I for one am not a billionaire, I am not a political leader, or the CEO of a Fortune 500 Company. Yet whenever I ask about how I, as a man, am advantaged in society, that’s all I seem to hear; 87% of billionaires are men, not to mention 80% of politicians, 100% of US Presidents, and I get it, I want those imbalances addressed too. “But it’s not about you George, it’s what you represent”, said my auntie to me just last week. I’d reply, “how old do you think I am? I’m 33, not a thousand years old. I represent myself, and that’s it.” It’s bizarre to have to remind your own family that you are not an eternal warlord who’s existed for all time, who started all the wars, wrote all the laws, suppressed women for millennia, and is a member of a monolithic oppressor class of men. And it’s unusual to have a tiny sub strata of hyper successful men pointed to, as if they bear any relevance to my life – especially when there are so many metrics that are relevant to me… Because the fact that boys, of every level, are falling behind in school is relevant to me. The fact that I am more likely to die at every age group, is relevant to me. The fact I will live a shorter life is relevant to me. If I go to court for a crime, I will face a 88% higher chance of prison than a woman (for the same crime), is relevant to me. And the fact that suicide is the biggest threat to my life, is relevant to me too. A bunch of CEO asshole billionaires are not. My point is, there are so many barometers to use that better understand the different advantages men and women face in society, I don’t know why it’s always brought back to the same old trope of billionaire CEO male politicians. What about health? What about life satisfaction? What about educational outcomes? Do they not factor in at all? And is the ability to decide how, or where, we measure equality a privilege of its own? ~ U.S. Billionares total U.S. Billionaires by sex U.S. Homeless Health tinyurl.com/4xnxujr5 Education tinyurl.com/2rmmt886 Images by Adam Nir, Jocelyn Morales, Lukasz Rawa, Kiwi Hug, Eran Menashri, and Marcelo Leal #genderequality

2023-05-02