Your say: week beginning November 3

Every day, we publish a selection of your emails in our newsletter. We’d love to hear from you, you can email us at yoursay@theconversation.edu.au.

Monday November 3

Home for a family

“It seems blindingly obvious to me that one of the main reasons the fertility rate is declining is because of the lack of housing affordability. I am in my early 20s and the number one comment from my peers when talking about children is that we’ll never be able to find stable, affordable housing to bring a child home to. Gen Y and Z are struggling to find stable and affordable housing to suit a couple, let alone something fit for a family. I have always wanted children, but they now genuinely seem like a luxury I won’t be able to home, afford, or provide for.”

Jade Needham

Bypassing the BOM

“Like a large number of Australians, I also dislike the new format of the BOM radar offering. While the Bureau inserted the new format into the longstanding rain radar website, it did not remove the much-loved ‘traditional’ rain radar. Rather, the much-loved ‘traditional’ rain radar has been moved to a different web page. For those like me who prefer to engage with the much loved rain radar, go to: reg.bom.gov.au”

Dr Bruce Moon

Republishing shocker

“I’m very disappointed to learn people ‘borrow’ and benefit from your work (Wednesday, October 29), although we can understand your response. We do the same – share our books for negligible profit so the world can read these unique stories. On that basis we are making a small donation. Thank you for your service.”

Anna Borzi AM

ED: Thank you for your generosity, Anna. You can read more about our republishing here.

Tuesday November 4

Entrenched stereotypes

“The continuing discrepancy between men’s and women’s wages and housework contribution is an old story, based on deeply entrenched patriarchal stereotypes. When I asked my then-husband some 40 years ago for a little help with the housework, his response was to bellow: ‘You earn as much money as I do and I’ll do as much housework as you do!’ Hole in one. Yet he had contributed to my situation by refusing to let me work once the children came along.”

Alison Lambert

Sporting volunteers

“In the article on unpaid work I had difficulty finding anything that mentions the thousands of hours volunteers spend managing recreation and sporting activities. I spent 15 years in volunteer club administration at club and state level. Incidentally, a large proportion of those duties were being undertaken by men (and yes, plenty of women too). Coaching, organising clubs and competitions, afternoon teas, putting up goalnets, keeping clubrooms clean after the game, preparing season fixtures, umpires, scorers … you get the idea.”

Peter Nicholls

Men are slower

“The number of hours spent on domestic chores is a poor comparator. Men work at a much slower speed than women, so do less work in a given timeframe. Ask any woman.”

Lee Grosberg

Wednesday November 5

Buying a home

“To Jade (Your Say, Monday November 3), don’t despair, be patient, remain focussed and do your research to put a plan in place. Time is on your side. I was 33-years-old when we had our first child to bring home to a modest house.”

Ross Melrose

Thanks, Bev!

“Today I was reminded again of the rich variety of well-researched topics available in The Conversation. I am a curious young/elderly person and could not have access if they were beyond a paywall. My mornings reading the daily email often set the tone of my day and lead to further exploration through the links. Please continue to enrich my end days by continuing your daily publication.”

Bev Cranwell

Fewer mistakes please

“Having had a career of almost half a century as a sub-editor, I see reminders every day of how editing standards have declined. In Monday’s newsletter the term ‘average woman’ raised my hackles, because there is no such thing. Only numbers can be expressed as an average, and there are various ways of measuring it. The newsletter also contains ‘fall between the cracks’. This should be through, as presumably there is solid metaphorical material between the cracks.”

Ken Turnbull, Maldon VIC