GLW issue number 869

Your Skirt’s Too Short — Sex, Power, Choice By Emily Maguire 2010, The Text Publishing Company “Does your boyfriend or brother spend a lot of money on skin and hair care products?” “Do the majority of fathers you know spend most of their time at home washing, cleaning, cooking and taking care of their kids? Do you often hear mothers refer to looking after their own kids as ‘babysitting’?” “Are you sick of hearing men go on about how hard it is to balance work and parenthood?”

If you intended to remedy the global collapse of fishing stocks, the last thing you would do is book a date with Japanese whalers at an upmarket seafood restaurant. Similarly, if you were writing a book on human rights, asking Kim Jong Il to write a chapter might undermine its credibility. By the same logic, inviting the world’s corporate and political elites to a ski resort in the Swiss Alps to discuss the growing disparity between the world’s rich and poor is distasteful and ludicrous.