Not going to....Can't make me

I spent Sunday afternoon having a long catch up with one of my guests as her flight wasn't till late afternoon. During the course of our chatter she informed me that she was a bit of technophobe, and had only recently got a cell phone because her children had bought it for her for Xmas. She said that she used the internet for banking and emails and that was all. This woman is in the final stages of her degree and confessed that she writes all her essays by hand then pays someone to type them up for her.

I of course then had to introduce her to the world of blog, so logged in and showed her what it was about. She started to look at this site then yelled at me in an alarmed manner "you don't vote!" She then started on a tirade about exercising my one democratic right blah blah blah, of course assuming that I had heard none of this before.

A tiny bit of background is needed here. I have known Ms W for many many years, 20 of which she spent living in London. When her relationship soured she packed up the children and moved back to NZ. She then bought a house, went on the benefit for her income and started doing her "women's studies" degree. Ms W will also tell you in great detail of her case worker at WINZ who has managed to get all of her tuition paid for so she doesn't have a student loan. This is a person who has not contributed to NZ taxes for over 20 years.

Like Ms W I am a single parent, however I work for my income, pay vast amounts in taxation and have paid off my student loan. So in my mind I am a fiscally contributing member of society and therefore I am supporting Ms W so she can eat and study.

I very gently explained to her that it is my democratic right to not vote if I so choose, and if I felt the need to voice my democratic right strongly I would, and have done in the past organising marches etc etc. She then tried to turn the debate to "what is my definition of a feminist?" (70's relic is the correct answer) and how oppressed women are in this country.

As I have good manners instilled in me, and have my Girl Guide badge to prove it, I deflected this line of discussion to less volatile topics all the while seething inside and wanting to say......what fukking right have you got to question me on my politics and feminist issues while you are a non contributing bludger off the state. It's women like you who perpetuate the freeloading benefit lifestyle that contributes to the "oppression" of women in this country.

Ms W fully thinks that when she has finished her degree she is going to walk into a policy job at Women's Affairs. THAT might inspire me to vote.