How do we measure 'gender equality'?

TheTinMenBlog · 2023-05-02T11:52:13+00:00

I for one am not a billionaire, I am not a political leader, or the CEO of a Fortune 500 Company.

Yet whenever I ask about how I, as a man, is advantaged in society, that’s all I seem to hear; 87% of billionaires are men, not to mention 80% of politicians, 100% of US Presidents, and I get it, I want those imbalances addressed too.

“But it’s not about you, it’s what you represent”, said my auntie to me just last week.

I’d reply, “how old do you think I am? I’m 33, not a thousand years old. I represent myself, and that’s it.”

It’s bizarre to have to remind your own family that you are not an eternal warlord who’s existed for all time, who started all the wars, wrote all the laws, suppressed women for millennia, and is a member of a monolithic oppressor class of men.

And it’s unusual to have a tiny sub strata of hyper successful men pointed to, as if they bear any relevance to my life – especially when there are so many metrics that are relevant to me…

Because the fact that boys, of every level, are falling behind in school is relevant to me.

The fact that I am more likely to die at every age group, is relevant to me.

The fact I will live a shorter life is relevant to me.

If I go to court for a crime, I will face a 88% higher chance of prison than a woman (for the same crime), is relevant to me.

And the fact that suicide is the biggest threat to my life, is relevant to me too.A bunch of CEO asshole billionaires are not.

My point is, there are so many barometers to use that better understand the different advantages men and women face in society, I don’t know why it’s always brought back to the same old trope of billionaire CEO male politicians.

What about health? What about life satisfaction? What about educational outcomes?

Do they not factor in at all?

And is the ability to decide how, or where, we measure equality a privilege of its own?

~

U.S. Billionaires total

U.S. Billionaires by sex

U.S. Homeless

Health

Education

Images by Adam Nir, Jocelyn Morales, Lukasz Rawa, Kiwi Hug, Eran Menashri, and Marcelo Leal

Grow_peace_in_Bedlam · 2023-05-02T12:38:05+00:00

Also, I suspect close to 99% of those 639 US billionaire men have wives or ex-wives who enjoy the same lifestyle as their current or former husbands without the attendant responsibilities. Very many feminists sure love to dishonestly present men's and women's wealth as totally separate, as if marital sharing of resources weren't a thing (let alone a thing that mainly benefits women, given men's provider role that doesn't seem to be going anywhere any time soon).

eitherrideordie · 2023-05-02T16:15:56+00:00

The truth is, billionaires of all genders use their companies, power and money to make us spend our time fighting each other for their gain and our loss.

They make the $50k pa people and the $100k pa people fight each other so that the billionaire people can continue to increase that gap in work to wage
they make the males and females fight so we continue to push each other down, in health care, rights and growing together.
they seperate our identities so they can turn it into who you are and market it to you (you aren't a boy unless you like cars, buy our hotwheels. You're not a girl unless you buy our makeup products)
they tie your very healthcare, housing and stability to slaving at a job where the company daily overworks and under pays
they push society to believe the bad things that happen to you is your fault, that some how you didn't do something that was never possible to do
they take advantage of government hand outs while calling you names when you need to do the same to feed your family
And when the company is doing good, they rake in the profit. But when the company is doing bad, you lose your job, pay and they get a gov handout.

Please, please, please becareful. The more time we spend trying to push each other down, just widens the gap to us all.

griii2 · 2023-05-02T15:20:27+00:00

"Choosing how we measure equality is a privilege on its own. "

Just wow. Big applause.

neighborhoodpainter · 2023-05-02T18:25:18+00:00

I love the appex fallacy. Something feminists often use as a way to create some kind of great injustice, misogyny, or double standard against women.

hotpotato138 · 2023-05-02T15:29:24+00:00

Good information! I think equality can be measured by how the genders are treated.

zaph239 · 2023-05-03T21:32:13+00:00

It is the visibility problem, my discussion with many feminists about gender issues has led me to the conclusion most women really think the majority of men are wealthy alpha guys. The sort of men who have wealth, rewarding careers and no problem getting sex.

When you see the world though that distorted lens, feminist and wide female anger actually makes sense. They see a world populated by alpha guys and of course their lives are much better than the average women's.

What of course they never see is the homeless guy on the street, the guy in their own workplace who can't get laid, the guy who is having a s**t time because those men are basically invisible to women.

Quix_Nix · 2023-05-02T14:46:56+00:00

I am convinced the whole menses billionare hurt durr argument is a psyop

NullableThought · 2023-05-02T14:16:01+00:00

Great job per usual. On slide 6, I would swap out "murderers" for "serial killers". Average people murder others all the freaking time. Also murder is the "unlawful, premeditated killing of someone", meaning that what counts as murder varies by location. The definition of a serial killer doesn't change by location.

Your_Nipples · 2023-05-02T21:41:58+00:00

Great post and some sanity.

Civil-Literature3274 · 2023-05-02T13:24:30+00:00

Men are, on average, more diverse than women in some metrics, like intelligence for example. And same probably applies to wealth, educational attainment, etc.

Making a man, as a parent, is a “high risk high reward strategy”.

StandardFaire · 2023-05-05T03:12:09+00:00

How about no billionaires? That sounds like a great idea.

tzaanthor · 2023-05-04T07:44:21+00:00

No. 7 is wrong. Failing to account for the stunningly short lifespan of homeless people, which is measure in years, not decades. Most homeless people look old because they're homeless, not because of their age.

Also billionaires live longer.

niblizx · 2023-05-02T13:34:31+00:00

While I strongly believe progressive need to do much more to address men’s issues, I cannot stand by this framing.

It is true that a tiny percentage of men are billionaires, billionaires also have enormous sway on corporate, economic, and social policy. For example, look at how MacKenzie Scott and Melinda French Gate have radically increased funding for women specific issues since they’ve separated from their husbands. That’s the impact of a small increase in the percentage of billionaires that are women. Put it another way, I’m confident that if there were much more women billionaires, the right would be very hesitant to take hard right positions on abortion.

So the demographic composition of billionaires can have an enormous impact on society and therefore worthy of intense critic, even if, ultimately, only a tiny percentage of men, white people, straight people, cis gendered people, etc are billionaires.

The same is true for institutions like Harvard Law and Stanford STEM PhDs. While only a small percentage of privileged people (including upper middle class women) make it to these institutions, because they are feeders into core levers of power in society, it is important to critic the demographic composition of these institutions.

LeftWingMaleAdvocates-ModTeam · 2023-05-02T15:27:22+00:00

[permanently deleted]

AlludedNuance · 2023-05-02T13:52:01+00:00

You can't separate billionaires from other crazy rich people, though. The systems that enrich people still do so mostly for men.

Obviously they shouldn't be doing so for anyone, but the first two slides should be enough to tell you that your argument is flawed.

Title	How do we measure 'gender equality'?
Author	TheTinMenBlog
Upvotes	412
Comments	78
Date	May 2, 2023 11:51 AM UTC (3 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/LeftWingMaleAdvocates
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/LeftWingMaleAdvocates/comments/135iuzi/how_do_we_measure_gender_equality/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/LeftWingMaleAdvocates/how-do-we-measure-gender-equality.1217618 https://theredarchive.com/post/1217618

Comments