Parity and the Mamarazzi

Listening to Lady Gaga sing Paparazzi, the song has a great beat but I wonder if she considers chasing the opportunistic photographer as turnabout.  And we all know turnabout is fair play.

You know I’m going to ask, so why prolong the suspense.  Is Paparazzi unisex or should we differentiate between male and female by establishing the label Mamarazzi?  As women, we want equal time.  The more we can level the playing field the easier it’s going to be for us to achieve parity.

Parity is the buzzword in our Nation’s Capitol and should resonate and radiate to every corner of the globe.  Parity should not be confined to health insurance.  Parity should touch every corner of life.  So let’s begin (or continue, as the case may be) to establish gender parity.  Forget about gender equality.  We know where that ended up.

Nobody measures equality.  Maybe a more accurate depiction is there are different measurement techniques to determine equality.  We hear the spin “Look how far we’ve come!”  As if we should be grateful for the scraps from the table of those who have anointed themselves as arbiters of things that materially impact our lives.

Let’s take what we can get and begin to stack them as building blocks.  We should hungrily expect to build upon the foundation.  Lets’ not permit the foundation to crumble and accept patchwork and periodic repairs to satiate our desire to maintain momentum.  We can’t let spin replace action, activity masking indecision or failure to deliver.

Accountability starts at the grass roots level.  We can’t abdicate the responsibility to legislators and the judiciary.  Their priorities will not intersect with ours unless we prove worthy of decisive action that is sustainable.

Finding fault is a weak surrogate for inaction.  Every problem should germinate an opportunity.  For each upon which we capitalize, the thread of parity adds another strand.  We can begin to pull those threads to unite seemingly disparate successes creating a patchwork.  We can be the bonding agent between these successes.

Let’s work together, pull together, stand on common ground and utilize our combined strength to disable inertia.

These are lofty goals driven by ideals.  More has been accomplished with fewer conjoined resources.  We hail those who proclaim “This is a woman’s world” and “I am strong, I am invincible, I am woman”.  They are pioneers.  It’s up to us to ensure their words are not hollow.

Enjoy your week.  Make progress.  The capability is in you; it’s part of your genetic map.   Waste not, want not.  Find a role model and allow them to uplift and encourage.  I have confidence in me (no it’s not overexpressed, it’s consistent) and I have supreme confidence in you, my sisters.

Love and hugs, Nikki DeCaro