Equality

The idea of equality between men and women has been a recurring theme in discussions lately.

We were in my home town for the fourth and having a discussion with a cousin's (brother of Cousin) wife. We had told her that we were pregnant and had decided not to have any tests since we were sure we would never choose to abort the fetus. That launched a whole discussion about abortion. This and a discussion about their son (12 years old) attends catholic school (as will the FYO) and she also mentioned the anti-abortion papers that he writes for school. Oh, that and O'Connor's announcement.

It was a fascinating discussion made even more so by the fact that this particular cousin is a State Senator and, as a result, has an actual outlet for his political opinions. Apparently he feels that women would never be truely equal if Roe v. Wade were eradicated.

Speaking of equality and babies. My second recent reference to equality occured at the workplace of BioMom. They are gearing up for an interesting trial (unique in that most of her cases don't make it all the way to trial). She's in an awkward position because it is a great opportunity but she'll be about 26 weeks pregnant and probably not up for the travel or the long days. She and her partner were debating the pros and cons of her handing the trial over to him when he said:

If you don't try the case, let's not tell the client that its because you are pregnant. Is it bad to say that?

Funny thing, though, I can't actually figure out if it is bad to say that. Nor can I tell if that is a compliment to her or not.

The third reference occured yesterday. I was interviewed by a Swedish reporter for
Svenska Dagbladet about an article that I had written about the division of household labor within same-sex households. The little research that has been done says that same-sex households tend to be more equal. Of course, the question is why? Blumstein and Schwarz (1983) claim that lesbians, in particular strive for more equality. I, however, think that it ends up being more equal by default. There is less difference (biologically and socially) between the members of the couple, and without access to the same institutions (workplace protection, marriage, etc.) gays and lesbians cannot risk a strict division of labor.

Anyway, interestingly, one of the reporter's questions was how heterosexual coupels in Sweden could learn from gay couples!

Priceless.