Tuesday, November 28, 2006

The Fawcett Society - part I

The Fawcett Society - part I

The Fawcett Society is a feminist organisation, that in their own words:

"campaigns for equality between women and men in the UK on pay, pensions, poverty, justice and politics."

That is what it says on the front page of their website. It is a lie, as I will demonstrate in this and other posts.

Their actual campaigns are to increase inequality between men and women (i.e. by getting more special privileges for women, and taking rights away from men).

This is there website address: www.fawcettsociety.org.uk

A couple of mouse clicks away there is this page: www.fawcettsociety.org.uk/index.asp?PageID=347


Facts on the inequality gaps

There has been a revolution in some aspects of women’s lives over the past 30 years.

And yet, social and economic justice remains a distant dream for women in the UK, which is why Fawcett's work is needed as much as ever.

* Women working full-time are paid on average 17% less an hour than men (or 38% less if they work part-time)

* Women make up less than 20% of MPs and ethnic minority women make up just 0.3% of MPs.

* 96% of executive directors of the UK's top 100 companies are men.

* Out of every 100 rape cases reported to the police, just six end in the rapist being caught and punished.

* The number of women in jail has more than doubled over the past ten years - bacuse the courts are getting harsher, not because women are commiting more crime.




Factoid 1: Women working full-time are paid on average 17% less an hour than men (or 38% less if they work part-time)

The first statement is true, but only if you ignore the effects of lots of other relevant factors - qualifications, experience, type of work, total number of hours worked, etc...

It is equivalent to an 18 year old, with no qualifications sweeping the streets claiming they should be paid the same as a 30 or 40 year old lawyer, brain surgeon or rocket scientist.

The second statement is a lie - or at best a half truth. Women working part time earn less than men working full time. Are you really surprised about that?

What about men working part time? Do they earn more than women working full time? The answer is men earn less than women for part time work, but you will be hard pressed to find the statistics published anywhere. I know - I tried. That figure is just not mentioned on any website I can find. I saw it mentioned once on a TV news program, but only for an instant.


Factoid 2
: Women make up less than 20% of MPs and ethnic minority women make up just 0.3% of MPs.

That is probably true. But so what?

Are there any laws preventing women from standing for election? No.

Are women discouraged from being MPs?
Far from it -
We have women only shortlists.
We have the business of parliament being changed to allow women work less hours and go home at 5pm.


Factoid 3
: 96% of executive directors of the UK's top 100 companies are men

So what? There is nothing stopping women from being company directors. You just have to put in the effort. Maybe even start your own company. That is how men get to be company directors.


Factoid 4
: Out of every 100 rape cases reported to the police, just six end in the rapist being caught and punished

This is a distortion of the reality. The truth: Out of every 100 alleged rapes reported to the police, just six end in a conviction.

It is an important distinction. Not all alleged rapes actually occurred. Not all men accused of rape are actually rapists.

Still - maybe you are concerned about the low conviction rate?
Actually it is not all that low, most other types of crime have very low conviction rates. The rate for rape is a little lower, but that is exactly what you get in a fair justice system.

Most rape cases involve alleged events that happen in private. There are usually no witnesses. There is often no physical evidence. Physical evidence can only show if intercourse took place, not if it was rape. She says it was rape. He says it was not. Who do you believe?



Factoid 5
: The number of women in jail has more than doubled over the past ten years - bacuse [their typo - not mine] the courts are getting harsher, not because women are committing more crime

This is true - but completely misses the point because of the information it leaves out.

How many men are there in prison and how many women? Well, if you take the time to look there are many times more men than women in prison.

Have the courts become harsher? Absolutely.

Are women more affected by this than men? Yep. That's right to.

But, why? Because the courts are not being as lenient with women as they used to be. Women are being treated more like men - but only a little more. They still get shorter sentences than men for the same crimes. They still get let off without punishment more often than men.

Monday, November 27, 2006

Women Paedophiles and Question Time

There was a question about paedophiles on Question Time last week.

Someone asked about whether it was wrong for a 20 or 30 year old man to have consensual sex with a 15 year old girl, based on a statment made by a policeman.

The usually (rather pointless) discussion followed with all involved basically agreed that it should not happen. What annoyed me was that the reverse situation was not even mentioned - a women having sex with a boy.

The whole event just reinforced the idea that only men can be paedophiles, and only men are sexual preditors. This is complete rubbish. Women are paedophiles and sexual preditors as well, but it almost completely ignored my the mainstream media. Even when it is reported, it is downplayed and typically excused in some way.

This is the news report that reminded me:

Underage sex woman faces prison

A Male Pill

Some good news

Sperm-blocking contraceptive hope

Another possibility for a male contraceptive pill. There are several in development at the moment. When they actually become available it will cause a shift in power between men and women. This would give men the right to choose whether they wish to become fathers, and when they want this to happen. Dishonest women will no longer be able to 'forget' to take the pill, and get pregnant without their partners consent.

I predict that when this new pill becomes available there will be a sudden drop in the number 'accidental' pregnancies. There will still be a few - genuine accidents and duped men foolish enough to trust their partner to take her pill. There will also be an increase in divorces as more men become aware of their wives infidelity.

Doubtless there will also be many women complaining that their partner will not stop taking the pill so she can get pregnant. This is not exactly a new idea. I am pretty sure Angry Harry wrote a piece about this. I am sure you can find it if you do a little searching.

The dangers of becoming a father are well known and well documented on other blogs and websites.

A male pill will allow men to avoid these dangers, and will give men a stronger negotiating position.