First, a quick reminder of the facts.
Transport for London carried out a survey of 506 pregnant Londoners in March 2006 that revealed that pregnant women have to stand for an average of five stops before being offered a seat and 35% of mums are never offered a seat. 36% frequently felt they had to avoid public transport for fear of having to stand for the duration of the journey.
I found a link for an article on the Daily Mail site which contains all sorts of crazy comments from members of the public on this issue. However, bear in mind this is the most evil newspaper in all the ten kingdoms, that its readership are reactionary old fuckers who genuinely believe that their staunch Tory-voting Surrey town is about to be over run by a swarm of illegal immigrant suicide bombers, that Margaret Thatcher's oft-invoked image of Churchillian England actually existed and that crucifiction should be brought back for serious crimes such as shop lifting...
On to the results; did K___'s badge make a difference?
The good news is that yes, it did. Not all the time, but she reports that if someone clocked the badge - and this is not always possible on a packed DLR train - they normally offered her a seat. There were a few instances of people seeing it but blanking her or trying to pretend they hadn't seen. I regret to say that these were nearly always men. Perhaps they were the men on the Daily Mail site saying things like, 'Well, they wanted equality. Now they're suffering the consequences.' These are people who claim that if they've show a basic measure of common courtesy to a woman, they've been abused for it. However, you must bear in mind that these are likely to be straight white men in white collar professions who have convinced themselves they are a greatly put-upon minority. They deserve your sympathy, not your sneers.Anyway, the message is that if we're fit enough to do it we should try and be considerate to pregnant women and not be scared of offering them our seats. Looking the other way and pretending you haven't seen, or whining to yourself that you've paid the same amount of money for your seat and have every right to stay put just sucks the joy out of living. Plus, as a bonus, if everyone on the Tube network were to offer their seats to someone who needed it, maybe there wouldn't even need to be a Daily Mail any longer.
Surely that's worth trying for?
I think the pertinant fact is that you *do* give up your seat, LG. I'd be the same. If I was knackered and all the rest of it, I wouldn't want to give up my seat, but hopefully I would because I try to have some manners.
ReplyDeleteTesco's - what do you propose happens - those with children don't get to be parents to their kids? Then they grow up as Vicky Pollards.
I do kind of see your point, but if you don't want to do a McJob where you may have to work unsociable hours, go and get a McJob that closes at 5.30.
I think on the 'women and children' first thing, you'd actually qualify. It's not 'women with children'! However, that is sexist, so I'd be kicking yo' ass out the way to get in the boat. ;-)
Finally, 'I don't know' is the answer to the last bit. I'm assuming this is people who were well enough when they got pregnant and were diagnosed mid-term? I suppose those people who put off treatment may think that they've already had a life. Or perhaps they have religious convictions that make them think a particular way. I can understand that if you believed in God and heaven and all that stuff, you might not be so bothered about dying.
I think the problem is that we're talking emotional bonds here. It may not be rational to behave in a particular way but it makes perfect sense from an emotional perspective. I try to be a rational person, but I can definitely understand why someone might feel driven to act in such a counter-intuitive way.
I don't know!