Originally posted by Dabshid: if girl tells she is virgin, and you found out this is not the case, then she deserves to be sacked. The same goes for boys if proven that they are not. Do tell. Is there something on the market? From Orifices R Us(I succumbed)?

A friend and I walked into the tube one night, laughing and burping(shawarma repetition). As we walk into the carriage, a pretty woman gets up from her seat and offers it to me eagerly. I in turn offer it to my friend who happily settles herself into the seat no doubt thinking every once in a psychodelic moon a commuter gives up a seat for no good reason at all, ain't the Lord good to me. I on the other hand am a little more cynical and wonder why she vacated the seat for us. We neither of us looked pregnant, shawarma-bloating considered or infirm, so why had the stranger given up her seat..... The Londoner turns out to be Irish. While I stand holding on to a railing, out of earshot of friend, the pretty Irish lass starts to talk, chirp, smile and invade my space. I love Arabs!!! she squeals. She touches my hand. Whoa. Drool, drool, I love you people, I love Muslims. She smells of booze(Guiness no doubt) and is utterly delighted with my accidental acquaintance. I smile, nod, parrot the usual. It was getting hot in here. My friend catches my eye, Sheh had made a tube friend, she raises eyebrows at me. I blink back in Morse. She burps. Drool, giggle, hop, flirt, tell me where are you from? Straightsville, Arizona. Do you speak Arabic? Ibcadi mini. Our stop at long last. Well, this is me. Yeah, bye, yeah u too, yeah, umhm, yeah, bye. On the platform, friend says: She was nice. She was lesbian. Hahahahaha. Noo. Yes. Nooo. Yep. Hahaha. Shut up. Hahahaha. P*ss offf. Hahahah, what make u think she's a lesbian? I just know, OK. She was all over me, why didn't u come save me? I thought she was being friendly! That she was. Let's go home. I need a shower. Hahahahahahhaha, only u, Sheh. Ouuc.

Originally posted by Johnny: At the begining , i diden´t realize this becouse my X was a hell of a beautiful mind.( it is my fault that she is gone becouse i cheated on her ) Blaming her for your not picking up on the new lady's lack? Tut. It's my fault but ex's lovely mind made me not realise new woman wasn't all I assumed cause I was too busy delving into something else. Let it go, man. Your fault. Put a full-stop there. why is it difficult to get someone with both ? Cause u have to have both to get both.

Originally posted by Yahoo_UK: Well Johnny u can now include tat chat-up line as another reason why u still lacking ' minwayn' ... and i thaught Bishaaro was not tat pretty .. maybe i'll spoil the party for u, tough i was condering tat Mon Dieu, u made my tay with tat. Tat 'tat' tickled me pink. Ten u spoiled me with tit: BEARD aaah ... gosh i tried growing tat .. and it never gettes bigger tat a goatee At first I tit you mistat that for tat but ten u made tat second mistat and I realised you mistat it for words otat tat tat too. Tat you. Grinning like a chesire tat. Tet me there is plenty more where tat came from.

K, man, talk to them, talk to them, plants love that. Only turn the CAPS LOCK off before you do. Leaving it on is enough to force the poor creatures to pull themselves out by their roots and flap their leaves in an effort to get away.

Now that u're close enough can I just say: oooouccc. Move on, sheikh-is-ku-sheeg.

Originally posted by makalajabti: Why was my message censored?Who is sheherezade anyway, she is the one who erased it? :confused: No need to be confused. I am a Moderator. Your response was personal. I deleted it. His repsonse earlier was personal. I deleted it. Talk about sex till u're blue in the face if u like, just stick with the rules.

If at first you don't succeed, try, try again . Here's hoping you're third-time lucky.

I feel for you sis, your words speak emotions all over, I will assure you that if you dont like it for yourself that it will not happen, isnhAllah (unless you are #1), but this medium is quite public, I have read a lot of what you write that I dont accept, but I never came to protest it, I respect that your ideas have fans, so i keep my views on your views to myself unless I have a valid argument to negate it in a constructive way, as a moderator, you are expected to keep your composture, open mindedness, (sicat sadr) in Arabic, repeating your boredom may signal impatience, moderators need patience to succeed in their roles. And while I am at it, I shall excercise my full rights to bore, I shall repost my last polygamy contraversial post again, and again, an again. LooL. And what does repeating your posts signal?? Lord. I am bored with the repetition not impatient- difference, recognise- just as u have your right to bore, bore, bore, bore, I have the right to YAWN, YAWN, YAWN. My moderatorship forces me to keep this section clean and changing. My ideas on this forum are mine alone, I do not sell them as solutions, concepts or ask for feedback on how to solve societal problems. You do. You create scenarios and solutions and invite the rest to join in actively. Neither of us have to like what the other writes but don't sell your concept to us and then express displeasure at responses not to your liking. My emotions are reigned in thank you, are you sure about yours? Reposting a topic in defiance of my suggestion- that's got emotion with a capital E written all over it.

the egos on the men go round and round, round and round, round...the egos on the men go round and round, all day loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong. Naga daaya hadaba. U've all said it all in every which way possible. I really want to say, 'GET A LIFE' to some of you. GET A LIFE!!!! Phew. Habeen wanaagsan.

^nope, visited it long enough to know I'd go insane if I stayed too long. I'd recommend it though, it'll put hair on your chest. Unless u've lived there and alredy have the shag to prove it.

Indeed, any attempt to bring to the open bitter real issues is worthy of my time and effort, and like medicine it may be undesirable at times, but it makes people think laterally against conventional wisdom, besides, pleasing people is not our objective at eNuri and company, Allah is. You have bought into your own hype. How are you sure you are pleasing the Lord with the frequent re-return to this matter? Just because it is displeasing to us women, and don't forget we are Muslims and have some knowledge, why does that allow you to dig in your heels? Could we not have a valid point based on our knowledge, understanding of the deen and comprehension of you words? Or is it all about you? If a woman is hurt due to polygamy, she can throw blame around, pointing a finger here and there, but there are always fingers pointing back at here, the dilemma is two sided its not simple . Who CHOSE to marry another as a solution to the dilemma whatever it may be? The right to marry again for a man is does not require an approval from a present wife, any pain of jealousy, anger, frustration that she suffers has to do with the way she deals with the problem, not necessarily what her husband did, its how she responds to the news that can make or brake her mind and at times her soul, polygamy is an institution that is meant to solve a problem, not create a problem, bot Farax and Xalimo are in marriage for mutual fulfillment of their needs, these needs however do change with the passing of time, at which point a Farax may come to a crossroads of options. Unfulfilled need, Divorce, polygamy, each one of these carry a price, for the kids, Xalimo and Faarax, and the unmarried single woman who does not mind to be # 2, if the # 1 will agree, but is scared to death from the fall out of anger and trouble, this thread was looking for unbiased solution from a mature audience, the minute our persons get involved, we lose sight of problem at hand. What is unfulfilled need? Sex with another woman? Children? And if a man does not need approval from wife 1 why should any woman who wants to be wife 2 care if the man himself will go along with it regardless of what wife 1 thinks? divorce has two parties, both are unhappy, polygamy has three parties, one is unhappy. And there we have it. He shouldn't be put in a position where he's unhappy- sticking with wife 1 if that's what she prefers- but she can be put in a position where she's unhappy if that's what he wants. Right, there, is everything you get at when you write about this matter over and over. As for damage, yes our Somali women are entitled to a traditional compensation called MASEYR-TIR, (literally meaning removing the pain of jealousy, that was why I suggested the policy of having a pet project as Maseyrtir). Back to jealousy and tradition neither of which are always valid. Recently I had a conversation with a brilliant , single,professional young Hijabi sister, very religious and very successful in her profession , she confided in me that like any other woman, at first she could never think of being wife #2, however at 27 and after so many undesirable offers, she is having second thoughts, she quipped half jokingly that as long as he is rich and successful, she wouldn’t mind keeping an eye on his wealth and hers to be. That's very half-religious and very full- generalising of her. Nur, more than anything it's getting boring, the shove-polygamy-down-our-throats-campaign. To compound it, your approach is patronising, your argument unconvincing, your plot flimsy. If you're going to continue, up your game. Quality not quantity in your posts on the Women's section pertaining to polygamy. Thanks for the quick response. And thanks to the rest for letting the man speak for himself.

He chose me to be nice to him, ask him the Q. Now I can't stop Googling spit..... After meals and at other times, it's not uncommon for men to chew "paan" or betel leaves, along with nuts and flavorings, then spit out the red mixture onto whatever surface is available. Spitting is an art form in India -- you should see some of the patterns on the walls. In one building, I saw a sign on the wall that said, "No spitting," and under it, someone had left some "spit art." It may seem like a disgusting habit, but probably not to the men who do it. They're beautifying India. Paan chewer: "Look, Deepak, I just created a picture of the prime minister on the wall. Quite a likeness, no?" Friend: "Yes, Suresh, it's amazing! The spitting image of him." source

^telling it like it is, man.

Look what Google spit out for me(long but humourous) The Art of Spitting (A PhD Thesis Proposal) A friend of mine showed me this PhD thesis proposal. Background: Spitting is an act of expulsion of the contents of one's mouth into one's surroundings. It is an act which allows the person indulging in it, to get rid of unwanted fluid, food particles, phlegm, sputum or extraneous material such as "paan-juice". The uniqueness of the act of spitting lies in the fact that unlike belching, farting, micturition and defecation it is almost completely voluntary, done at will and usually with complete control. Spitting in India is a universal phenomenon. In virtually every locality, at almost every corner, someone is spitting at any given time. There are very few public places, where evidence of spittle, especially red "paan-juice" is absent. It would therefore be safe enough to say that this one act of volition, which the majority of Indians participate in most of the times, has elevated spitting to the level of a national sport or past-time. It is important therefore to study the concept of spitting in detail. We have already done a preliminary survey of 1000 people to understand the act of spitting, which we will describe in the sections to follow. Objectives of the study: 1. To understand the anatomy and physiology of spitting. 2. To understand the pyschology behind the act of spitting 3. To study the various methods of spitting, the differences between them and the reasons for these differences. Materials & Methods: We will undertake a large survey with a lengthy questionnaire, to try and meet the various objectives. This questionnaire will be handed over by various non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to over 100,000 individuals, randomly picked, to avoid bias related to gender, socio-economic status or religion. Our preliminary studies have found that there are no hard and fast criteria for the type of people who spit. People of all socio-economic strata spit, whether it the rich, Mercedes-driving individuals or the mathadi workers pulling a cart. Males appeared to outnumber women, 1.4:1, but we believe this is a bias related to the fact that more men than women are found outdoors. Young children spit less, but after the age of 15, there is no difference. All religions spit equally. All castes spit without bias. The only difference is that the more socially upscale a person, the more careful that person is not to spit on someone else and to wipe his/her mouth with a clean handkerchief after the act. If the person is a "spitter" (preliminary results show that only 1% of individuals, spit only in their homes or in washrooms, and thus do not qualify"), then the questioner will try to understand when and how the spitter spits. Our initial survey has shown the following methods: saliva spitting, "paan-juice" spitting, phlegm spitting and spitting of food particles. These can be spitted out in the form of a drool, straight down, straight direct, with mouth open or through pursed lips, gently or with a considerable ejectile force. All these will be evaluated in detail to assess for specific associations with gender, religion, socio-economic status and the like. The next question will deal with the emotional state before and after the act of spitting. Our early results have shown that there is an element of agitation before spitting, especially if a cough has brought up phlegm or if a person is chewing paan. The act of spitting leads to emotional satisfaction and in some instances a post-orgasmic state of relief. As a result of this, only women will question women and men, men. The economic background will also be studied in detail. It is believed that the reason many people spit so much is because of the high level of unemployment. Having nothing much to do during the day, and no money or access to most sports activities, spitting helps spitters keep active and in an alert state of mind (avoiding hitting passers-by, aiming correctly, etc). Since this act seems to help alleviate the angst of unemployment, it needs detailed study. One part of the study will deal with the question of why "paan-chewers" insist on spitting their red spittle on the whitest and cleanest surfaces, especially in buildings and public places. One study done in the past has postulated that this act allows them to bring to the fore their anti-social feelings and to get rid of them - if so the act of spitting actually may help in relieving individuals of their angst and may be a cat*****c solution for psychological problems. Something similar to graffiti in public places. Eventual Aim: All this data will then be processed to understand the psychology and methodology of spitting. This data may then be sold to companies to help them identify target populations for their products, such as special handerchiefs for wiping after the act, special portable "spittoons", spitting contests and the like. It is probable that with over 90% of the population spitting constantly, the possibility of turning out a world-champion is high. Therefore, since we lack sportsmen of calibre in other sports, this data can be used to institute proper training camps and to convert this national past-time into a full-time sport. The only competition apparently that we will have to worry about from is from Bangladeshis, Pakistanis and maybe Mexicans (from Clint Eastwood's curry westerns). Epilogue: The proposal was accepted. When it was sent for grants, the grants commission saw so much potential, that the proposal was sent to the World Bank, which immediately decided to fund it as a third-world project. Now, there are four NGOs involved with two full-time MBAs drawing seven figure salaries running the project. Not to be outdone, the state and central governments have made special budgetary provisions and deputed a minister of state to oversee the activities. It has also been made clear to various policing agencies that people who try to stop the act of spitting in public places (apparently there was some campaign called "say 'chee' to spitters") should immediately be booked for obstruction of individual rights. Efforts will also be instituted to brainwash such anti-social "non-spitters" into becoming spitters. source

^u're right about the beautiful face. Work a little on the rest of your blah from nowhere inorder to get my attention again. Fuleey meesha wey ka buuxaan. The place ciir-ciirs with them. Adaa ka mid ah. Is that harsh enough for you mise you'd like more? Can u tell if I'm being serious or not? Or is my style all part of the grand agenda that I and the others share? Dramaad ka heshaan some of you men on SOL, it's embarrassing and mind-numbing, hadal malaayacni ah iyo comprehension la'aan aya isugukiin darsantay. Half the time people are debating points that have not being made by the other party. Somebody say, 'duh'. If you want to start something with me, however trivial, make a valid point at the very at least. Suggesting I spit back at a poor woman who wasn't even aiming at me is beyond nac-nac for the sake of nuuc-nuuc. Naga daaya kalaamka faarigha ah, iyo doon-doonashada baselesska ah. I'd suggest you and your conservative lot, whoever they may be get out more and see just how conservative you really are in comparison to the rest of the world. U might be surprised. Had that woman spit on my face deliberately I wouldn't have retaliated. When the Lord blesses you with security, good health and enough money to live on comfortably u don't battle the poor and illiterate. U, dear have yet to prove yourself a worthy opponent of mine(however trivial your chosen battle) so yalla, don't start where u once left off, come back when your mind has opened a fraction(the pain will have been worth it) and you've grown out of your mental shorts. I'll show you around. U've missed out on a lot. Who's next?

look and u shall have yr answer..

Tissues are a luxury item to the majority of the world population. They should hand out cloth handkerchiefs- resuable and biodegradable. Those spitting bags are probably plastic. They'll just have to learn to swallow their phlegm and blow their noses into something with decorum. I once had spit- a lot- splatter my face. I was fast asleep on a bus and the woman in front of me had leaned out her window and splurted or gurgled or something foul into the wind. It came hurtling back at me through my window. It woke me up with a start. Seeing the woman still hanging out her window, I was grateful it wasn't vomit. Nonetheless I got nausea-induced goosebumps, manically wiped my face with the first available material(my own hijab), turned my face into my seat and cursed. When I reached my destination a couple of hours later, the room where I stayed stunk of human excrement. Exhausted I slept without changing, only stopping to wash my face and hands. I awoke longing to take a shower- that salivating rain was still bothering me. I went into the bathroom and there was no running water. I stayed drool-stained for a few more hours. They don't just spit in India, they've turned it into a national past-time. I got nailed by Rajasthan's finest. True to Rajasthani tradition, it comes in a vibrant red. Gimme a ooucc.

Trying to work out what's in it for the wife. Insure hubby: put time, love, food, bleach, err, shaah into him. Okay. Then one day he doesn't break or expire suddenly or get lost, no, he ups and marries another. OK in a manner of speaking he does get lost but it's premeditated. And he may not inform wife that she can put in a claim. So what's in it for her? What's the point of insurance if she can't make a claim? 1. Dhiker Policy This policy insures your husband that nothing bad will happen to him, ( Another Marriage isnt necessarily bad ) , the more Dhiker you make, the better you will feel, to the point that you find enjoyment in Dhiker that you can never get from the company of your hubby. Nuns tell us that. Are Muslim women deluded enough to compare divine love with man love? Love God and man-pain will go away? Come on. Dhikr does not practically help her deal with the situation. How does she cope socially? 2. Dedication-to-A Cause Policy You can join e-Nuri staff, help publish good articles, resend good inspirational posts to those sick souls around you, and find company and happiness in helping other Halimo's gain their sanity back after losing their hubby to anothet younger xaliimo back home. I'm sure you think your cause is a worthy one, what suggestions for SOL females that aren't as convinced as you but are in the situation u describe? And how does dedicating herself to something however worthy make the other go away? Sounds like u're advocating dropping the long Somali ostrich neck into a hole in the ground- a hole whole with dhikr and good-deeds, a hole nonetheless. 3. Love-Of-Allah policy By far this is the most secure policy, no Xaliimo who ever bought this policy felt jealous, after all, once the love of Allah fully occupies your heart, there is no space left for any Faarax to hurt you. The pain you go through in jealousy is a form of punishment for not loving Allah SWT. Love of Allah SWT is really cool, try it, wallahi, you will feel sorry for those who have not felt this high state of Devine love which dwarfs all of your worries. Jealousy is not the only pain. What about good-old fashioned wretched pain, unadulterated by a trait- jealousy- that is often used as a way of getting women to get over it quickly while shaming them in the process. What are the other aches and pains? Can she sue for damage caused? Whiffs of patronisation again from your post. Can I ask why you're quite so eager on female-focused matters even though some of us females keep telling u u're off the mark? Again and again and...(and this question is directed at you and not your on-behalf-ofs).

Originally posted by Jimca Lee: @Diigaale Who remembers Loc Dog from Don't be a Menace: I watched that movie when I was 9 and I still haven't forgotten his pick-up line. *Cocks gun* gimme your #. quote: GET YOUR COAT LOVE YA PULLED what exactly does this mean? That means u won't have to take off your coat for the two-minute sex with the Faarax-stranger. In England if you go 'on the pull', u'll be aiming to pick up a sexual partner, the more random the more appropriate. A Faarax daring to utter such a thing..where's my Clorex?

Nineteen out of 20 of the female population say that they place a higher priority on having a smaller waist than on their intelligence. What the article failed to mention was that these women's IQ also matched their waist size.

What do you do when the answer is always no? A large number of talented graduates from ethnic minorities are struggling to find jobs, finds Richard Brass When Conrad Anozia finished his IT studies at Richmond College, with another IT qualification from the Open University in his pocket, plus a degree in mechanical engineering from Westminster University, he thought he was well equipped to find a good job. Two years later, despite sending up to 30 applications a day for IT jobs, he has had only a handful of interviews and no job offers. Even his attempts to do voluntary work to gain experience have been turned down. The only work he has been able to find has been in security. Among people from ethnic minorities his experience is a common one. Figures from the Ethnic Minority Employment Task Force show that, while the overall employment rate is 74.5 per cent, for ethnic minorities it is only 59 per cent. Collecting qualifications fails to close the gap. Although members of ethnic minorities are two per cent more likely than the population as a whole to have a degree, for those with qualifications the employment rate is still five per cent below the equivalent overall figure. The figures underline how far the Government has to go in its efforts to combat social inequality, an area the Prime Minister highlighted last month by creating a new Cabinet post for social exclusion. Anozia was one of a group of job-seekers brought together last month to illustrate this gap, as part of the promotion for a conference in London next week on the business case for diversity in recruitment organised by the Centre for Economic and Social Inclusion. All the job-seekers described fruitless attempts to get past even the initial stage of the recruitment process despite good qualifications and persistence. Ikechukwu Onyemaobi, 23, from Nottingham, has been looking for work since earning a degree in mechanical engineering three years ago, but despite making well over 100 applications and applying for more than 20 graduate trainee schemes, he has so far not had a single interview. "I always get knocked out at the beginning," he said. "I've never had a chance to show them what I have. I'd also like to get some kind of feedback, but I've never had any. "I'm looking forward to meeting someone who will tell me 'Ike, this is the problem. It's because of this or that'." He is currently finishing an occupational health and safety qualification, which he hopes will boost his chances of getting an interview. "I'm optimistic about having that plus my degree, and I'm just going to be pushing harder." Nina Provencal, 27, has been looking for work in the property industry for six months. However, she said, the recruitment agencies with which she is registered have only been putting her up for jobs in other industries. "I feel like I'm not really being taken seriously," she said. "I realise organisations want you to have an understanding of their work ethic and the company and so forth, and I'm prepared to build up to a position that I'd like to be in, but the agencies are not giving me the opportunity to do that. "I have skills in that area and I have a degree, so I've tried to think of reasons why they're not looking in the right area, but I get no feedback so I'm just not sure." The fruitlessness of the employment chase has driven some of the job-seekers into developing other enterprises as a way of avoiding the barriers of the labour market. After 18 months of looking unsuccessfully for work in the housing industry, Jainabu Bah has succeeded in interesting the Prince's Trust in sponsoring an idea connected to the problem she's facing. She's aiming to set up a careers event at which people from ethnic minorities who have succeeded in areas other than music and sport can share their experiences with young people. "Rather than look on this experience as a downer, I've decided to try to turn it into an opportunity for myself," she said. "I want to give people positive role models to look at." One such role model is Chuka Umunna, a City employment lawyer, who said encountering another member of an ethnic minority in his work was very rare. "I've been in the City for coming up to four years, and I'll go to a meeting with directors or clients, other law firms, management consultants or corporate finance institutions, and I'm generally the only face of colour in the room," he said. "The argument from employers is 'We're looking for people who can do the job, regardless of the colour of their skin.' Fair enough, but are they saying that in 2006 they haven't come across sufficient numbers of ethnic minority candidates for various positions who have the requisite skills set and can do a good job? I just don't accept that." Figures from Cranfield School of Management show that, while ethnic minorities make up eight per cent of the population, they provide only 2.5 per cent of the total membership of boards of FTSE 100 companies. Afsana Shukur, the former head of the Ethnic Minority Employment Task Force, said research showed that racial stereotyping and prejudice were widespread enough to have an impact on recruitment practices. She pointed to data from the British Social Attitudes survey showing that 30 per cent of white employers and managers described themselves as either prejudiced or very prejudiced. "If people have those ingrained prejudices, that translates into why they are not recruiting people who don't have the right face," she said. "There's an economic imperative to do something about that. By 2010, half the growth in the working-age population will be from ethnic minorities. So the business case for recruiting those people is very strong." Having an explicit policy on equality and diversity is a first step employers can take to ensure that they don't accentuate the disparity in the employment figures - and miss out on getting hold of skilled, committed employees, according to Janet Lakhani, chief executive of Committed 2Equality, a not-for-profit organisation offering businesses advice on how to adapt to questions of equality. She said that less than a quarter of large employers and just one in 40 small and medium-sized enterprises have equality and diversity policies. She argues that, until more companies address this issue, the employment gap is likely to remain. Meanwhile, Anozia keeps at it, making his way every day to a recruitment agency in Manor House, north London, where he settles at a computer screen and starts sending off the next round of CVs. "They must be tired of seeing my face in there, because I'm there all the time," he said. "I don't know what else to do. Now I'm just waiting for God to answer my prayers." source

Originally posted by Kafaaxiye: quote:Sheh wrote; Grap what? Wash yr mouth out with saapun only if you provide the saapuun, would i consider it. otherwise, it is no less or worse than what wildcat professed. :cool: Did I read it wrong or did you write it wrong? Were I to clean your mouth, I'd use bleach. To make really sure that there was nothing left. I am considerate enough to allow you to do your own cleaning.

GOVERNMENT URGED TO CLOSE GENDER PAY GAP A charity dedicated to campaigning for equality was today urging the Government's Women and Work Commission to call for radical new measures when it unveils its report today. The Women and Work Commission was set up by the Government in July 2004 to investigate the gender pay gap and other issues affecting women's employment and was today due to publish its final report. However, the Fawcett Society has today hit out at the Labour Government ahead of the new report claiming it has failed to live up to promises over gender equality in the workplace. Dr Katherine Rake, director of the Fawcett Society, said: "Women have waited too long for this Government to take action and we fear the Women and Work Commission will not go far enough in calling for the radical measures we need. "At the current rate it's going to take more than 40 years to close the full-time pay gap and around 140 years to end the part-time pay gap. We are not prepared to wait that long. "Simply encouraging employers to change is not going to work fast enough. We need the Government to introduce strong enforcement measures to combat discrimination and narrow the pay gap. "Fawcett celebrates its 140th anniversary this year. We know change sometimes takes time, but I'd hate to think we'd still need to be fighting this 140 years from now." Ahead of the report charity chiefs are calling for the Government to introduce compulsory gender pay audits for all organisations, bring in measures to combat the long hours working culture that limits women with caring responsibilities and encourage men - not just women - to engage with work-life balance issues. The good cause also wants improved pay and employment for part-time workers, urgent action to help the women facing the greatest inequality in the workplace, particularly some groups of Black and Minority Ethnic women, and the Government to adopt set target dates for closing the pay gap. Fawcett Society researchers said that since 1997 the full time hourly gender pay gap has closed by just 3.6% - from 20.7% to 17.1%. At that rate of change it would take more than 43 years to close the full time pay gap completely. The part time gap has narrowed by only 2.5% - from 41% to 38.5% - in the same period meaning it would take around 140 years to be closed. Research also shows in the private sector, men working full-time earn 23% more an hour than their female counterparts and 45% more than women working part time. In the public sector, the respective figures are 13% and 34%. Since 1997 the Government has introduced some measures that have benefited women in work, including the minimum wage, greater rights for part time workers and gender pay audits for the public sector, but the Fawcett Society said more is required. The Fawcett is the UK's leading campaign for equality between women and men. The charity works to create a society in which women and men can enjoy equality at work, at home and in public life. For more information visit www.fawcettsociety.org.uk source

All I ask to be able to live in a world where people do not speak in CAPITAL LETTERS whilst making a similar point over and over. Grates in whatever language your nerves understand. Agh.