Completely random post however the thought crossed my mind...

A completely random post came across my mind while I stubbled across this lovely image.  Trying to think of what I should get for my family friend's 3 year old daughter's birthday, barbie dolls come to mind.  What little girl doesn't love barbie dolls?  So to find the perfect one, I decide to google image "barbie dolls".  Of course this picture comes to the screen.  And suddenly it begins to annoy me.  Why is it that women have a reputation to be in the kitchen.  Stereotypes now a days are getting stronger and there has always been the stereotype between men and women.  Men are strong and hard working and must stay in an office making sure they make the money to care for their families.  However, women on the other hand are meant to cook, clean and stay at home.  This stereotype that women are meant to be left at home or in other terms told to "get back into the kitchen" is extremely disrespectful to society.  Of course it has been a long ongoing argument however, us women should be treated equally and instead of being told to cook and clean, we too can provide for families and work and do what is known as "a man's job."  I find it humorous that even now, this stereotype is being pushed further and further, shown in this image of a barbie doll, that is too, sitting in a kitchen.  And to think, all of this comes to mind, when all I was trying to do was simply look for the perfect present for my friend's daughter.  Who would have thought.. I guess 'barbie's kitchen' would be the perfect gift... or is it?

Overall life expectancy for both males and females in the world.

"Women in large swaths of the U.S. are dying younger than they were a generation ago, reversing nearly a century of progress in public health and underscoring the rising toll of smoking and record obesity."  I was looking up women life expectancy online and found this article about the life expectancy of women in the U.S. which I found very interesting.  It relates to smoking and obesity and how there has been a major decline in life expectancy due to these factors. http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jun/15/nation/la-na-womens-health-20110615

While reading The Penguin Atlas of Women in the World I found it very clear and shocking about the gap between the life expectancy of women in the world.  "Life expectancy is an irreducible indicator of overall wellbeing.  In most countries, women have an average life expectancy higher than their male counterparts, but for many of the world's women - and men - life is short and hard." (Seager, 16)  It's very interesting that on world average women life up to 70 years old.  However, in places such as Japan, Norway, Sweden, Austria, Italy in the Northern American, women tended to live longer than those in the Middle East such as Mozambique, Malawi, Swaziland, Afghanistan, etc.