Civilisation is broken, and a man can't fix it.

There seems to be an odd novel way of applying 'equality' in such fashion to actually disadvantage those whom you are supposedly trying to help. This seems to be what has happened in particular with reference to women in the last 40 years.

Let me put it this way as an illustation.

1. To be equal you must be treated the same. (we're not talking about positive discrimination here)
Yes? If you say yes move on to question 2.

2. Does the fact that men and women are inherently different affect your conclusion?
No? Move on to conclusion.

Conclusion
There should be no men and women's races in the Olympics because that discrimination; you are treating people differently because of their gender.

No to me, the conclusion seems absurd. I mean, it could be done, if that is what people wanted, but it is clear that actually by treating men and women the same,  what you would do is disadvantage women. Whereas treating them as inherently different, actually makes things more fair.

Now if this applies with the Olympics which, lets face it has little to do with how society treats you and is based very much, simply on what someone can do, what does such a suggestion automatically become negative when it is applied in other everyday situations?

The difficulty is, I believe that by treating men and women the same, what actually happens is that women and men get entered into the same race. They get judged by one measure. That of a man. What society seems reluctant to do however, is realise that a man judged by the measure of a woman, will always fail, and a woman judged by the measure of a man will fail too. It is like having the same test to evaluate tractors and super sports cars, the fact is they are different and so using one meaure for both will actually pick the best of neither. The obvious solution is to treat tractors as tractors and sports cars as sports cars, that is, to treat them differently.

The disadvantage this provides to women in our society is subtle at first but increasingly obvious when you think about it. I have friends who, when they were in University, talked to other girls and came to the conclusion that British girls (they weren't British themselves) pretend to be 'modern women' who are happy to have casual sex, but really wanted to have a relationship, get married and settle down. It isn't a surprise. Men are happy to have more casual sexual relationships generally, so if women and men are the same, women must be expected to want the same things and behave in the same way. If they don't, then they just have to act like it, it would appear.

The biggest change appears to come from childbirth and work however. The fact that there are not 50/50 splits on boards of management is seen as something aweful. This means there must be discrimination in the work place. After all women are the same as men, therefore there should statistically be the same number of women on boards as men. What people don't really want to recognise is that actually there are at least 3 explanations for this:
1) women are incompetant
2) women are discriminated against by their male superiors
3) women have different priorities than men

Two of those are ruled out immediately because it suggests women are different to men, leaving the only answer to be that women are the subject of discrimination. Reality speaks otherwise however. The truth more than any of the other answers is really (3). The reason women don't make it to the top, is because they have other interests. Men make it to the top because they cannot give birth to children and they are happy pursue career over their work. Women often do not have the same priorities. Of course they can do, and those who do often succeed very well in their choosen pursuit, but in reality women don't just want a career they want a family. It isn't a bad thing, it is actually very good. But of course to recognise that recognises that men and women are different, and means that we judge women as women, rather than jugdge them as men.

If you think this is all imagined then you're probably out of touch. I know women who have a great deal of success in their choosen professions. Professions we would consider quite 'high flying'. On the one hand one was told by another woman that she had put her career before having children and now she regrets is and therefore if they wanted to have children they should just to it. While another person I know was told by another woman that if they went part time 'they would never be taken seriously as a [professional]'. Two successful women being told by their superiors two conflicting things. In the first case we see someone who bought into what they were told and regreted it, and another who appears to want to make sure that everyone else is judged in the same way she was. After all if the second example was someone who was happy surely they could have equally said, 'I didn't go part time and my career really benefited from it' which is informative and applies little pressure, rather than phrasing it as an obligation. It is hardly a surprise that this would happen however, if you pretend men and women are the same, you expect then to act the same, to want the same and to prioritise the same. In the first example someone bought into that and now regrets it, you can't help but wonder from the way the second phrased what they said, whether deep down, they feel the same, and so want others to have to make the same sacrifices they did. After all if someone really wants to put their career first, you don't have to scare them into doing it, they will do it by choice, because that is what they would choose left to their own devices.

Sadly, I don't think women are left to do what they want however. In a world where everyone must be equal in reality that means everyone must act like men and be judged as men. The real inequality that does exist however is that society no longer gives credit to the things women generally want to do, but are (as seen above) pursuaded not to do. Someone once asked 'what women can do that men can't... but don't tell me childbirth'. This I believe demonstrates where women really are discriminated against. We have made something that the vast majority of women would like to do, can do, and that men never can, and probably never will be able to do derisory. People who read this will think I'm being patronising to women just for bringing it up, and yet that is our very problem. We have made something that is wonderful, something that should be celebrated, something that should be given credit like holding a top job... almost worthless. Why? Because we judge women by the standard of being a man. This is the real discrimination. While we think 'anyone' can have a child (which they can't, only women can) which means it is not an acomplishment. Well lets face reality almost anyone can have a job, the difference is doing it well, and that applies the same to childrearing.

The fact that we judge women as men is already having repercussions in society. Our birth rate is below 2 children per couple. That means our society is dying out. That means that our NHS can't cope, neither can our pension system and pretty much most other social security systems, because they are all based on a health normal birth rate, which we don't have, because we tell all our women that if they don't act like men then they are wasting their lives. Left in this position the UK and actually Europe as a whole is going to potentially collapse.

We come to an ironic finally then. Our civilsation is broken, men cannot fix it. Pretty much only women can, and in order to do so what needs to happen is for women to ignore the plight for 'equality', being treated 'as men' and being told what they say they should want if 'they are to be taken seriously', and rather take claim of their differences and tell society that they will be valued for that difference and not because they can, when pressured, adopt the values of men to the sacrifice of whatever their own maybe. In short women will be equal, when we as a society (male and female) are brave enough acknowledge men and women are different.