Bad Feminism

I recently attended an event that I enjoyed very much. It was for a great cause. It was about the maltreatment of women in another culture.

There were only a handful of men attending out of the 150 or so attendees, but we were there. Believe it or not, there are many men who are sympathetic to the plight of women.

What irked me a bit was the hostess making announcements like, “Ladies, our guest will be speaking in ten minutes.” There was no reference to the men in the crowd. This was done twice. Why did she completely ignore us? As a man, was I not welcome at the event?

During the night, mention was made of how much women had done for this cause. No reference was made to the efforts some men have made for the same cause, I being one of them.

I think I believe in feminism, but not if it is not creating harmony among humans, and certainly not if it is not promoting equality among all people. I hope that good feminism doesn’t ignore the contributions or existence of men. I hope men are not all painted with the same brush.

I belong to a teachers’ union. At one time our local had in its constitution that 50% of the executive had to be women. The problem was at one point that there weren’t enough women who wanted to be on the executive and you needed a certain number of executive members to satisfy the constitution.

This same union hosts a conference on women’s issues once a year. Funding is provided for women who want to attend, but not men. Honestly, I don’t think that there would be many men who would attend, but the point is that for true equality to exist, the gate has to swing both ways.

Some may argue that women haven’t caught up yet with men. While this may be true, trying to be equal by practising inequality doesn’t make much sense to me.

I remember working on the pre-registration of a conference for women a few years ago. I had dealt with the forms of all those who were attending. If there were any problems at the registration desk, I would be the only one who would have first-hand knowledge.

On the day of the conference, the two women who were organizing the program asked me if I would mind if I would not be at the registration desk. Their reason? Some women might be offended. Why? Because I am a man? What an example of sexism! Yes, women can be sexist too.

So, am I trying to say that we should keep things the way they are? I hope I am not giving that impression. What I am saying that for equality to exist, it must mean just that. I believe that we should recognize each individual as a human being – period!