cot
We never really used a bassinet with Ellie. As a new born I needed to have her in bed with me. As time has gone on she has stayed in our bed. I'm so used to her being tucked up between us, it is hard to imagine being able to sleep without her there.
That then has got me thinking about when should we start the transition to a cot. Or indeed should we take that step at all? I wonder how many people out there have managed to skip the cot stage with their babies?
So much paraphernalia is synonymous with babies such as cots, high chairs, dummies and bottles. Yet many of these things are not actually necessary. It wasn't until my second child I realised I could by pass the bottle stage and go directly from breast to cup. Somehow I didn't seem to be able to connect those dots with my first baby and just used a bottle as a matter of course. It wasn't until someone mentioned that a bottle wasn't really necessary once they were old enough to drink from a cup, that I realised there was no need to introduce a bottle at all.
Now after three babies and up to my fourth, I'm wondering if I can skip the cot stage. I have a friend who is kindly storing a cot for me. I can pick it up at any time. But when ever I think of the concept of a cot I just get this image of a cage on wheels. I feel like I would be imprisoning Ellie like a little animal if I put her in a cot.
Up until now, Ellie has been having her sleeps in our bed. I feed her to sleep (which gives me a chance to lay down and have a rest too) and then I get up and stack some pillows around her and let her sleep. I use a baby monitor with video surveillance to keep a close eye on her. But now she is on the move, hence the dilemma. She is able to sit herself up and crawl over the pillow barrier and potentially fall off the bed.
Two days ago I put down a single bed mattress on the floor. Ellie has been having fun crawling on it and I have told her a few times that it is her bed. She has had one day time sleep on it so far.
It was interesting tonight that she actually crawled over to the mattress, climbed onto it and started to grizzle at me. Not really sure what she wanted, I thought that I may as well lay down with her and give her a feed, she may pop off to sleep. Lo and Behold she did!
The mattress on the floor is quite safe and it enables me or my hubby to lay with her if need be. So now I think maybe a cot may not be needed at all. To cot or not to cot.......
That then has got me thinking about when should we start the transition to a cot. Or indeed should we take that step at all? I wonder how many people out there have managed to skip the cot stage with their babies?
So much paraphernalia is synonymous with babies such as cots, high chairs, dummies and bottles. Yet many of these things are not actually necessary. It wasn't until my second child I realised I could by pass the bottle stage and go directly from breast to cup. Somehow I didn't seem to be able to connect those dots with my first baby and just used a bottle as a matter of course. It wasn't until someone mentioned that a bottle wasn't really necessary once they were old enough to drink from a cup, that I realised there was no need to introduce a bottle at all.
Now after three babies and up to my fourth, I'm wondering if I can skip the cot stage. I have a friend who is kindly storing a cot for me. I can pick it up at any time. But when ever I think of the concept of a cot I just get this image of a cage on wheels. I feel like I would be imprisoning Ellie like a little animal if I put her in a cot.
Up until now, Ellie has been having her sleeps in our bed. I feed her to sleep (which gives me a chance to lay down and have a rest too) and then I get up and stack some pillows around her and let her sleep. I use a baby monitor with video surveillance to keep a close eye on her. But now she is on the move, hence the dilemma. She is able to sit herself up and crawl over the pillow barrier and potentially fall off the bed.
Two days ago I put down a single bed mattress on the floor. Ellie has been having fun crawling on it and I have told her a few times that it is her bed. She has had one day time sleep on it so far.
It was interesting tonight that she actually crawled over to the mattress, climbed onto it and started to grizzle at me. Not really sure what she wanted, I thought that I may as well lay down with her and give her a feed, she may pop off to sleep. Lo and Behold she did!
The mattress on the floor is quite safe and it enables me or my hubby to lay with her if need be. So now I think maybe a cot may not be needed at all. To cot or not to cot.......
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