Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Equality?

I sometimes wonder whether the Feminism movement would be better to strive for "Equality" as much as they do for "women only" rights. From my perspective, much of what they're asking for are equally valid goals for many men (okay, some of us) as it is women.

I crave an environment where, as parents, we can access affordable childcare or, if we so wish, offer "parental" leave so EITHER parent can choose to stay at home for a period. Surely it comes to the circumstances of the individual? In our case, I'm firmly entrenched in a career - so if I opt out for a period, the impact is unlikely to be severe. However, my wife is breaking into a new career where every foothold is important. So why can't I take "paternity leave" and care for the children so my wife can continue to bolster her career? Taking a one-side only view on things is going to alienate many men - because they feel like they're being left out.

The same now applies to wages. I'd like to see more transparency to wages generally as, in this day and age, we're all equally screwed. In fact, I'd LOVE to see the Norwegian (or was it some other scandinavian country?) system brought in whereby ALL incomes are made public available. That way you can check what your colleague is getting and thus you have a leg to stand on asking for more.

No comments: