Then tonight I stumbled over this lovely unplugged song on YouTube.com, so I thought I’d share it with all my beautiful readers.

Enjoy!

But here I am.  A mother of four children.  43 years of age and I find myself heading up an International women’s association.  How did I get here?  When did my passion for women grow?  Why am I doing what I do?

Well, for one, I am a woman, so I guess it is going to come as no surprise that I understand how a woman thinks.  Consequently, it is no big jump to think that perhaps I would want to work with what I know.

Secondly, I started a women’s magazine.  I didn’t set out to choose to do that, it just came and tapped me on the shoulder and I said yes to the opportunity.

But I think I really started to develop a heart for women (in a very pure way) as I started to hear their stories.  I was galvanised by the powerful stories of women who were taking action, in their own little worlds, in a positive way and I didn’t just want to tell theirs, I wanted to become my own story.

So I made the decision when I resigned from Pearls Women’s Magazine where I was co-founder and co-editor to start a women’s organisation that was focused on the whole “women can” philosophy.

Women are amazing creatures I have learned.  We can partner together and create amazing community events.  We get things done.  We make the magic happen in life.  We are creative, intelligent, patient and enduring in our vision and purpose.  We don’t have to be caught up in ambition, in bickering, in trying to climb over each others.  I have learned that it is a very precious thing in life to actually support another woman to see her shine!  In fact, this is how I came out of post natal depression after my fourth child was born; by reaching out to help others I became well myself.  I love this part of Women Can International Inc and I love this part about my business, The Creaticians.  It is an honour to see other’s shine.

I find myself surrounded by women who are amazing voices on women’s issues.  I hope to share their stories with you through this blog over the next months because they are TOTALLY inspirational to me.

So it seems that life has chosen me to represent women and to work with them in a passionate way for their betterment.  I don’t really understand it all.  I don’t know why I feel driven to surrender so much of myself and to sacrifice my time, but I just know that there is a reason and a purpose and this is my pathway for the time being.  So while I am on this pathway, I shall give it 100% of my best efforts.

I’d love to hear about what life has chosen you to do.  Please comment.

Well, the older I have gotten the more inconvenient this modern convention has become.  After all, I’m not as nimble as I used to be and getting my legs up above my waistline to administer the razor treatment, is starting to be quite an effort and one that I, quite frankly, am starting to question.

It was this line of thinking that sent me on a crusade to find out exactly when it became vogue to shave your hair and why?

I was fascinated by a post on Wikipedia…

Removal of the hair from the underarms was part of a collection of hygienic or cosmetic practices enjoined by Muhammad (570-632) as consistent with Fitra for both men and women and has since usually been regarded as a requirement by most Muslims.^[1]

In the West, the practice began around 1915 in the US and UK, when one or more magazines showed a woman in a dress with shaved underarms. Regular shaving became feasible with the introduction of the safety razor at the beginning of the 20th century. While underarm shaving was quickly adopted in English speaking countries, especially in the US andCanada, it did not become widespread on the Continent of Europe until well after World War II.^[2]

Well for one, I am not  a Muslim and their practices although respected by me are not something that I am going to be taking up in the immediate future.  Further, I detest the thought that we are being manipulated by the fashion industry to serve their purposes, as in another place it inferred that we started shaving our underarms because a dress manufacturer wanted to introduce sleeveless dresses and it looked better with shaved armpits.

I can only assume the same was so when they introduced the miniskirt in the early 60′s! After all, what would be the point of shaving your legs if they were going to be covered in pantaloons and long skirts???

So this leads me to believe that this is simply a “fashion” decision, with absolutely no health benefits whatsoever.  So like choosing not to wear stilletos which are bad for our bodies and deserting them for the flat and comfy sandles that they sell to grannies (who have learned to be wise about their bodies and opt for comfort), I am choosing to feel free not to shave my legs if I don’t want to.

In fact, I have some photo evidence that this week I am exercising my right to have hairy legs.  After all, one article I read said…

Several psychologists and feminists have speculated that men like the shaven look because it makes women look prepubescent – young, innocent, and unthreatening. Diana Grunig Catalan of Rangely, Colorado, who subscribes to the prepubescent theory, speculate that “American woman, unlike their European counterparts, were not supposed to do anything with all those men they attracted with their revealing clothing. A childlike, helpless look can be a protection as well as an attraction”. – http://www.4to40.com/health/index.asp?id=19

I’d love to know what you think about this subject, so please comment. )  Postings of your own legs – shaved or not – would be gratefully accepted as evidence of your case.

A new Canadian study reviews the impact of gender equity in the workforce including the determination of home responsibilities or duties. University of Western Ontario researchers discovered couples who share the responsibility for paid and unpaid work (home duties) report higher average measures of happiness and life satisfaction than those in other family models. The ‘shared roles’ category, where each partner’s unpaid work is within 40-60 percent of the total unpaid work, is a growing category that now represents more than 25 percent of respondents. Couples are more likely to be in a shared roles model when women have more resources and when the couple is less religious.

The ‘complementary-traditional family’ model — with men doing more paid work and women doing more unpaid work — is declining, but remains the largest category. Researchers suggest that the shared roles model is advantageous to society in terms of gender equity and its ability to maximize labor force participation by all adults. It also leaves women less vulnerable in the case of separation, divorce or death of a spouse.

Lead researchers, Rod Beaujot and Zenaida Ravanera from Western’s department of sociology, believe that a key policy challenge in Canada is that of accommodating the shared roles model within diverse families. To promote this model, they suggest policies that support equal opportunities for men and women to access education and work, provide conditions that facilitate work-life balance and promote greater involvement of men in housework and childcare.

“Adequate childcare facilities and equal opportunity to parental leave should also be a focus of Canadian public policy,” adds Beaujot.

Source: University of Western Ontario

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