Tony Abbott, Twitter, Women of Calibre and Click Bait

May 8, 2013 in Current Affairs, Human Rights, News, Politics

So yesterday I was noodling about the house, exhausted and exhilarated after surviving Satan’s own three ring circus of a weekend, when Twitter whooped out the Code Pink Alert. The Twisterhood (Twitter Sisterhood. You like it? I just made it up!) were Outraged! Again! World-Renowned Misogynist, Tony Abbott, announced a Paid Parental Leave scheme that would entitle new mothers earning $150,000 pa or less to six months maternity leave at full pay, plus super entitlements. He said, and I quote: “We do not educate women to higher degree level to deny them a career. If we want women of that [...]

Sharing Your Beliefs in the Workplace

March 22, 2013 in Lifestyle, People, Religion, Self, Society, Work

I’m a Seventh-Day Adventist Christian. I’m also a high school teacher in the state system, where religion is not openly discussed. (Except for in scripture class, once a week, which is optional.) As a teacher, I can’t initiate a conversation with students on religious beliefs, because this could be seen as me trying to ‘convert’ them. If a student chooses to ask me what I personally believe, I am entitled to answer honestly and explain the basics of my belief system. I’m a product of private Christian education. Even my tertiary education was undertaken at a private Christian institution. So [...]

The Help: The Nurses Part 2

February 7, 2013 in Gender, Health, Lifestyle, Work

On Tuesday, the nurses Maree spoke to talked about ER, gender roles, and nursing as a career – Maree now continues her conversation: I spoke to and interviewed over 15 nurses. To tell each story would take a lifetime. So for the sake of brevity, but in no way altering the truth of each person’s experience, not every comment, interview or answer can be published. *DISCLAIMER: THE FOLLOWING COMMENTS AND VIEWS ARE TRUE AND ARE NOT NECESSARILY THAT OF THE WRITER Next I spoke with a friend who is a senior theatre nurse, her experience with patients is a little [...]

The Help: The Nurses Part 1

February 5, 2013 in Film & TV, Gender, Health, Lifestyle, Work

Nurses- we need them. We think we might have an idea of what their jobs involve, but really nursing can be unpredictable.  It takes a special person to undertake the demands of a job where you work so closely with human beings in various states of illness or brokenness. Not all nursing involves ‘doom and gloom’, an (oft misconceived perception) but it certainly has it’s moments. My mother is a nurse. Many of my friends are nurses, who have trained in specialist fields. Over the last 2 months I spoke to family and friends who are nurses- from A.I.N’s to [...]

Should Your Job Affect Your Life?

January 8, 2013 in Celebrity, Current Affairs, Entertainment, Lifestyle, News, Sport, Work

By now you would have heard about Shane Warne flipping out at the MCG. For his dramatics Warne copped a $4,500 fine and a one match ban. While I understand the severity of the penalties, and I understand that what Warne did was unacceptable, this got me thinking about things we’ve all done in the workplace and whether or not some jobs are held to a higher sense of accountability than others. I am a teacher’s wife. This is a fact I am generally proud of as I believe teachers contribute greatly to society. My best friend is also a [...]

What’s Really Holding Women Back in the Workplace?

November 14, 2012 in Children, Fathers, Gender, Health, Lifestyle, Mothers, Parenting, Pregnancy & Birth, Work

Monday night I attended a forum on What Women Want hosted by Sunday Life. The forum was absolutely incredible and covered so many topics that I walked out of there buzzing, excited and feeling so full of new information that I just wanted to burst. This was probably emphasised by the amazing people I had the opportunity to meet and talk to including Tara Moss, Jane Caro, Emily Maguire and Jessica Rowe to name a few. One particular part of the forum focussed on why women don’t achieve equality in the workplace. People mentioned the obvious reason, being that women often [...]

Those who can’t do, teach. Right?

September 14, 2012 in Books, Children, Lifestyle, Parenting, Work

Those who can’t do, teach. “People who are able to do something well can do that thing for a living, while people who are not able to do anything that well make a living by teaching.” (Used to disparage teachers. From George Bernard Shaw’s Man and Superman.) I hate that statement. It’s not funny, nor is it clever. It implies that practical people get out in the real world and contribute in a practical way, while teachers take the easy way out – our contribution is limited to academia at best. Here’s the thing: teachers aren’t simply educators (although if we [...]

You Can’t Have It All

August 28, 2012 in Children, Entertainment, Gender, Health, Home, Lifestyle, Mental Health, Money, Mothers, Parenting, People, Self, Society, Work

This week I read something that really resonated with me by Mia Freedman. She wrote that her wheels fell off, and she was struggling. I loved the post. It hit me so strongly I actually sent her an email to say so, as well as writing this. The post immediately resonated with me as I’ve been having a bit of a tough time of it the past few weeks, almost everything that could go wrong has, but even more than that, this part particularly stood out: The media – particularly magazines – have always exploited the female fascination with the perfect. [...]

Is Anyone Ever Really Ready For Change?

August 2, 2012 in Lifestyle, People, Self, Work

Have you ever asked yourself this question before? I have. Plenty of times. I always wonder what makes people so sure they are ready for the curveballs that life sometimes throws at us. Right now I watch people around my age (26) getting engaged, married or having children. And to be honest, while I think I’m mature enough for all those things I’m just not interested right now. Gen X and Gen Y have been told that we can “have it all” but what does this really mean? As I was catching up on my Offspring episodes over the weekend [...]

Imposter Syndrome: My Battle With Negative Self-Talk

July 19, 2012 in Health, Mental Health, People, Self, Work

Lately I’ve had the worst time of my life. OK, not really. Nothing that has happened for me in my life thus far has been worse than when my father died in 2005. But I’ve had a pretty bad time. No, I haven’t been sacked. No, no-one has died. I project the image that I have supreme confidence, that I am a genius with an IQ of around 1000 and that I’m probably the best solicitor you’ve ever met. I have a double window from my office that is the size of a mansion, didn’t you know? This is a [...]