It is International Women's Day

and yes, I suppose it is important to have a day which celebrates the superior half of the human race. (Actually it is slightly more than half - or should be, if certain countries didn't place more importance on males than females.)
I am old enough to remember when Germaine Greer first hit the scene. I also remember some scathing comments about her from the likes of Judith Wright, Mary Durack, and a slew of other women at a Writers' Week in our then biennial festival. 
Yes, there might have been a wee bit of jealousy there. Greer was getting the sort of publicity that most writers can only dream of. But these women were, as writers go, well known. 
They had worked at it. They were "rich" in recognition at the time - but they were not financially well off. Judith Wright was staying with my family so that she could afford to be there at all - even though she was a star attraction at the week.  Mary Durack was staying with relatives. 
I don't know exactly where other writers were staying but many of them were billeted out with local writers and librarians and arts people. It was the only way the event could be run. Oh yes there were a very international "big" names - Edna O'Brien was there one year - who were given hotel accommodation but that was all. 
The situation is different now but I doubt that guest writers are being paid what they are worth - and are the women being paid as much as the men? Do the organisers still believe that the "increased book sales and publicity" make it worth the author's time? 
There was a concert here last night - given by Ed Sheeran. The tickets were expensive. You could have bought a number of books for the price of one ticket. I know of one household where both parents and three teenage children were going. The total cost was, to me, an extraordinary sum of money to spend on a couple of hours of entertainment.  What is more they would not have considered spending the same amount to go to an orchestral event where far more people would have been performing - and only after many years of hard work.
It seems to me that writing, especially writing by women, is more like the orchestral concert than the Sheeran event. It involves far more work. I may be doing the likes of Mr Sheeran a disservice of course. I don't know enough about him. He might spend at least eight hours a day working on his performances. Even if he does he gets paid a great deal more than the musicians I know.
I thought about all this as I was putting out the Senior Cat's cereal bowl and coffee mug this morning. He has been a supporter of equal pay for women for years. He thinks writers should be paid far more than what he calls "pop stars". He knows how much work goes into performing. 
And he knows it is International Women's Day because another event in this house has made him very aware of it. He will mutter things about Germaine Greer and equal pay and wonder all over again why writers get paid less than popular performers.
I don't have an answer.