Equal.

I remember when I was at school, many moons ago. There were SO many things that were not equal! It was the norm, it was to be expected, sometimes it was not fair.

I remember one of my school friends, she came to school crying a lot, she was 16 the same age as myself, she told us, “I will be leaving soon, I will be moving to Huddersfield to get married!” That was like the other side of the world to us. She had no choice; it was all arranged. I sometimes think about her, and wonder how she is getting on. I wondered if she arranged for her daughter to get married at 16 too?

Through the years women, have fought to be equal with men, in jobs opportunists and pay. I think that is a good thing, for if they are doing the same thing, then they should get the same pay. But speaking for myself, if I decided to become a firewoman, I would not be able to pick up a man and carry him over my shoulder down the stairs or ladder, no matter how much money I was offered, that would be impossible! So, for not been able to carry a man down a ladder or stairs, I don’t think I should be entitled to equal pay, as I wouldn’t be able to save that man or large person’s life. That’s just my view.

I remember once when there was a serious situation at work and my manager asked me to, “Ring the police,” I did and when I answered the door, I saw two women standing there, and I said, to them, “They have sent two women?” They looked at me and said, “We have got this!” They held up their pepper spray! There was a very angry man in the building. Personally, if I had the can, I would have emptied it all into his face!

When I was at school, women always retired before men, at age 60 and men age 65. That did seem very unfair, but that was the norm. For a man to carry on working five more years, I think now, was it because they were the bread winner? Some men would die, soon after they retired. My Husband, his Mum was a housewife, my Mum was never a housewife, she was a Nurse all my life. But Mum was a housewife too, and to make it even harder, she worked nights. So maybe it was helpful that women finished work earlier, for it would have been unthinkable for my stepdad to have done all that Mum did, for in a way Mum had three jobs, a housewife, a nurse, and she worked at nights too. My stepdad worked for the council a 9-to-5 job. When he came home from work, his hearty cooked meal was always already, as were all our dinners, when we came home from school and later-on from work. Mum was superwoman, she would come home from work from a night shift, and on Fridays go to the market and buy all the shopping, then she would come home and cook all our meals from scratch, and then she would go to bed! Then she would be on that night. Poor Mum. Years later, when my brothers became nurses, they were only training, they had to do nights and all they could struggle to do was go to work as a student and crash at home and sleep!!! They is no way, they could have done what Mum did. Me, I could never work one single night shift, so I applaud all the night workers.

Women fought for equal pay, and I suppose with that, came equal retirement!

I was counting down to my retirement, I already told my manager, that “I wouldn’t leave, leave, that I would come in once a month and if there were any off sick, I would be happy to cover.”               

I had a letter this morning, it let me know that my retirement age has changed……… again, so that me sad a tad, but only a tad. I am grateful for a job. Most of the people I work with, they are very young, I am the oldest there, my manager is only 34 and the younger ones, including ‘The Lad’ is the same age as my son! By the time they retire it would have gone up to 99!

So, I take heart, that my retirement will be before theirs.