NEWSFEED
Introducing The Golden Girls 2.0 – and IRL. A decade ago, seven
best friends in China made a semi-serious pact to one day retire and
grow old together in a sprawling pastoral sanctuary. The outlandish dream
rolled towards reality last year when the women, now in their 30s, pooled
their finances (about $800,000), found an old brick house outside the
city of Guangzhou and transformed it into a striking glass mansion. “We’ll
probably cook together, barbecue in the fields, sing and collect food
in the village,” the friends say of their blissful future retirement plan.This year’s Women’s World
Cup saw the US take the trophy
- though perhaps it was us
who were the real winners. As
an audience, we were treated
to dramatic displays of skill and
athleticism, a stirring push for
equal pay and a diverse new crop
of female sporting heroes. On
that note, at least 40 of the
tournament’s players were
openly gay or bisexual, and many
used the platform to fly the
rainbow flag. Some celebrated
their successes by running to
kiss their wives or girlfriends
in the stands, proudly putting
the LGBTQIA community in the
spotlight and simultaneously
challenging bigotry in sport and
society. It’s a far cry from the
men’s game, whose 2018 WorldCup featured no openly gay
players – something that may
pose a problem for Megan
Rapinoe, the US team’s badass
co-captain. “You can’t win a
championship without gays on
your team,” she has quipped.
“That’s science, right there!
For me, to be gay and fabulous
during Pride Month at the
World Cup is nice.”Fed up with lagging behind many of
its European neighbours in gender
equality, the women of Switzerland have
staged a “purple wave” to voice their
discontent over sexism and inequality.
Marking the first protest of its kind in
the alpine nation in 28 years, thousands
walked off the job and blocked traffic in
a day of demonstrations to demand
fairer pay, more equality and an end
to sexual harassment and violence.
Their discontent is more than valid:
Swiss women only got the vote in
federal elections in 1971, decades after
most of the Western world, and until
1985 needed their husbands’ approval to
work or open a bank account. Statutory
maternity leave was introduced only in
2005, while professional women earn on
average nearly 19 per cent less than
men. And according to a recent survey,
59 per cent of Swiss women say they
have experienced sexual harassment.
“To succeed, any movement needs an
emotional energy to it,” historian
Elisabeth Joris told media. “This energy
has now accumulated. There is a huge
generation of young women in their 20s
and 30s that now favours feminism.”FRANCE
PLAYING WITH PRIDE
CHINA
OLD-
AGE
HOME
SWITZERLANDPURPLE
REIGN
US player Kelley
O’Hara kisses her
girlfriend at the
2019 World Cup.