Midlife Musings: On Fire - and Tea, Toast & Trivia

Two opportunities arose recently that offered unique platforms to share several thoughts about the aging process, particularly from a mature female perspective. The first was the opportunity to submit a non-fiction essay/story to a book publication about the challenges I faced while working UP into 'A Man's World'. The second was an opportunity to discuss the broader holistic perspective that a woman does gain with age. 

The first, 'Midlife on Fire',  shares the perspective from 20 women who really do 'tell-it-like-it-is', for better and worse. A mature woman, with a wealth of lived experience, does have an enhanced ability to evaluate both positive and negative circumstances. For those who'll consider it, older women offer a lot of quiet wisdom to an evolving humanity. 

The second opportunity was as a  guest on the 'Tea, Toast and Trivia' podcast, hosted by the ever-affable Rebecca Budd from Vancouver. Rebecca and I chatted about a wide range of topics, and touched on the aging process. How do older dames stay 'grounded' in a world that seems increasingly 'adrift'? Have a listen here.

There is plenty of discussion on social media these days about 'the patriarchy'. In my wide-eyed youth, in the late 1950s and 1960s, I was well aware of this reality, but, (aside from my own observations of how men did seem to hold greater monetary power everywhere), little was done or said amongst my female peers to challenge or usurp this entrenched 'authority'. - 'It was just Life. It was just the way things were'. (As an aside: I never did resonate with my early indoctrination in Christianity with its dominating Holy Trinity who were completely devoid of anything to do with 50% of the species .... ie. the Feminine! - What's up with that??!)

Well, seemingly, we've come a long way, sisters ... 

Today, regardless of the congratulatory noise and media hype, the primary issue between women and men continues to be: 'equal-pay-for-equal-work'. The rest of the hype, to my mind, is somewhat irrelevant. (As example, it is impossible to equate the innate upper body strength of men to the innate pelvic design of women. We are simply constructed differently. Biological Fact. The unfortunate and diverting fall-out from many of the bold and current challenges to 'the patriarchy' has been the wide-spread invention of numerous 'sexual identities' across a wide 'sexual spectrum' ... Good grief: what a a waste of energy!) -- Why? Because the primary issue continues to be - Economic Parity - 'equal-pay-for-equal-work'. Women have still got some ways to go on this front. Working women continued to be paid far less than men for EQUAL WORK.* Until women, (and the wonderful men who support working women), get this equation sorted out, we all continue to exist within 'the patriarchy.' When the data and statistics change, we're making progress. Until then, it's just more distracting noise as far as I am see ...

Pick up MIDLIFE on FIRE HERE-- And listen in to Rebecca's and my chat on Tea, Toast & Trivia HERE. (Available as well on Audible, Spotify, iTunes, iheartradio, etc.)  Enjoy!

* https://www.payscale.com/research-and-insights/gender-pay-gap/

* https://canadianwomen.org/the-facts/the-gender-pay-gap/

*  https://data.oecd.org/earnwage/gender-wage-gap.htm