Vote!

comments from readers

Jenny Webb
02 July 2008

no

On sexual and domestic violence alone, far from it!

Carl Jones
02 July 2008

no

What a stupid question. "Are men equal now"? Fathers for Justice springs to mind....I really can`t be bothered to continue. The NS should be doing better than this.LOL

Cybertiger
02 July 2008

no

Some women are more womanly than others

william.ford@live.co.uk
02 July 2008

yes

Lawfully discriminating against employing white males, is that just a Gender not Race issue.

Philip T
02 July 2008

yes

I am a divorced father, but nothing is more important to me than the health and well being of my children. I am a devoted parent, I never miss a visit or support payment, I cook for them, clean for them, drive them where they need to go, and all the countless intangibles, yet my former wife holds herself out as a “single” mother and wears the label like a crown.

I am left out of decisions, information is regularly withheld from me, and I’m never given a simple acknowledgment for the benefits my child support affords. My kid’s schools and doctors leave me out of the loop, notes and phone calls are made only to the mother, thus exacerbating the “insignificance” of my role and perpetuating the myth that only mothers matter.

Women relish the role of single mother martyrdom, even when fathers are actively involved. Why aren’t divorced fathers considered single dads?

jenjenocon
02 July 2008

yes

It's both telling and disheartening that even today, it's still society's collective mindset that mothers are allowed the choice of working or staying home. Fathers are never given that option; they are, without question, expected to work outside the home. Those who don’t are still looked upon as a novelty at best, or more typically, a bum.

The disconnect is exacerbated by the Family Law System, which views divorced fathers as little more than a paycheck to be garnished. The myth that women are “always” worse off after marriage breakdowns is glaringly inaccurate. Since the vast majority of divorces involve the woman staying in the matrimonial home, the mother’s lifestyle is often considerably more lavish than the father paying support.

Men also fantasize about “escape.” Escape from back breaking, soul sucking, lifetime labor that affords them little opportunity to do much more than dream of relief.

white
02 July 2008

no

Employers are still happy to employ cheap female labour - providing its not pregnant or wants flexitime.

Shirley Freeth
02 July 2008

no

There is a inprovment but still a long way to go.

Suzanne Carlson
02 July 2008

yes

The vast majority of fathers work very hard to provide for their children. But, while men are expected to hold a job, entering the work force is still considered optional for woman. Mothers holding jobs are bestowed the label of heroic superwomen, while fathers who labor in often exceedingly debilitating jobs are virtually ignored.

We're a long way from equality of the sexes as long as mothers expect martyrdom for juggling home life and work, while fathers, who contend with the very same issues, are relegated to the background.

michaelcable
02 July 2008

no

Men and women can never be equal because they are different! The role of men within the family is changing. With developments in science, men seem likely to become redundant as far as the procreation of children is concerned.

suell
03 July 2008

no

Not whilst a pay differential still exists, not whilst women are still the targets of a variety of sexual violence, and not whilst women are still objectified as objects of pornographic desire. Not whilst women in the developing world still have little access to good health care, reproductive health care, education and employment. Not whilst women in many countries are subjected to theocratic patriarchy whilst dicates how they lead their lives . . . . Need I continue?

Sue Lloyd

JoelE
03 July 2008

yes

When the popularity of a Third-wave feminism as described by throwbacks like Natasha Walter rest in people who don't consider themselves feminists, just strong women gaining economic power - equal to the meritocratic desires of men - then I think it is easy to say that women's equality is achieved.

Some might consider that a male-identified interpretation of equality, but that of any other kind is not equality at all but a socially unfounded and naturalised sense of difference.

Gerishnakov
03 July 2008

no

Can we ever truly guarantee that every one is equal, at all times, across the country, or the world?

Nigel in Manchester
03 July 2008

no

It's a very class-specific thing - middle class women are a lot more equal because they're a lot better at demanding their legal rights. Working class women are doubly oppressed - as both workers and women.

Teflon
03 July 2008

yes

Females rights are dominating men's rights, read my article on Men's Aid forum under feminism Hereford "A Feminist Dictatorship".
Men can't see their kids after seperation, females the majority of the time get residence of the kids, men are just money banks.
Why haven't we got a Equality Minister for men?
Harriet Harman is slowly destroying the meaning of equality!!
I know people can write whatever they like on the net at times, but when you are going through what i have for five years, my opinon tells me that females have more rights.

New Man
03 July 2008

no

Not so long as its women who are still having to make a choice between career and marriage.

TeaP
04 July 2008

no

A 17.4% pay gap and almost exclusive responsibility for childcare in conjunction with the same formal sector work responsibilities as men do not reflect equality. Many women will tell you that they are told they are equal but face glass ceilings in their careers and condescention in social interaction.

jason from weymouth
04 July 2008

no

Equal in terms of power, opportunities and outcomes = No. Equal in terms of income, status and wealth = No. Exactly what criteria are the 29% that currently say women are equal using?

04 July 2008

yes

In some cases yes, in some cases no - so we are making good progress towards gender equality, and I think there is little left to do in English society. However, we do seem to have unacceptible gender inequality in some of the immigrant communities now with us, and it is difficult to see how this can be changed without being called racist - the Human Rights Act appears not to work for these women!

Alan Briggs

DCarins
04 July 2008

no

Of course not. Try buying blue clothes for a baby girl, and then buying pink clothes for a baby boy and compare the reactions of the parents. We want women to behave like men, but we definitely don't want men to behave like women. That's not equality, it's exactly the opposite.

Helga Hanson
04 July 2008

no

Whilst in education women (girls) are equal now and often do better than men (boys). But in many other areas women are a long way from being equal to men.

Helga Hanson

Dan Fisher
04 July 2008

no

It is acceptable for a woman to reject femininity, but it is unacceptable for a man to reject masculinity. This demonstrates an underlying masculine bias.

GuppiLove
04 July 2008

no

Examples of inequality: Sports - mail bias; Education - subject choices etc

writeon
04 July 2008

no

Women aren't equal to men, they are superior to men! My idea of feminism is women becoming more empowered, stronger, and more "feminin", not adopting male attitudes and male persona.

On a whole range of issues and attitudes women are far more civilized than men, who appear clumsy and brutish in comparison. This is probably not all that surprising as women were the foundation opon which civilization was built.

Men have always taken themselves and their achievements far too seriously. They've constructed giant monuments to stupidity and egotism, but we humour them because they have their uses, but we don't really take them and their conceits seriously, unless they get out of hand, which they unfortunately often do.

Broga
05 July 2008

no

Broga. How many women bishops are there? When was the last female Pope? Try making a man cover his face in certain communities.

Sadaf
05 July 2008

no

You have to look at the wider picture and outside of your bubble think

Sadaf
05 July 2008

no

I think you have to look at the wider picture and outside of your own bubble - so many rights are being denied from women right to choose, domestic violence, pay and on other countries like Saudia Arabia Afghanistan etc but that is another issue and also regarding Fathers working to provide for childern are women not too? and both are working fulltime but who does the housework and child minding on top of working full time this is left to women and until these issue are dealt with nothing will change

gnuneo
06 July 2008

yes

Yes & No.

...btw, i had not realised that all *men* were equal, in order for them to be measured against women! Silly me, must have missed that announcement...

anyways, women are not equal to men, in the same way that women are not equal to other women (we are not all the same!), and at the same time, women are equal to men, have ALWAYS been equal to men (and each other), and do not need 'laws and rights' to proclaim that!

what is equality, when it does not mean similarity? It means being respected as a person, no matter what gender, race, age or sexuality, it means respecting others as equals, and it means respecting yourself. None of this requires laws, and underlying it all is the question: how many of us are truly equal to one another? Gender matters naught in such an analysis, if most men are little more than slaves, is a time for rejoicing if most women are equal with them in that condition?

it is insulting to women to assume that because the patriarchal external world shut them out, that they did not respond full measure within the 'feminine' world of the Home and Hearth. How insulting to our grandmothers, and their mothers, and to all the generations before, locked into the christian world of women=inferior.

this is an error of those first generation feminists, who whilst 100% correctly railed against the limitations imposed by the hang-over christian and victorian ages, then downplayed the heroism-of-normal-life of the women who came before them. They may have had less access to education, but they were still people, and still equals of the men around them.

martin court
06 July 2008

no

It is the utter damnation of this democratic society.

Gabriele
06 July 2008

no

When will women get equal pay I wonder?
I am so tired of being a second class citizen!

kaliwolf
06 July 2008

no

gnuneo, I think you're just afraid of having to wash your own socks. And don't waste people's time with the straw argument of equality being about weights and measures; it's about the real obstacles put in a person's way because of who they are. Women are disadvantaged and oppressed specifically because they are women. Many men are powerless, but they are not oppressed for being men; they may be oppressed for a variety of reasons (being poor, young, disabled, gay, a member of the wrong class/race/religion), but they are not oppressed for being men. That is the point.

Londonschild
07 July 2008

no

Women are still not free to be themselves without comment and judgment from the wider society.

gnuneo
07 July 2008

no

again, yes and no.

kaliwolf: actually i've been washing my own socks for a long time now, nor have i been afraid to hand-wash when it was neeed, and i've even done washing for GFs upn occasion too!

i'm afraid you missed my point - the original question is "Are women equal now?", not "Do women have equal rights under the Law?", or "is there gender invisibility in social practices now?".

i took the question in one of its literal forms, and answered that in one sense, the only one that truly matters, men and women ARE equal, and that is not predicated upon what Officialdom passes as legislation.

certainly, in many other ways both genders are given special treatment - men in many 'workplaces', women in raising of families. These are historical cultural relics, and thankfully for both genders we are clearly moving away from them, although we are still far behind the skandis - who are also still not at 'perfect equality'.

i also pointed out that in terms of *freedom* (which is what the goal of feminism SHOULD be), men are not a homogenous bunch with equal rights, nor are women!

adn btw, men are oppressed "for being men", in many many ways - there are some posts above that illustrate that, although to remark upon the intelligence of some of them, it is to be noted they often voted women as being equal, right before they argued that women have MORE power! LOL :D

also btw - i love your name! xx ;)

writeon: spot on. xx.

no arms
08 July 2008

no

Oh i'd say we're really equal since the New StatesMAN, copped on and changed their name!! Are you really that idiotic?

no arms
08 July 2008

no

Is there equality amongst women? How can you argue equality with men when the term 'Queen', 'Princess' is still in every day use. Is the fight for 'equality' really a gender battle or on of social status aplicable to anyone? There is so much diversity within 'genders' how relevant is this poll?

laurie
08 July 2008

no

Of course they're not equal. Not even Obama pays his female staff equally to their male counterparts. Look at how Hillary Clinton was massacred by the MSM.
Working women do so to pay the mortgage. House prices have risen exponentially since women entered the labour market, a lot of people have made money from that, but kids are suffering and so are parents.

no arms
08 July 2008

yes

if you want 'equality' you need to recognise inequality beween women as well as just men,reiforced by ofen self appointed title not just by wages e.g. Hilary don't talk of equality and focus on men as the sole problem, and then strive to be the 'first' lady of 'America.' Are the women outside of America not to be considered, as allies or are they 'alien' to you. People need to think globally these days.