something more on feminism

[dream_labyrinth]

Today, I came across a quote that seems to hold a lot of truth:
Frauen haben heute mehr Rechte.
Mehr Macht hatten sie früher.
In my own translation:
Today women have more rights.
In they past, they had more power.
It's by Charles Aznavour. OK, so he's a man. But that doesn't mean he's wrong. I have heard that the Swiss women didn't fight for suffrage because they had their husbands so well in hand that the men voted for whatever the women wanted anyway.
Today, some men don't open doors for women anymore. They don't help you put your coat on. With the whole emancipation thing, I think we confused many men so much that they don't know what to do anymore. They don't want to give us the impression that we are weak ore something, but I personally wouldn't mind having a man come over to help me to check the pressure on my car's tires. Unfortunately, it never happens to me. Maybe I look too emancipated, or so young that men think I can do it on my own. Which is true. But these things are not a question of being able to. Some things I just don't like to do. Working on a car is one of them. Or working with machines, from lawn mower to chain saw. I did all that, as my father deemed it necessary for all of his kids to be able to do these things. But I would never refuse any help offered.
Today there was an article in the newspaper. Something about too few women in top positions. The secretary for women, family and social affairs or whatever her title is said that women apparently are not willing to put 150% of their energy into business. Her consequence was that we should let men do more work at home with the children.
Now let me get this straight: Even if we don't want to, we should leave our kids at home with our husbands or boyfriends and become managers of our companies???
If a woman prefers to have a career instead of kids, why not let her do it wihtout making a fuss over it. And the other way round: if a woman decides to give up work and stay home with the kids, don't treat her like some kind of monster, stabbing generations of fighters for women's rights in the back.
Same for men.
THAT would be true emancipation for me, if you can live your life the way you like without having it interpreted in any way connected with your sex.

Comments

[jonaso.livejournal.com]

In Sweden, and probably elsewhere, there's a pressure to regulate hiring of managers to top-level postitions, for example in the government. So if 70% of the managers were men, then for the next opening, only women would be elegible.

I think this is the wrong approach. What we want to do is make sure that men and women have the same possibility of beeing hired. It is a crime to discriminate against someone based on their sex, and I think this is good.

Once everyone has the same possibility of beeing hired (or whatever the case may be), then it will ultimately be down to each own to decide what he or she wishes to do with his or her life.

[dream-labyrinth.livejournal.com]

That's exactly what I think.
This quota system discriminates men, and it discriminates women, as it leaves the imperssion that women would not get into these positions if companies were not forced to hire them.