Does Society Favor Men?

Well, the only way to answer this question is to ask: Is the Pope Catholic?

Of course society favours men. Men have always been in charge and in command of their world. They built it, they dictate behaviour in it and they control it. The biggest and most noticeable area is in jobs and careers. Only today I was reading the latest fascinating surveys on the best and highest paid jobs for women, and even in careers where women are represented at least 75% (like nursing, paralegal, human resources etc), somehow that 25% of men manage to earn at least $5000 annually MORE than the women! How does that happen? How can the majority earn less than the minority in those fields? And that trend is repeated across society. Worse still, even in fields like IT where men dominate, they still earn far more. So, right across the board, society favours men much more than women, which is why they earn an average of 20% more in pay than their female colleagues. But we have to look at the root of the favouritism to appreciate how it is maintained.

Women, of course, began with a disadvantage. Up to a few years ago, society was run by men, for men and to reflect men and their values and ideals. Women were invisible, as their 'natural' place was regarded as being in the home. A lot has happened in the past 50 years to change those perceptions, and we do have some women forging ahead in isolated instances. Many young women are also achieving much more academically to give them that brighter start in life, and a few are reaching the boardrooms. But they still represent only about 2% of what is possible. Men still have a strong grip on the economic, political, educational, media and technology structures of our society, the important bases of power, continuously recruiting and nurturing in their own image and likeness, especially where men are regarded as 'natural' authority figures. In this way they maintain their iron hold on opportunities and access for all.

Some might argue that women are getting more access to male domains and so society is beginning to favour them above men. But access is not influence or power, which men have retained in abundance. Access gets you on the ladder, to survey enviously those already in place. Without the men in power opening that door wider to let women through, women will always have that glass ceiling obstructing their progress to greater heights. It means that the good intentions might be there to improve the balance of opportunities and contributions between men and women, but vested male interest and a firm hold on power ensures the actual action remains tiny and the status quo continues to favour men for a long time to come.