To treat someone differently (either better or worse) on the basis of their sex – is sexism. No. There is no ‘positive discrimination’, so stop your awkward somersaulting, and mental gymnastics, you look silly. Character, ideas, talent, hardwork, experience – these are the things that dictate competency; not gender, race, sexuality, or any other immutable characteristic. Of course the basics of discrimination are all common sense, and widely accepted truth, when it’s comes to women and minorities. Just not men. When studies show that a female professor is twice as likely to be tenured as an *equally qualified* male professor, we shouldn’t woop, hi-five and pop the champagne– we should instead hunt down discrimination with the same rigour and resolve as always. Or if there are nearly twice as many young women going to university as young men, perhaps we should start to wind down the women only scholarships, and consider introducing more for young men? And if removing the name and gender from job applications leads to *more* men being hired, then so be it. We cannot pick and choose what kinds of discrimination are acceptable, or types of sexism tolerated, for surely such a thing cuts both ways, and remains equally reprehensible. So who will stay true to their belief in merit, equality and fairness? Who will talk of to the men and boys being discriminated against? Who really cares about equality, and who’s just pretending? ~ Aus Study Professor Perry Scholarships Images by Kelly Sikkema, Kiwi Hug, Brandi Redd, MJK Shikder, and Ambreen Hasan,

2023-08-30