Sideswipe: September 19: Now that's progress

Hurricanes used to be named only after women in 1953. The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) had discovered that dubbing hurricanes with short, distinctive given names was a quicker and less error-prone method of referring to storms than the older, more cumbersome latitude-longitude identification approach. After feminist groups protested over the implied slur that women alone were tempestuous and unpredictable, men's names were also used for such weather phenomena beginning in 1979.

Describe yourself like a male author would . . .

1. She talked a lot, which didn't leave me much choice other than to drift off, appreciating her semi-see-through top. She was a beautiful mystery. I'd switch back on just in time to challenge the last thing she said.

2. She seemed cranky, like something irritating had happened to her every day for the past 10 years. I liked her haircut but the extent of her tattoos was frightening. She was totally focused on getting the kayak off the car with her kids' help, almost like men didn't even matter.

3. Her eyes blazed dark blue when she got excited. Even though she tended to middle-aged roundness, she had a neat waist. She was saying something about his car being on fire. He wondered if she had a daughter.

4. She caught my eye in a peripheral sort of way; just enough that I noticed her form in the background. Upon inspection, her tight frown and standoffish demeanour invited me to skate my eyes away from her in discomfort. Moments later, she was completely erased from my memory.

5. She is a middle-aged woman who never lost the "resting bitch face" that, in her 20s, made men ask her to cheer up but now, in her 50s, just makes people who pass her afraid to say hello. (Via @whitneyarner)

Via itspeteski.

Working women

Analysis of the 1891 census — to see what jobs women did during the suffrage movement — compared to the latest census in 2013 paints an interesting picture of the changes for women. Read more here.

Video

"Is education a waste of time for married women?" An ABC's Woman's World discussion from 1961.

Got a Sideswipe? Send your pictures, links and anecdotes to Ana at ana.samways@nzherald.co.nz