A new survey, released on International Women’s Day, has the online world shrieking and spasming with outrage. ‘WOMEN’S RIGHTS HAVE GONE TOO FAR!’ Says half Millennials’. Yikes. What a shocking statistic. Surely that can’t be right? Well no, it isn’t. Because that’s not what the survey asked. The full question was: ‘have we gone so far in promoting women's equality that we are discriminating against men?’ The second half of that question is incredibly important to the context the survey. It’s not asking if ‘women’s rights have gone too far’, but rather asking, have they gone so far that we are now discriminating against men? This is not same question at all, and I have different answers to each them. Yes. In many areas, in many countries, we have become so enamoured and blinded by ‘women’s equality’ that we have been discriminating against men and boys. (In education, in health and in employment to name a few.) Regardless of semantics, the outrage and childish tantrums I’ve seen swung around online in the wake of these results, are more concerning. For this question of ‘women’s equality discriminating against men’ is not going away. In fact, it will only become more pertinent and pressing as time goes on, as more of us become aware of what is happening to our boys and men. This is a chance for the feminist movement to actually answer this question of themselves, to step back and ask – are we discriminating against men? Failure to answer this, or to instead stamp your feet or shriek hyperbole, will only allow other people to answer it for you. Malefactors, asshole-influencers and misogynists; they are the ones capitalising on such cowardice, and such dishonesty, to the tune of millions upon millions of followers. So, I ask – ‘have we gone so far in promoting women's equality that we are discriminating against men?’ And when will we sit down together to answer it? ~ The Survey Boys in Education Mens Health Women in STEM Images by Gradienta, Kiwi Hug and Rafal Szczawinski #genderequality #boysineducation

2023-03-15