Heads of State and Feminism

[roseinbloom]

I am very excited about Ardern's news. She's progressive and I think this is really going to concretize some of her idealologies. I hope that her experience is going to be good for her, but also that it does good things for contemporary women.

Article which looks at Bhutto's legacy and Ardern:
www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2018/01/jacinda-ardern-and-benazir-bhutto-a-tale-of-two-prime-ministers.amp.html

[roseinbloom]

Sorry, I was a little over optimistic about the contents of that article. I keep getting distracted. But anyway, it's nice to see this being discussed. Here's an old article on Bhutto: www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/foreigners/2008/01/the_lessons_of_benazir_bhutto.html

[joelies]

That "making sacrifices" comment regarding Bhutto made me ragey. Easy for a man to say when there's no true equivalent. I hope things continue on this positive note for Arden.

[roseinbloom]

Jan 19, 2018 8:06:00 GMT -6 joelies said:

That "making sacrifices" comment regarding Bhutto made me ragey. Easy for a man to say when there's no true equivalent. I hope things continue on this positive note for Arden.

Seriously. Especially given that she returned to PM duties the day after she had a freaking c-section.

Ardern has been getting some pushback (from, as far as I can tell, all men) that she can't handle it all and should step down or is breaking her promises. But mostly support. Apparently, her partner has agreed to do a podcast about being a first time father and lead parent. The set-up is going to be a conversation with a woman who has written about childcare. I can see it going many ways, but I'd like to think it will be a further step toward normalizing it no matter what.

Obviously I hope that everything goes according to plan and brings them tons of joy. But I also hope that if she does have a good experience that it doesn't deligitimize women who don't have the support or fortunate circumstances she has. I also wonder how differently or not this might eventuate compared to the impact of Sandberg.

[roseinbloom]

Ardern is going to be on the cover of the US Vogue in March.

[roseinbloom]

Changed the title because I've been excited to see what Ardern can accomplish for women by balancing so many roles, not just because I like babies. At first I worried the title might be triggering to some people, but the main inside content was just as likely to be triggering.

What I came in here to share today, however, is that a popular news program in New Zealand is taking this week to publically address stories of struggle and loss in order to legitimize those who are forced to confront their pain with each mention of their PM.

www.newshub.co.nz/home/health/2018/02/when-babymania-hurts-jesse-mulligan-gets-real-about-infertility.html

www.newshub.co.nz/home/health/2018/02/emotional-josh-thomson-opens-up-on-wife-s-miscarriages.html

[roseinbloom]

More can be found here:
mybabystorynz.com/
twitter.com/hashtag/mybabystory?vertical=default&src=hash

Includes stories about men's infertility struggles, also women who have no interest in having children.