International Women’s Day 2010 has received an impressive amount of attention from the world’s press. There are several major themes. One of them centred on the Commission on the Status of Women and the events at the UN focuses on the delayed & difficult birth of the ‘strong and well-resourced women’s rights and gender equality entity” which has been mooted now for some time.

 

Another theme seemingly largely provoked by Natasha Walter’s book “Living Dolls” reflects on whether feminism has lost its way if being emancipated means wearing conical bras & lap-dancing into old age. Is this the choice women were looking for? This theme ties in nicely with the discussion provoked by the recent UK Home Office Report on the “hypersexualization” of children by the media. As the reports author Dr Linda Papadopoulos says, “ Look at porn stars, and look how an average girl now looks. It's seeped into every day: fake breasts, fuck-me shoes ... We are hypersexualising girls, telling them that their desirability relies on being desired. They want to please at any cost."

Meanwhile back in Brussels the European Commission may have hit the jackpot by focusing on a subject close to every woman’s heart – the gender pay gap http://ec.europa.eu/equalpay  .

 The Commission President José Manuel Baroso, said that the EC would deliver a “women’s charter” – a five-year plan aimed at redressing inequalities in pay which range from under 5% in Italy to 30% in Estonia. Women in the UK are being paid 79% of the male rates for the same work. So on International Women’s Day  five years hence there’ll be no gender pay gap to complain about, right?