The misguided focus on gender equality
This morning there was a good point, very well made over at skepticlawyer.com.au about the relative skills of men and women. Helen noted that she has now conceded an argument she had made much earlier in life that many typically ‘girly’ pursuits (like beauty contests and debutants’ balls) are nothing more than sexist rubbish and should be dismissed as such. This kind of argument seems to abound in (what little I know of) the feminist movement, as does the argument for gender equality. That reminded me that I think some feminists paint their argument with too broad a brush when suggesting women and men should be considered equal.
Is equality per se really the end game? Surely it’s ok to admit that men and women are different, and that men are better at some things than women. I’m happy, even eager to admit that women are better at some things, probably a great many things, than men. That so many feminists seem to consider gender equality so important, a point also made relatively recently at thefword.org.uk, seems odd to say the least, if not somewhat counter productive.
I’ve recently watched a couple of episodes of Dangerous Jobs for Girls[1] and was given the dirtiest of dirty looks by Laura for making the comment “I think I like this show because it knocks some feminists on their asses a bit”[2]. In retrospect, that was a very crude expression of my actual thoughts; really I just wonder why there’s this constant quest by a good portion of the feminist movement[3] to prove women are as good as men at things which for whatever reason men are predisposed to do very well.
There’s no doubt that some women are able to perform as well as some men in typically male jobs (like tree felling). But it seems a lot like fact to me that the best female will never perform as well as the best male in jobs like tree felling, or any number of other jobs which require skills or abilities that males are predisposed to be better at.
To my mind, feminism shouldn’t be about the broad concept of gender equality, or involve wholesale denunciation of typically ‘girly’ activities. Feminism needs to focus on attaining equality in specific factors where it doesn’t exist, but should. The other all but insurmountable challenge is figuring out a way to change antiquated, hypocritical or just plain disrespectful attitudes.
- A couple of episodes has probably squeezed it dry of entertainment for me. [↩]
- Even while doing that it manages to very adeptly demonstrate to both the audience and the participants that highly capable females, no matter what the task is, are still highly capable. [↩]
- In fact, I suspect it’s probably the idle feminists who are most guilty of this. The people who (rightly) like the idea of feminism, but haven’t thought about it in any depth. Though there’s no doubt that some very staunch feminists take this kind of (presumably well considered) stance. [↩]
I used to think that boys and girls were the same, until my aunt had my male cousins when I was a teenager. They are definitely different. You might get some girls who are more “boyish” and some boys who are more “girlish”, but in general, they are very different.
Some feminists actually emphasise the difference between women and men. For example, Carol Gilligan emphasises the female “ethics of care” in her book In A Different Voice. This hypothesises that women are better at caring, forming connections etc. I never really liked this theory myself, perhaps because I went to some all girls schools which were the antithesis of caring and connected - think extremely bitchy. But then I look at my daughter and her attitude to forthcoming No. 2 Baby - she is full of plans for how she is going to care for him - I never saw my friend’s son do that when her second child was born…
Legal Eagle
6 Sep 08 at 1:04 am
I’m a feminist, and proudly so. I hate the fact that feminist and feminazi appear, nowadays, to be considered the same thing. I believe men and women are equal, full stop. This does NOT mean I think men and women are the same. There are strengths and weaknesses in both sexes - but in a patriarchal society, masculine traits are generally emphasised as ‘good’ and female ones as ‘bad.’
Regarding this programme - I think in all cases your statement that the best male practitioner of these roles would always be better than the best female is completely wrong. I see no reason why a woman couldn’t be the best tree feller in the world, the best marksman, the best trawler fisher. It’s not likely to happen because, generally speaking (always dangerous) such jobs don’t tend to play to a woman’s strengths. Let’s face it, there are precious few men who like the danger, pain and exhaustion of these jobs, so women won’t be flocking to sign up.
What I would say is: I think the fact women don’t find some of these jobs appealing is a strength. If it’s true that women would rather work in areas of communication than, say, killing animals for a living, I’d consider that something of which to be quite proud.
seshat
23 Sep 08 at 12:44 pm
Thanks for your comment, seshat.
A statement like that involves a very picky semantic nuance. As adjectives the words ’same’ and ‘equal’ are so closely related that all of the dictionaries I just checked acutally used the word ’same’ in the definition of ‘equal’. Of course men and women aren’t the same, but I’d certainly stand my by belief that neither are they equal per se - and nor should they be considered as such.
Where a particluar characteristic which is different between males and females is required to perform a job well, I don’t see how you could possibly conclude that my “statement that the best male practitioner of these roles would always be better than the best female is completely wrong.” In the case of tree felling, where physical strength is a requirement to perform the job well, the debate is ended by observing the difference between male and female world records in the various sports in which physical strength is the key factor in success.
That’s an interesting spin to put on it, but unfortunately that changes the debate. I never suggested that women choosing not to participate in certain professions constituted a weakness, nor would I ever make such a suggestion. I also don’t think it’s a strength - though of course it might very well be playing to their strengths which is a different thing.
Simon
23 Sep 08 at 1:37 pm