September Evening

A long day. An evening meeting meant that my day finally ended at 22.00, and how strange that from the open doorway of the Nature House I watched darkness fall earlier than I had realised. September.

The weather continues warm and sunny, we watched a Northwestern garter snake searching around in the moss, I'd never been able to observe one outside for so long. Late summer days, dragonflies, green frogs, the blueberry bushes turning red.

In the Guardian, Madeleine Bunting makes an amazingly pertinent point about the pay gap between men and women. The gap isn't narrowing, and she asks the question, why do we expect women to individually take their companies to court, it's like expecting each victim of burglary to sue the burglar.
She's right of course, those firms are breaking the law, they should be prosecuted by the State, not by women who have to prove their case.

She also goes on to talk about the blame game, women don't negotiate for more money,

"The most insidious aspect of the issue has been the "blame the victim" game. As government washes its hands and private sector companies mouth platitudes, women get the blame. It's reported that they don't ask for pay rises, they don't negotiate, they don't care about the money as much as men. But new research in the US shows that all these study findings are true for a good reason: women who are seen to be pushy and demanding are disproportionately penalised - while such behaviour in men is rewarded. The odds are stacked against women. In no other area of national life do we expect the victims to deliver justice for themselves, so why on the pay gap?"

Why indeed. I think it's way more insidious than people even realise, women don't advocate for themselves, they advocate for others, I know, I have just done it this evening.