Why is it that women aren't equal when we make up 50% of the population?

There is always some political cause I'm fighting for.  If it's not Australia's immigration legislation then it's gender equality and how we need to get out of the 1950s and progress to the current age.

I gather my news from a range of sources including the Sydney Morning Herald.  I read an article yesterday written by columnist Alexandra Cain.  The basic gist of it was that men don't actually need to work over the Christmas and new year break like women do, and that they simply work because, well there's no nice way to put it, according to Alexandra Cain, men simply don't want to have to deal with children.  They find work much easier than dealing with brats.  This isn't a scientific study.  Alexandra only had a couple of her friends' opinions to go on.

I don't know how true it is, but according to one of my friends who shall remain nameless (journalistic integrity of protecting sources) men aren't as good with children as women and are better at making money.  In addition to this the friend says that social engineering plays a part.  Stay with me here.  Conservative politicians make policies which essentially "force" women to stay at home with children.  Instead of working on childcare subsidies they introduce silly policies like paid parental leave and then women become an employment liability.  Women therefore, because we earn less than men and because the cost of childcare is absurd (as per previous blogs, it's around $20,000 a year per child), stay home with kids and the gender pay gap never closes.  I have confidence the gap will close but it won't be in my lifetime.

Getting back to the opinion piece I read in the Sydney Morning Herald yesterday, Alexandra Cain wrote that men don't want to spend time with children and that work is easier.  It makes you wonder why people would bother to have kids if they don't actually want to spend time with them.  Why should women be lumped with the responsibility of raising children while men go out to work and earn money?  Why shouldn't there be gender equality?  Why shouldn't parents share the responsibility 50/50?  Attitudes are however changing.  Men are starting to take time off work when children are born, but only a couple of weeks.  Why aren't men taking the same amount of leave as women?  Why aren't employers more flexible with both genders?  Though ideally neither men, nor women would take time off to have children.  And what about those who don't have kids?  Those who do have kids end up basically getting paid a few grand extra a year to have children.  Shouldn't those who don't have children get some kind of bonus for being consistent with their employment & constantly available?

This is the thing though, employers and governments always forget people who don't have kids.  It's like if you don't have kids you're forgotten by governments and you don't exist.

It isn't just in childcare that sexism still exists.  It exists in religion.  Now in the west fewer people are religious than in the east.  Despite that, some sexist values still remain because of those religious values.  You don't have to be religious to hold conservative values.

Even so, when we think about the Charlie Hedbo massacre which left 12 people dead in the name of Islam earlier this week one thing is very clear.  Sexism occurred in that attack.  Stay with me here.  It has been reported that one of the gunmen said he wouldn't kill the woman because she was a woman.  Obviously it goes without saying that nobody should have been killed, but gender equality extends to the bad.  It extends to an equal right to fight on the frontline in war and that does mean that if men are going to be killed because they hold western values, women should be too.  Again I want to emphasise the massacre wasn't justified, but gender equality extends to the bad, otherwise it's sexism towards men.

Getting back to wages though and employment, some women don't want careers and these women are just as bad as the men who think that women should stay at home and raise children and do nothing other than cook and clean.  If mothers don't have careers then they are setting their children up for a tougher life growing up than if they did.  If both parents work then the children are more likely to work themselves.  If both parents work then if something goes wrong there is back up.

In addition if both parents work they are more equal.  If you don't have money you don't have power.  And if a man is bringing in the money without the wife contributing, not only will she miss out on money for her superannuation fund, she will also miss out on earning opportunities and the man will hold control.  That means that if there are tough times in the marriage the woman is less likely to have the ability to leave because she simply doesn't have the money to do so, and then we have a situation where abusive relationships are more likely.

It's amazing that neither side of politics is interested in true gender equality.  True gender equality would mean that like in Scandinavian countries the men and women have equal time off work, or the ability to work from home (which some Australian employers do offer due to technological changes).  It doesn't mean women stay at home to raise children while men go out to work and get involved in politics.  This may not occur to political leaders but women make up 50% of the population yet if you look at any political rally, it is predominantly men participating.  In what world have we allowed this to happen?  In what world do women not want to have a say on political decisions which affect them?  Before you ask why I'm not involved in a political party - I legally am not entitled to be.  Only Australian citizens can join, so despite my Australian ancestry which dates back to the early 1800s and despite being interested and having extensive knowledge I can't participate in the democratic process until I am a citizen (which I'm not sure of when that will be).

We can't have political change without women participating in politics.  Apathy is actually hurting the advancement of women, and more women need to speak up and get involved in politics because we make up 50% of the population.  Equality means taking the good with the bad.