[Sundae]

I made a complaint to Channel 4 about a month ago. We have 5 "terrestrial" channels in the UK - channels everyone receives on their TV automatically rather than requiring cable or satellite capability. Channel 4 is probably the most intelligent and liberal of the independent (non-BBC) channels and I watch Channel 4 News every night for what I believe to be the least biased TV news.

In a report about Israeli politics, Vice President Tzipi Livni's description included the fact that she was a wife and mother of two. None of the male politicians in the report had their marital status or fatherhood mentioned. It really irritated me, hence the complaint - things don't change unless people raise their voices.

I was reminded of it today while reading a Jeffrey Deaver book. As part of a character's backstory it mentioned that she had decided to go back to college in order to get an additional qualification. It stated that she found it hard, juggling her studies with being a wife and a mother... I know it's fiction (and not even very good fiction) but it made me wonder how many authors would state that a man going back to college found it hard to juggle his studies with being a husband and father...?

And finally - a friend of mine with a 1 year old daughter is looking at going back to work. The first interview she went to, approx 75% of the interview revolved around her status as a mother and the childcare arrangements she had made/ was intending to make. While I accept her absence from the workplace signalled a traditional family set-up, we both agreed that her husband would not have been asked the same questions, even if he had taken the same time off. In fact, although she is Muslim, she did her MA in Houston, where her parents now live and has a higher earning potential than her husband. They are currently considering the idea that her husband will work part time in order to handle childcare.

This is why I still consider myself a feminist - I see there is something wrong and I will protest at what I see is an appropriate level.
Not everyone who is interested in equality wants to go into politics.