However, beyond those differences just because men are usually better at one thing or because women are usually better than men at another thing doesn’t mean that is always the case. I have experience of a female manager at work deciding that only the male employees were able to help move some boxes. This was despite having a strong young female employee who works out regularly and a weaker male employee suffering from RSI. Somehow the female manager thought because she isn’t strong that moving things was a job only for men. The strong young female employee actually volunteered to help but was told to remain at her desk by the manager and the manager wasn’t impressed when the weaker male employee with RSI said he was unable to help. This was obviously both sexist and discriminatory but then it’s not an issue most people would complain about.
There are currently a number of employment sectors which employ a lot more of one gender than another. For instance, while there are some excellent female computer programmers and some excellent male personal assistants, they are in the minority. Some sectors like computing and engineering are trying to attract more females but of course talented females who could work in those sectors are free to choose which sector they want to work in. Other sectors dominated by one gender don’t seem to be as interested in attracting the other gender, for instance, when have you seen a campaign to recruit female construction workers or male lunchtime assistants? If a recruitment drive aimed at an under-represented gender is the right approach for one sector then why isn’t the right approach for all sectors? And why is it only usually being used for sectors which have a low number of female workers?
One news story that interested me was one that revealed ASDA had been paying checkout staff less than warehouse staff with people claiming it was gender discrimination despite the fact men working on the checkouts earned the same as women and that women working in the warehouse earned the same as men. Gender discrimination? No. ASDA undervaluing their checkout staff? Possibly.
Self-proclaimed feminist Emma Watson* caused controversy amongst feminists when she said “some of the best feminists I have encountered are men.” Personally I can see why that could be the case, going back to my earlier example how many women would complain about the male employees being asked to move some boxes but female employees not being asked? I imagine not many and even some self-proclaimed feminists wouldn’t complain about it even though they aren’t being treated equally and one of the main principles of feminism is for women to be treated the same as men. Some people (of both genders) like to claim they are pro-equality but aren’t keen on changes which result in them being disadvantaged. Recent research has shown that women in their 20s in the UK now on average earn more than men in their 20s** but I haven’t seen any complaints from women about that and I’ve heard comments from some men about that not really being an issue.
As well as causing controversy with feminists Ms. Watson has been targeted by anti-feminist trolls. Possibly she’s such a good role model for both genders that she isn’t liked by extremists from either side?
Any issues mentioned in this blog post are UK based and it's worth remembering inequality in countries outside Europe and North America can be much worse.
* Emma Watson is a UN Women Goodwill Ambassador and launched the HeForShe solidarity campaign.
** Figures compiled by the Press Association have shown that between the ages of 22 and 29, a woman will typically earn £1,111 more per annum than her male counterparts. Using data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), PA analysed the comparative earnings of men and women between 2006 and 2013.
