Iceland was named as the country with the smallest gender gap between men and women for the sixth year in a row in late 2014. The Global Gender Gap Index (GGGI), put together by the World Economic Forum, measures gaps between men and women in four areas: political empowerment; educational attainment; economic participation and opportunity; and health and survival. The U.S. ranked 20th.
If you’ll recall, Farmgirl Sister of the Year, Winnie Nielsen (Sister #3109, aka Red Tractor Girl) recently made a stop in Iceland, so I thought I’d share a few more of her photos and read up on Iceland.
According to Britain’s The Guardian, “Let’s be clear that women and men are not equal in Iceland. However, there have been some notable successes in terms of bridging the gap between men and women, and these are attributable not least to the vocal and often colourful women’s movement, which has had a clear impact on public agenda setting and the political landscape in Iceland.”
In 1975, women throughout Iceland, both in the public workforce and at home, staged a one-day strike over wage equality. In Reykjavik alone, 25,000 women gathered in protest on “Women’s Day Off.” (Keep in mind that the total population of Iceland at that time was only 220,000.) Although the gap has narrowed, it’s still there, and women are still gathering in protest in record numbers. In 2011, one-third of the country’s female population gathered in a protest called “Women Strike Back” over wage equity and domestic violence laws. (According to The Guardian, “In the UK, it is considered a strong, successful feminist protest when 2,000 of the country’s 30 million women come out.)
The playing field between men and women is nearly equal in health and survival and in educational opportunity and attainment.
The political scene is Iceland is more balanced than average; perhaps the product of having had a female prime minister for 20 of the past 50 years. Women comprise nearly 40 percent of Iceland’s lower parliament, due to quota systems adopted by Iceland’s liberal political parties (in contrast, the UK’s political system is 86% male dominant).
So Iceland’s not all dark nights and shivering inhabitants; its people have been found to be “the happiest people on Earth” by an academic study in 2006, buy more books than residents of any other country, have the most cell phones per capita, and have had no need for armed forces for 700 years. Immigrating, anyone?
world?? Yes, you read that right.
Chickens are not only the oldest domesticated animal on Earth, they’re also the animal that has been most crucial to the spread of civilization across the globe, according to science writer Andrew Lawler, author of Why Did the Chicken Cross the World? The Epic Saga of the Bird that Powers Civilization.
The humble chicken … “Queen Victoria was obsessed with it. Socrates’ last words were about it. Charles Darwin and Louis Pasteur made their scientific breakthroughs using it. Catholic popes, African shamans, Chinese philosophers, and Muslim mystics praised it. Throughout the history of civilization, humans have embraced it in every form imaginable—as a messenger of the gods, powerful sex symbol, gambling aid, emblem of resurrection, all-purpose medicine, handy research tool, inspiration for bravery, epitome of evil, and, of course, as the star of the world’s most famous joke,” says Lawler.
In Why Did the Chicken Cross the World (Atria Books, December 2014, $20), Lawler takes us on an adventure from prehistory to the modern era with a fascinating account of the partnership between human and chicken (the most successful of all cross-species relationships).
We know that we love our backyard feathered friends (not to mention that they’re now humanity’s single most important source of protein), but did you know about a recent discovery in Montana that links the chicken to an unlikely ancestor … the T. rex? And did you know that there are more chickens alive today than cats, dogs, pigs, cows, and rats—combined? Or that they inhabit every continent on the Earth except for one, where they’re banned? You’ll learn this and much, much more in Lawler’s fascinating book. “The planet’s most populous and edible bird really does open a window on civilization, evolution, capitalism, and ethics. (Reading about it is lots of fun, too.)” says New York Magazine.
If you know me at all, you know I have a penchant for hexagons. The hexagon, a shape that speaks the zen of the busy beehive or the wired manors of chickens (the oldest domesticated animal on Earth), symbolizes the unity and structure of the farmgirl life—a framework for the proper order of things, a pattern for life. In unwritten feminine language, it is a standard for farmgirls, or for that matter, the ordinary honeybee or the hen, rank and file workers that move the work along. It says that all things are to be done decently and in order, and that small things add up.
Add that to the latest in TV treats, Treehouse Masters, and you’ll come up with a recipe for the perfect getaway, honeybee. Take a look …
Close your eyes and imagine the scent of spring rain …
Can you smell the moisture, unfolding leaves, and rich dampness of the awakening earth?
I’ve written about this before but I recently caught another whiff of a fragrance that has its own name (as all classic perfumes do). It’s known as petrichor, which Wikipedia defines as “the earthy scent produced when rain falls on dry soil.” The word is a combination of the Greek petra (stone) and ichor (the fluid that flows in the veins of the mythological gods).
Interestingly, MIT researchers who study the ephemeral science of this singular scent have just determined how petrichor is produced. As enigmatic as the chemistry behind that old book smell, the aroma of rain—particularly pronounced after a spell of warm, dry weather—can now be explained in technical terms that essentially boil down, as Treehugger.com puts it, to “the fizz and frenzy of raindrops liberating the ground’s unique fragrance into the air for all to smell.”
Take a look:
Buy props used in MaryJane’s books and magazine!
5% of profits will benefit www.firstbook.org, a non-profit that provides new books to children from low-income families throughout the U.S. and Canada.
Here’s how:
MaryJane will post a photo and a description of a prop and its cost along with a few details as to its condition here: https://shop.maryjanesfarm.org/MaryJanesCurations. It’s a playful way to be the new owner of a little bit of farm herstory.
