Sustainability is an impossible dream in this unevenly gendered system
Ninety per cent of the world’s wealth is owned by men. Most of the wages in the world go to men, while women do about two-thirds of all the work, most of which is underpaid or not paid at all. Sustainability is an impossible dream in this unevenly gendered system. Tyson Yunkaporta, Sand Talk
My daughter Natalie is approaching her thirtieth birthday. For all but the first two years of her life, I have been a single mother. Not just a single mother but overwhelmingly responsible for her life through the currencies of time and money.
I took the role willingly and just got on with it. In truth, I created debt that I am still paying off. Worth every penny. Some of that debt was through foolish decisions and some level of my own arrogance. Again a worthy lesson.
I never saw myself as affected by a global system that assumes women and mothers are of a lesser worth to the economics of society, that home duties, child care, education, mothering, tending to the elderly, caring for community, were devalued massively through the role of our currency of access.
Realising that this was the way of our world was slow to dawn on me. Gender bias is rarely the leading topic of sustainability conferences. And to be sure I am clear here I will add all the diverse genders. Even in 2020 gender bias and salary discrimination remains business-as-usual.
Another all-white male panel at the conference. Or perhaps the token women. Another all-white male startup begets more of the same. I am not speaking this with bitterness. Just disappointment that we are still here in 2020. Can we not try a little harder?
We have it seriously arse backwards. Care of community, Earth, our ecology, atmosphere, each other, nature, life, beauty, vibrancy….all the things we slave long and hard to give ourselves time to have…are what matters most.
Empire building is for the age of empires. Dominion. Superiority. Power over. Perhaps we have reached a place as humanity where we have outgrown the need to be Empire?
To be able to exist and thrive on our beautiful home planet as humanity will not be possible until we transcend the empire-building games. All genders, all races, all diversity adds dimension and colour to the tapestry of life.
Photo taken August 9th 2020
