Good grief, it’s 2017, in NZ of all places, and we’re having this conversation?
Nuts and bolts of the first day – Jacinda Arden becomes leader of the Labour Party, suddenly, and the MainStreamMen are caught unprepared. After their initial sugar rush, they pick the thing that for some bizarre reason makes sense of the chaos flailing around in their brains. I felt sorry for Jesse Mulligan that he had to ask this question, but nevertheless he asked it, on The Project. What should Ardern do about the baby thing?
Nek minit, NZ plunges into the 1970s. Or maybe it’s the 1950s. The following day Newshub cover The Project’s asking of the question (because it’s not like we’ve got anything better to do in an election campaign than watch the media watch each other do stupid shit). Newshub do this coverage by having a dude defending some employers’ beliefs that they have a right to know about baby plans because they need to make plans of their own. Fortunately for NZ, Jacinda Ardern was up next and she pulled NZ back into 2017,
“It is totally unacceptable in 2017 to say that women should have to answer that question in the workplace. It is a woman’s decision about when they choose to have children. It should not predetermine whether or not they are given a job or have job opportunities.”
Go watch the whole thing, because this is the NZ political landscape changing. Ardern says she’s ok being asked the question for herself because she personally chose to speak out about it in the past, but that it’s not ok to ask this question of women generally. This is feminism saying no to sexism, but it’s also liberal values pushing back against neoliberal ones. No, just because you are an employer you don’t get to be a dick and discriminate against women. And, this affects all women, so have a think about women doing part time work in multiple jobs, not just well paid career women.
In case anyone is confused about what is right here (legally and ethically), here’s a Human Rights lawyer, and the Human Rights Commission both making it really clear,
Speaking of values, one of the interesting things about having a woman PM again will be seeing how much has changed since Clark came into the role in 1999. We’re a generation on now and there are just so many more women who are simply not willing to take this any more. And by more I don’t mean just the baby question, but the whole apparatus that enables this to happen. It’s now completely normal for the new media to go straight to pushing back against sexism.
Stephanie Rodgers burns in this multi-tweet exposition of what the issues are around gender, class and the real responsibilities of employers and businesses.
Richard’son justification is “but it’s not fair to employers”. Guess what, mate: workers aren’t indentured servants, no matter their gender
Villainesse asks Mulligan and Richardson if they have had vasectomies and if they’re fathers how on earth they manage to find work.
The Spinoff asks a whole range of mothers what their response is,
So many good pieces in that Spinoff story, so let’s just start with this,
Mothers are a political force. Every day they make political choices. Every day they work to better this country, whether it’s raising their own babies or raising those in the community. The personal is political and mothers have been silenced politically for too long. I think that’s why so many mums are standing up and saying: Actually, you can get fucked for asking her this.
and end with this,
And Jacinda – Kia kaha, you come from a long-line of women who are tired of men asking invasive questions about their personal decisions around parenthood. You have many mothers standing with you – please don’t forget that when you’re faced with this crap. We’ve got your back.
All of which leads to this,
And back to the politics we should be talking about. Here’s the new leader of the Labour Party doing some Labour Party leadership stuff,
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