JoanMC

Hi, I enjoy reading this forum; educational, illuminating and peppered with for the most part, good humoured banter. Just a question more for the ladies please. Although my husband spent time in Australia it was quite some time back. He mentioned that at the time he was there, compared with the UK and the US, there was quite a Male dominated culture - a noticeable difference between what the gals could do versus the guys and that compared with the men, the women had little say..Unless things have changed with the passing of time, having met a number of assertive fun loving Australian women here in the UK, I find that hard to believe.?

Amazulu

Yes.

Wendy

I've not noticed any difference really. But have only been here three weeks.

thribble

I haven't noticed any difference at all to the UK. I go to sports events and I'm not the only woman. The women in our office are certainly assertive enough! Everybody seems normal and sane, and not at all downtrodden.

thomas and sarahjayne

From my experience of having aussie cousins and being on having holidays in aus, there is a wee bit of a difference in socialising. For example here, we would have a full on night out in town and drink all day, go to a christening and drink all day, have ladies nights in peoples houses and drink. go to concerts, and drink go to weekend aways and drink and basically drink. In aus the girls as not as big drinkers as the brits and socially a chat over a cup of coffee seems to be the way or tuperware evening etc, and they do drink at barbecues but a few wines and they suffice , merry enough. They dont spend the same amount of money on socialising as the brits do . For example a huge day out for them would be a meeting at the local bakers etc.
Obviously I cant speak for all , and all aussies and it will most defin differ, but only in my experience thats what i've sussed out.

sarah-jayne

Pollyana

Much the same here. If I suggest drinking with the girls from work, most of them look scared and make excuses about going home to cook the dinner I am viewed as "strange" for going to a bar mid-week, and as for days like last Sunday, when I spend the day drinkin at a mate's place while The Bloke stayed home and watched TV....I get the ffeling its not the done thing. Almost a victorian attotude at times of being expected to stay at home and make scrapbooks or knit or watch paint dry

Lord Pom Percy

Gemaine Greer does'nt think so, thats why she immigrated to the UK.

thomas and sarahjayne

aye very much into the homey , homey way of life.

sarah-jayne

thribble

Hmm. I obviously work with a strange bunch then - they're more than willing to go for a drink, and Friday beer o'clock often turns into a very late night indeed.

Trying to phrase this so nobody takes offence - I work with a lot of people under 35. Could that be the difference? Or do I just attract weirdos?!

Ness76

Hi - I couldnt agree more, my work has a 'beer' fridge and at 4.30ish Fridays its opened for a social few (or not so few, as it turns out more often than not) I have found the social side at work to be much more alive than anywhere I worked previously.

Quite alot of people I know in Melbourne work in environments like this, Im not the only blessed one

thomas and sarahjayne

well thats good news, not everyones t total. look forward to friday afternoons then.

sj

seang

they got the vote in Australia!!!

oh and some dont wear full length cossies when having a paddle in the sea. Dont know if I agree fully with that but if it makes them happy

DianneH68

Girls definitely drink but it's true that, in general, they probably don't go out with the sole purpose of getting rat arsed as we seem to do in the UK
And they probably don't go out as much midweek. Everyone seems to go out and get hammered on Friday, even more so than here, but during the week you'll often find girls doing other stuff - sports, going out for dinner, cinema etc - and, shock horror, that doesn't tend to also incorporate endless glasses of wine as it would here (you know what it's like here - sport, followed by pub; dinner, accompanied by several bottles of wine; cinema, preceeded and followed by the pub ).
They're probably more sensible really on the drinking front.
That's how I found people of my generation (eg, 20s and 30s).
However, we mixed a lot with the older generation (40s to 60s) and found that older women do tend to stay at home more, but still often quite social (go round to each other's houses etc), while the men hit the pub.
I found it quite strange too how, on a mixed night out, the men keep to themselves and the women keep to themselves. But this is definitely an older generation thing.

The Bloke

Small matters of flu and crook ankle.

moneypenny20

It's quite nice to read the papers and not be bombarded with drunken teenage and early twenties getting completely bladdered on the weekend. I haven't seen anything like the pics you get in the uk but maybe I live in the wrong area - or right area