8th - Kaipara Konnection - Dargaville.BIZ

“Man may have discovered fire, but women discovered
how to play with it.” -- Candace Bushnell
Why Some Things Must Never Change.
The march of progress goes on irrespective of how much we would sometime
prefer to see it grind to a halt for a while or at least let us have some control
over the process. Reflecting back on the social changes over the last 40 years
there have been some dramatic shifts that have occurred. One of the most
obvious has been the change in the role of women in all facets of New Zealand
society. No longer seen as principally the house-maker and housekeeper
in a relationship, today it the norm to see women in professional roles in
government and business that were once deemed to be the preserve of the
male of the species.
The sociologists tell us that this change in values was brought on by the 2 nd
World War – particularly in the United States, where the shortage of able
bodied men for the factories which were producing the necessary weapons to
conduct the war meant that women were forced to move into a new territory.
Rosie the Riveter became the model for the 1970’s feminist movement which
saw women such as Germaine Greer taking a prominent stage in moving
women away from traditional roles and values. Her book – The Female Eunuch
– became a best seller in 1970 and turned her into a household name – not always complementary. People either loved
or vilified her. There was no midway point.
With this change in the attitude towards women – at least in most parts of the Western World – came many other
profound changes that are still bedding into place today. Gone are institutions such as the New Zealand Women’s
Royal Army Corps, (WRACS) , Women Police Constables (WPC’s) in their black skirts, black stockings, and shoes
with white shirts and a tie. Women now serve in all Army Corps at the front line while the New Zealand police have
completely shed their male oriented traditions including the tall “bobby’s hat (cant be worn with long hair) and become
“unigenderised”.
Unfortunately these changes have not been able to change the basic “construction” of men and women - although
some would like to claim otherwise. It is sad to see young teenage boys and young girls forced into gender neutral
clothing at high school with male/female segregation banned. Watch the young lions in a pride playing. The girl lions
play girl games and the boy lions play boy games. Must not happen in our human, western society, today under any
circumstances.
Any human society which has not embraced this new way of living is incessantly rubbished in the Western news media.
3000 year old societies which still have clearly defined roles for men and women are the focus of criticism and external
pressure to change. Of course too much pressure can’t be applied as we (the Western world) need their oil.
Not everyone is able to cope with changes. For example - a minority of Maori in New Zealand still want to live the 1800’s
and seem unable to recognise that time has inexorably moved on. We do not trade land for muskets, blankets, and rum
anymore and our schools and hospitals are open to everyone born or living here. Travel is done in “horseless carriages“
(motoka) along sealed highways rather than by waka or on foot over rough trails cut through the bush. Cooking is no
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