To gain total gender equality should women be urged to endure the same hardships as men?

Question

The complete question is.. To gain total gender equality should women be forced to endure the same social and physical hardships as men to get the same social standing? I had this conversation with a friend of mine and I asked her and she said that YES women should have the same consideration as men but would still need to retain more options of whether or not to partake, when they decide to quit and it they want to continue with it and quit and later try. She explained to me about single mothers needing to work flexible hours and needing time off and just not being able to work as many hours.

My specific example was.. Does a woman working 25 hours a week flextime deserve the same oppourtunity as another woman who works 55 hours a week. She said yes and I disagreed.

My second example was would a woman who had been with the company 7 years working a regular full time schedule who had taken 3 hiatus' of 1 year each in the last seven years still be promotable. She said yes, I didn't

My point is that men don't have infinite flexibility. how many career men do you know who work part-time? Competition for promotions are very tight. Taking paternity leave to take care of your wife (which most times you are allowed to take) will take you off of the fast track to promotions. You are know as one of "those" guys who take lots of time off for family stuff. You are unstable, unreliable. Your tough as nails, never been sick, works 65 hours a week co-worker is going to beat you for that promotion 101 times out of 100. My suggestion is that to HONESTLY compete women have to play on that level. To work 25 hours a week and take time off even during that 25 hours would in the real world hold you back. Do you think it is fair? How can career women pave a path that helps all womrn? Is there a middle-ground?

I never said we were better, never said that. We have more responsibility and in that we get more respect and give the LEAST respect to a man who is not taking care of his responsibilities. He is garbage. Socially in our paternal culture we have the most responsibility on our shoulders. In the traditional family unit dad is the breadwinner, mom stays home and rears the kids. Many single moms complain about how hard it is raising a family alone when they are just doing what dads have been doing for thousands of years. It seems that men are more devoted to the job so they get the most reward knowing that 4 months after his promotion he won't take 3 years off to have a baby or ask to telecommute this month and next month work a reduced hour schedule and another month off for family related reasons. A guy knows that he will pretty much have to quit his job because the answer is NO unless HE has cancer or his wife does. Thats it.

I can agree with you that many men who are underserving get promoted and it make me SICK. I am not the enemy, I am opening a line of dicussion where we can talk about it. Honestly, we all know that family is important and if employers were giving ultimatums like "take time off and you are fired" there would be a problem. They have to be flexible and sensitive to thier female workers but can be harder on thier male workers to pick up the slack. While many that they put into those positions are buffoons and unqualified and there may be 2-3 more qualified and more proven women who could take that position and be a success the attendance is an issue. It seems in the business world that attendance beats out performance anyday. Like in school. Its better to get C's and be in school everyday than to get A's but only show up half of the time. No teacher would allow a student who does not come to school as often to lead a group even though she gets As on the work she does when she is in school

Answer 1

I'm with you on this, your friend is a socialist. If women want gender equality, they'll have to go to another planet, it's never going to happen. There are many jobs where women and men get exactly the same deal, but in the professional office world, men move up quicker because they devote themselves to their jobs more readily than woman do, including single women.

Answer 2

Define social and physical hardships. Most women I know are already working the same long hours as men, if not longer, because depending upon which fields we work in, we have to work much harder to prove ourselves than our male coworkers. We get passed over for promotions all the time because of the perception that we will probably be "too family oriented", although nobody ever says that about men with families. And men don't have periods or cramps or babies. And there's a whole bunch of other illnesses and conditions that are particular to women that men either don't get, or don't get that often. Men need to stop whining.

Women do all the same types of jobs that men do, and we work just as hard. The problem is that we make a whole lot less money for the same work and we don't get the promotions. And after we get home from work, we still have to do all the cooking and cleaning and take care of the kids. I don't see any physical or social "equality" there because the men in question aren't doing sh*t.

Basically, there ARE NO hardships that men endure that women don't endure, aside from erectile dysfunction. However, there are plenty of hardships, both social and physical, that women endure that men can't even conceive of. The whole "gender equality" movement ended back in the early 70's. Women just want their fair share for what they do.

Answer 3

Did it ever cross your mind that women aren't after equality, but equal opportunity?
I have been in the workplace for 21 years. I took 2 4-month maternity leaves and worked part time for 7 years at a less-demanding position. I was lured back to full-time by a promotion. I had established a track record prior to starting my family, and was able to resume it as my children started school.

Would it benefit anyone to relegate me to that lower part-time position for the rest of my career? Do you think a less qualified man should be ahead of me now because he put in the days? Opportunity should go to the person who can make the most of it at the time it is available - not to the person with the best attendance.

Answer 4

The most important issue is productivity. If a person working 25 hours is more productive than one working 65 hours a week (because they are too busy at the water cooler), then the most productive person should be given the promotion.

If women can compete under the same rules as men, they should be given the same opportunities. Double standards need not apply. Thank you GI Jane.

Answer 5

Heres a better question. Why doesn't a man have to endure the same TOTAL hardships placed upon a woman to KEEP his higher gender status. I acknowledge quite effortlessly that women have more hardships than any man in any given predicamet. We are just bigger and more forceful and are able to manipulate the factors better, it doesnt mean we are the better gender, just lazier.

Answer 6

you want to talk about hardship you try giving birth
women go through hardship at this time