I came across a web site a week ago and was inspired to commit to a huge vision which I have called GenderSpeaker with a mission is to:
To inspire 1,000,.000
people to speakOUT about Gender Equality and Gender Diversity
Equalities is not
a priority for the current UK government and whist the Equality Act 2010 is now law, it
was not this governments law. If we want to see real change we have to change
attitudes and judging by the huge opposition being mounted against
equal marriage, that is not going to happen unless we all get involved.
So what I am asking
people to do is speakOUT about Gender Equality
and Gender Diversity in any way you can. I have set up this blog and some Facebook presence where you can comment but the central site is The GenderSpeaker network site which provides a great way to
participate with very little effort.
Please click on the link above to go to the site, sign in, create a brief profile add a picture and:
- Write a personal blog
- Update your status to
support the vision
- Start a discussion
- Add a comment
- Record a video and upload or
link it, or link a video you like
- Make a speech and tell us about
it
- Share or like posts and
comments on the site.
- Write about gender equality
on you own blog and share it on the site
- In fact anything you can do
to speakOUT about Gender Equality and Gender Diversity
Remember that Gender
Equality is a huge topic and includes issues about sexuality and gender
identity as well. When someone is bullied for being too camp or too butch, that
is denying them the right to be themselves. It makes it difficult for people
to follow the career they love because they are the "wrong gender."
I recently saw this quote:
the 22-cent “pay gap”
is neither a result of gender bias nor workplace discrimination. It can be
explained entirely by the fact that women as a group tend to make certain very
logical and legitimate employment-related choices which, while affording them a
number of benefits that they value highly, tend to suppress incomes Male Matters
USA
What this article way
saying was that women earn less because they choose work more suited to women
which pays less. In fact women are socialised into expecting to work in female
suitable work and to make caring and reproduction important.
The choices we make
are not made entirely free from bias. More importantly the recruiters
are already biased in the same way and that unconscious bias means that women
are encouraged away from higher paid jobs. If a man works long hours he is
applauded, where a woman will be criticised. If a woman negotiates hard
and is money orientated she will be viewed as unfriendly and selfish - where a
man is considered dynamic and successful.
If men or women chose
work considered more suitable for the "opposite sex" they are often subjected
to discrimination and harassment. My daughter wanted to work
in construction but was openly discriminated against because there
was too big a risk of sexual harassment.
You can't separate
all these gender and sexuality issues, they are all part of a long standing
belief in a clear and separate binary of men and women and that they should be
treated differently. Because men dominate the public space that generally
means that women and women's work is considered less valuable and women or any
one expressing femininity is treated unfairly.
Now you may not agree
with my comment - Great. Please come to the site and tell us why. I
encourage disagreement because that encourages discussion and
challenges our thinking which will bring about changes in attitudes.
Not speaking about it means that the current unfairness will continue.
