Flanders today
march 5, 2014
Erkenningsnummer P708816
#320
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current affairs
Loss of an icon
n e w s w e e k ly € 0 . 7 5
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politics
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business
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innovation
w w w. f l a n d e r s t o d ay. e u
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education
Hear me roar
Flanders’ most famous art curator, Jan Hoet, dies at 77
The government of Flanders launches a new logo and communications concept
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Kid Rock: Children in rehabilitation at Ghent’s University Hospital take to the airwaves
An act of love Couples need to consider the longterm repercussions of part-time work, says new government campaign Linda A Thompson
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living
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agenda
Restricted area Video artist Wim Catrysse ventures into landscapes most of us would never be able to see 14
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When Bianca Dardenne and her partner separated in 2004, she was a couple of months pregnant with their second child. Forced to make ends meet on €1,000 a month minus rent, debts and lawyer’s fees, Dardenne at one point turned the heating down several degrees, began making her own washing powder and bread, and “learned to make something edible from nothing”.
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efore the split, Dardenne, who lives in Westerlo, Antwerp province, had been doing an internship at a transport company, from where she was let go when she was four months pregnant. Because she and her partner weren’t married, she wasn’t eligible for any kind of alimony. While Dardenne eventually came out the other side – she is now a coach for single mums and works as a freelance HR recruiter – she admits that maybe her priorities weren’t entirely right at the time. “I didn’t think about the consequences of not having a steady job,” she says. “But I would no longer do that. I want a steady job and a full-time job – just in case.” Several high-profile Flemish lawmakers have recently begun urging women to think long and hard about the consequences of their career choices before ill fate strikes and they find themselves in a situation such as Dardenne’s. `` continued on page 5