Blog Against Sexism Day

Today Vegankid emplores us to blog against sexism and who am I to argue?

As a male sexism does not have the same affect on me as it does on women. Men are generally immune form sexism. This is because it is men that are the sexist ones. Of course some radical feminists wish to redress the balance and seem to be totally biased towards women but that is from a position of years and years of oppression rather that a position of power. For I believe that power is what sexism is all about.

For years and years, women have had worse jobs, worse wages, have been unable to join the same clubs and so forth. They have also been held up as nothing more than sex objects by some. The reason? I strongly believe that some men who are still carrying out sexist policies in government and in the workplace are doing so because they are afriad of losing their power. It is very much like apartheid South Africa. The only reason the white population held on to the reins of government for so long and excluded blacks from the parliamentary process was because they were afraid of losing their power and influence over the country.

It seems a ridculous position to take because in an equal society everybody should be treated equally. Everybody has a valid contribution to make and when they do should be rewarded with exactly the same renumeration regardless of sex. How would it be if the law suddenly said that left handed colleagues should receive less wages for teh job and because they are left handed there career progression would be hampered. There would of course be uproar and quite rightly. Why successive Governments have failed to address the inequality between male and female workers is not so much of a mystery when you see the disproportionate percentage of female MP's and the even fewer that make it to Government and can therefore make a difference.

Those women that do make it are deemed freakish and not quite right in some circles (especially by the right wing press), and when we did have a woman Prime Minister in this country the cause of equality for woman took a retrograde step instead of forging ahead as it should have done.

The answer of course is simple. If a man ad a women are doing the same job they should receive the same wage. If they are of the same ability they should have an equal chance of career progression. And there should be more women in the House of Commons. How this is achieved is something I don't know.

All I do know is that change needs to happen now and some men need to wise up and let go of the strings of power so everybody can have a go.