A League of Our Own

Men and women are not equal.

My husband said that last night and he is right. 100% correct. We have the right to do things, to be things, to share in the things that men do. That's fine. I am all for women and men having all of the same opportunities and rights. But to say that we are equal? No, that is not right.

Men and women certainly are not equal physically and anyone who says that we are in an overall sense would be full of it. Men are generally bigger, taller, bulkier, stronger humans than are women. To say anything else would be false. It would patently be wrong to do that, to say that. Women are smaller, shorter, not as strong. We aso have higher pain thresholds than men. Men can do heavy lifting, women can do detail-oriented, dexterity intensive work.

OK, so physically we are different (besides the really obvious things like gender-specific body parts). Now that we have gotten that out of the way, let's look at the other things.

How about how our brains work? Men in general have excellent spacial relationships, good mathematics skills, strong distance understanding. Women are strong in building relationships, good dialogue skills and excellent word skills. Men are curt and short and competitive, women are detailed and communicative and understanding. Our strengths compliment each other. Men are weak where we are strong and vica versa. Are we entitled to the same things? Yes. Are we equal?

No.

However, the error is not so much in the realisation that we are not equal, but the way we handle things. Women, as a whole, wear their emotions on the outside and are more open about their feelings and thoughts. Men tend to keep that side more private and be more stoic. That isn't good or bad, it just is what it is. The problem is that some moron came to the misguided conclusion that this makes us weaker. Women are not weaker for showing emotion. They are stronger for it. And much healthier. Men need to show this more.

And so for most cultures, women have to fight for what should be a given without question. In many places, we are paid less. (I have to admit with great pride that despite working for a business that is really a men's area, the Club I work for does not do this. The men and women are paid for the jobs they do and that is it. No inequality there. But I did work for a company years ago that clearly did this. And it was just wrong.

So there you have it.

Wondering what brought that on? I'm watching a movie that I adore, called A League of Their Own, with quite the all star cast in it. A lot of the women in it have gone on to do even more. It's funy, watching older movies, who you see in them and realise that you have seen them in this, this and this movie as well. OK, well, Tom Hanks, Geena Davis, Rosie O'Donnell and Madonna we all know and we all knew them then (this came out in 1992). But the rest we did not, not really. Bitty Shramm went on to become Mr. Adrian Monk's assistant in the first three or four (I think) seasons of Monk. The one woman in this was in Doc Hollywood, which was on just a couple of weeks ago if that. Another one I know from something else, but I can't think what it is that I know her from. Lori Petty was in Tank Girl and a whole host of other movies. There are a whole bunch of other good actors and actresses in this as well. But what is really telling about this movie is the time it is set in and the premise.

In the 1940s, with all the men off to war, a lot of things happened in America that suddenly made it time for a change. Sure, there was a lot of effort made to make life go back to what it was prior to that, but while it happened for a short time, it did not last. Slowly the tide of things changed and things began to change and now we are in a totally different age.

Anyway, with so many men off to war and the factories and the stores and the sports all stripped of their employees, the people here had to figure out how to keep businesses and morale things going. Hence, Rosie the Riveter, and so many new programs to get women out of the kitchens and into the factories, the workplaces, the sports. And one program was to get baseball happening. So there were women's baseball leagues and they were big for the time of the war. To come into things then as a woman was tough. The men all refered to them as "girls". There was a very low turnout for games and such. Women were very much harassed in the workplace, and put up with a lot of crap that no one should have to put up with. And what happened when the war was over? Suddenly it was time for Rosie to give back her riveter, for the women to hang up their gloves and go back to the kitchen. You know that this cannot have been easy for a lot of women.

The tax laws were re-written in the late 40s to get women out of the workplace as well. Now they are so unfavourable to married couples with two incomes, it is rediculous. Someone should have re-written them again in the 1970s, when it became clear that women would have to enter the workforce if families wanted to stay afloat. And now in 2007, most families have both parents working. There are a lot of things that are being re-examined, such as the length of the school year and the tax laws and how kids have to be placed with both parents working.

I'm sorry - what was that about women in the workplace?

Men and women are not equal. But they are certainly entitled to the same treatment.