“Gender equality has gone too far.”
I’m hearing that a lot these days – and it is usually followed by “men are now being discriminated against”.
The latest proof of this trend against equality was in a global survey recently released by Ipsos and the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at King’s College London. It found more than half of people (54%) think that when it comes to giving women equal rights with men, things have gone far enough.
In Australia, where 1000 people were surveyed, this figure is 43%, which while lower than the global average, is still an increase from 35% a year ago.
Globally, 48% of people agree with the statement: we have gone so far in promoting women’s equality that we are discriminating against men. In Australia, this is 51%.
As much as I want to roll my eyes and immediately rebut this claim and dismiss those who make it as being wrong, it’s important to understand that responding requires an understanding of the complexity that leads people to think this way.
It’s easy to write people off or stereotype them as biased or simply uninformed. Most of us are the heroes in our own stories and men who think “gender equality has gone too far” aren’t necessarily misogynists who believe men are superior to women – instead, they are often motivated by fear.
If you’ve lived your life with advantages that you’ve taken for granted (and may not even have consciously been aware of), of course you will worry that this might be taken away.
People resist loss, not change – men could fear losing jobs, promotions, status, or power.
Men will often claim that they are being overlooked for job because of “gender quotas” when the reality is that the barriers have been let down to allow a more qualified woman into the role. This increases the competition for men.
In fact, research from Norway found that introducing targets resulted in mediocre men being pushed out by talented women. Far from being unfair, this ensured that appointments are truly due to the candidate’s merit, not their gender.
If either of my adult sons came to me and blamed gender equality for missing out on a job, I’d say “pull your socks up – only mediocre men need to worry.”
But also, this is not about policies being out to get men – it’s about fixing an unfair system. This has benefits for everyone, including freeing men from the restrictive stereotypes that result in them missing out on their entitlements to parental leave, carers leave and flexible work.
We like to think we are an egalitarian society, but the evidence shows that much more work is needed to achieve gender equality – consider the pay gap, the superannuation gap, and the fact that women over 55 are the fastest growing group at risk of homelessness.
Our Commission’s audit of the public sector workforce last year disproves the claim that the gender equality pendulum has swung too far. Despite some men believing they are more likely to be discriminated against in promotions, our data shows men still make up the majority in leadership. Despite women making up 66% of employees in the public sector workforce, they make up only 45% of those in senior leadership roles and more than 3 in 5 chief executives were men. Men are also more likely to receive promotions than women, while women are more likely to work part time – because gender stereotypes around parenting and pay inequality mean that women are more likely to stay home with the children. This impacts career progression and women’s earnings.
Perhaps the most shocking aspect of this month’s Ipsos survey was that younger generations were more likely to believe the push for equality is now negatively impacting men and that they are being expected to do “too much” to support progress.
In fact, many of the questions showed that younger generations were less supportive of efforts to advance gender equality than Boomers.
As young people are facing particularly adverse socioeconomic conditions right now, many are looking for a simple answer for why their lives feel so difficult: and it’s easy to see why some have pointed the finger at efforts to level the playing field where they’ve had the advantage.
There are signs everywhere that attitudes seem to be regressing, especially on social media. Misogynistic influencers are ubiquitous. Some people have also pointed to “evidence” of feminism having gone “too far” in the fact that girls now tend to outperform boys at school.
Recently, the review undertaken by the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission into sex discrimination and sexual harassment in Victoria Police noted widespread perceptions of ‘reverse discrimination’ among some male employees and a small number of female employees. However, no evidence of actual systemic discrimination against men was found. Instead, this may reflect resistance to gender equality.
As concerning as this is, we shouldn’t spiral into a panic – in fact, encountering resistance shows that gender equality work is achieving traction.
I expect the current discomfort will shift to acceptance and recognition that achieving gender equality is an essential evolution for our society.
Thanks to the tireless work of campaigners and activists, women’s rights in Australia have taken huge leaps forward in the past 100 years. That said, there’s still a long way to go before true equality is reached.