27
" It is hardly surprising, as we are brought up in a society that preferences men in almost every area you care to name, particularly when it comes to wealth, power and prestige. The Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Liz Broderick, describes misogyny as being like asbestos in the walls; we absorb it without realising it. That is why sexism is not just something men do to women; it is also something women do to one another and, most damagingly of all, to themselves. The result is that we unconsciously assume that men – particularly white, middle-class men – have merit until they prove otherwise. I have seen this over and over when very ordinary men get promoted far beyond their level of competence, not just once or twice but continuously. Most of the bosses I have had who failed at their job were kicked upstairs. That rarely happens to incompetent women. This is because that same unconscious misogyny leads us to assume that women don’t have merit until they prove otherwise. "
― Jane Caro , Plain-speaking Jane
33
" Economic activities that diminish the quality of the environment and increase pollution harm the communities that are supposed to benefit. Conversely, contact with the natural environment has been shown to reduce stress, improve children’s behaviour and increase wellbeing. Indeed, patients appear to recover faster from surgery when they are able to see plants, flowers and trees. Although we might like to think that the natural environment is a tool at our disposal, that we are entitled, as the Book of Genesis suggests, to ‘dominion’ over ‘all the earth’, we are in fact part of the natural world and, for better and for worse, inextricably linked to and deeply affected by it. "
― Jane Caro , Destroying the Joint: Why Women Have to Change the World
37
" When women participate politically, joints do get destroyed - joints that treat women as second-class citizens or property, that deny girls education, that claim democratic status while refusing women citizenship, that allow the elites to grow richer and stronger on the blood of the poor and the weak. It's marvellous, actually, the way this keeps happening: women start to lobby and agitate and suddenly all these violent, sexist, racist, unjust, repressive joints begin to crumble.
(Emily Maguire) "
― Jane Caro