30 July 2011

Is the Children and Young People Commissioner sexist?

| Leon Arundell
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When my girls went to primary school they were taught that “girls can do anything.” My boys were taught the same: “girls can do anything.”

The Children and Young People Commissioner has published a book entitled, “Why Girls are Important.”

So I politely inquired whether they had published a complementary book on “Why Boys are Important.”

They replied equally politely, “At this stage, there isn’t a companion volume for boys.”

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Lazy I said :

Jim Jones said :

Nurses, childcare workers, teachers, etc. get paid relatively badly.

Lawyers, accountants, tradies, etc. get paid relatively well.

And which group of professions do you think are more valuable to the functioning of society?

Depends how you cherry pick from the lists to validate your arguments.

The gender imbalance in levels of pay of men and women are well observed and the correlation between male and female associated careers has been well researched.

If you want to pick a different list of professions, go crazy. I’m not sure what the point would be. Are you arguing that female dominated professions *deserve* to be paid less than traditionally male professions?

Jim Jones said :

Nurses, childcare workers, teachers, etc. get paid relatively badly.

Lawyers, accountants, tradies, etc. get paid relatively well.

And which group of professions do you think are more valuable to the functioning of society?

Depends how you cherry pick from the lists to validate your arguments.

Ben_Dover said :

NoAddedMSG said :

If you look at the income earned by recent university graduates then there is still a pay gap between what males and females earn. It’s not a huge one, somewhere between 5 and 10% I think, but it is still there, and it is hard to justify why that should exist using the usual “it’s not really that the workplace has entrenched gender bias” reasons sighted for the pay gap such as time out for child-raising/caring, working part-time and being primary caregiver for the family etc.

Show me these jobs where it is legal and acceptable to pay a woman less than a man, and then I’ll take what you say seriously. Any job advert or wage guidelines will do.

Professions which have high levels of female participation are paid less than professions with high levels of male participation. This is one area where there is still entrenched structural bias.

Nurses, childcare workers, teachers, etc. get paid relatively badly.

Lawyers, accountants, tradies, etc. get paid relatively well.

And which group of professions do you think are more valuable to the functioning of society?

NoAddedMSG said :

If you look at the income earned by recent university graduates then there is still a pay gap between what males and females earn. It’s not a huge one, somewhere between 5 and 10% I think, but it is still there, and it is hard to justify why that should exist using the usual “it’s not really that the workplace has entrenched gender bias” reasons sighted for the pay gap such as time out for child-raising/caring, working part-time and being primary caregiver for the family etc.
.

Walk into an engineering lecture, which is the dominating gender?

Walk into a primary education lecture, which is the dominating gender?

I think this sort of thing would go a long way to explaining the difference.

Celia Lashlie wrote a book called “He’ll be ok” Growing gorgeous boys into good men.
She didnt write a book about She’ll be ok! Maybe she too is sexist! I dont think so…

What is this world coming to? Sit back and say “That’s Great!” or “What a great achievement”, perhaps if you still feel there is inequality, you could get off the couch, seek out some funding and write one yourself! At least the CYPC has endless energy to put into our youth of today and is attempting to make positive changes in young peoples lives.

Everyone in our society should ask themselves “How have I positively influenced a young person’s life today?” And if you havent? Dont complain about them, go do something to improve our society.

NoAddedMSG said :

If you look at the income earned by recent university graduates then there is still a pay gap between what males and females earn. It’s not a huge one, somewhere between 5 and 10% I think, but it is still there, and it is hard to justify why that should exist using the usual “it’s not really that the workplace has entrenched gender bias” reasons sighted for the pay gap such as time out for child-raising/caring, working part-time and being primary caregiver for the family etc.

Show me these jobs where it is legal and acceptable to pay a woman less than a man, and then I’ll take what you say seriously. Any job advert or wage guidelines will do.

NoAddedMSG said :

If you look at the income earned by recent university graduates then there is still a pay gap between what males and females earn. It’s not a huge one, somewhere between 5 and 10% I think, but it is still there, and it is hard to justify why that should exist using the usual “it’s not really that the workplace has entrenched gender bias” reasons sighted for the pay gap such as time out for child-raising/caring, working part-time and being primary caregiver for the family etc.

Is that pay difference measured across all graduates, or profession by profession? Is there much of a difference when you look at grads profession by profession? Cheers.

If you look at the income earned by recent university graduates then there is still a pay gap between what males and females earn. It’s not a huge one, somewhere between 5 and 10% I think, but it is still there, and it is hard to justify why that should exist using the usual “it’s not really that the workplace has entrenched gender bias” reasons sighted for the pay gap such as time out for child-raising/caring, working part-time and being primary caregiver for the family etc.

It’s not about playing the victim – it is about recognising that we do not yet live in a society that treats everyone equally and that we still have to keep working towards that ideal. The stats do still clearly show we have not yet reached the point where gender doesn’t confer disadvantage. No doubt, it is much better than it ever has been, but for example if you look at the gender ratios of early-career uni academic staff (again, somewhere you might expect equality to have been reached by now) you can see that there is still a distinct lack of women.

When I went through school, it was always about the boys, what they wanted and especially when it came to sports, we were made to feel like second class citizens, even at home my parents favoured the boys, they didn’t have to make their beds, where as the girls did.
My parents were stricter on us girls, the boys could do what they wanted, I never wanted my girls to be brought up like this, and they weren’t, they are very independent, EQUAL RIGHTS for both sexes.

I don’t understand all this stuff about the left. I’m right handed.
And I’ve never made a scarecrow either, so I don’t know about this straw man allegation. I don’t even like gardening.

colourful sydney racing identity11:23 am 02 Aug 11

chewy14 said :

colourful sydney racing identity said :

I weep tears of blood for the poor, oprressed middle class men of Canberra, tears of blood.

I don’t think crying blood is normal.
Perhaps you should get that checked out?

No, it is not normal, such is my grief for those poor, poor people.

maniac said :

Ben_Dover said :

How can anyone who can take a situation where books “empowering girls” are produced using public money, without the male corollary being also produced, try to argue that this is right, by invoking such extremes as men beating up women, expect to be taken seriously?

This we see time and time again with the left, as they have no other answers.

It is always amusing to read the misguided comments of the uneducated. Try looking up some statistics. There is a place called the Australian Bureau of Statistics, which has detailed, unbiased publications on issues in Australia for women, including the gender pay gap, see for eg.: http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Lookup/4102.0Chapter8002008

Making statements based on lack of fact is the perogative of the troll, but makes you look a fool when presented with real data.

Nothing you have posted there refutes any of my points, in fact it bears no relation to anything I said.

In fact your post highlights the paucity of debate skills of the left.

When I argue that introducing the highly emotive, but silly point, of “women being beaten up by their partners” into debate on whether it is “sexist” to produce a book on the “importance of girls at the taxpayers expense”, without producing one for boys, to counter this with statistics on employment matters is just as silly, and proves me right.

The left cannot debate, they can only offer emotional extremism and strawmen.

colourful sydney racing identity said :

I weep tears of blood for the poor, oprressed middle class men of Canberra, tears of blood.

I don’t think crying blood is normal.
Perhaps you should get that checked out?

colourful sydney racing identity10:19 am 02 Aug 11

emd said :

milkman said :

What’s required is recognition that if you single out a group of people for assistance, eventually they should get to a point where they don’t need continued assistance. I would say that in Australia women are probably at or near that point.

I wonder why so many women are still being raped, bashed by their partner, not offered board positions, have lower average weekly earnings than men with a pay gap that hasn’t changed in decades, and have less superannuation on retirement?
Oh, those things aren’t still happening? Sorry, my mistake. I am such a feminazi that I just make sh*t up.
And even if those things still happened, it must be because we dress like sluts, don’t know when to shut up, aren’t qualified, choose to work in low pay jobs, and choose to take time out of paid work to be carers for children or the elderly or disabled. Because it is always our choice in this wonderful egalitarian society, where the streets are paved with gold and Lake Burley Griffin is filled with gin and all the trees are made of chocolate.

+ eleventybillion.

I weep tears of blood for the poor, oprressed middle class men of Canberra, tears of blood.

Ben_Dover said :

How can anyone who can take a situation where books “empowering girls” are produced using public money, without the male corollary being also produced, try to argue that this is right, by invoking such extremes as men beating up women, expect to be taken seriously?

This we see time and time again with the left, as they have no other answers.

It is always amusing to read the misguided comments of the uneducated. Try looking up some statistics. There is a place called the Australian Bureau of Statistics, which has detailed, unbiased publications on issues in Australia for women, including the gender pay gap, see for eg.: http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Lookup/4102.0Chapter8002008

Making statements based on lack of fact is the perogative of the troll, but makes you look a fool when presented with real data.

How can anyone who can take a situation where books “empowering girls” are produced using public money, without the male corollary being also produced, try to argue that this is right, by invoking such extremes as men beating up women, expect to be taken seriously?

This we see time and time again with the left, as they have no other answers.

emd said :

Oh. Well seeing as you’ve answered all my questions and it is obvious that there are no longer any problems for women because of their gender, I shall just give up my feminazi ways.

Admitting you have a problem is always the first step. Good for you.

Yes it is sexist to only encourage girls.

As for the whole issue, there can be very little sympathy for people who behave as abhorrently and immaturely as a lot of women do now. As I’ve heard many people say, there is no group in society more sexist than women.

Especially the ones with pink rego plates who tailgate, flip the finger and call everyone an F-ing C whenever they have the gall to drive at the speed limit.

Unlike the mature men getting around spitting blood into cops faces?

Lets face it, if you want to get into a slinging match over maturity then theres some stellar examples from both sexes so it’s probably not even worth you bringing it up.

Oh. Well seeing as you’ve answered all my questions and it is obvious that there are no longer any problems for women because of their gender, I shall just give up my feminazi ways.

Yes it is sexist to only encourage girls.

As for the whole issue, there can be very little sympathy for people who behave as abhorrently and immaturely as a lot of women do now. As I’ve heard many people say, there is no group in society more sexist than women.

Especially the ones with pink rego plates who tailgate, flip the finger and call everyone an F-ing C whenever they have the gall to drive at the speed limit.

Exactly. All women are obviously obnoxious and they don’t deserve any respect. Let alone a publication dedicated to girls. Because those girls will just grow up into obnoxious little man-haters anyway.

emd said :

I wonder why so many women are still being raped, bashed by their partner, not offered board positions, have lower average weekly earnings than men with a pay gap that hasn’t changed in decades, and have less superannuation on retirement?

Good point, but there are answers, I suspect.

“women are still being raped, bashed by their partner” – probably because there are, and have always been, men who are scum and don’t care about breaking the law.

“not offered board positions, have lower average weekly earnings than men with a pay gap that hasn’t changed in decades” – probably because that while we have better levels of equality in the workplace now, that hasn’t always been the case, and gaining a board position often takes decades of work first. Also, because women often take time away from there career to have children, and thus their male counterparts continue up the tree while the women take a break. Until you figure out how to get men to carry a baby, this isn’t likely to change.

Less super on retirement? See above.

We have lots of aggregate factors suggesting women are not treated equally, but I put to you that this will change over time as equality ‘flows through’ social systems. Perhaps the questions we need to ask relate to whether those girls in schools that the OP was referring to have the same opportunities for career and board membership as boys their own age?

I wonder why so many women are still being raped, bashed by their partner, not offered board positions, have lower average weekly earnings than men with a pay gap that hasn’t changed in decades, and have less superannuation on retirement?

It’s due to the lack of “women’s day” books being produced only for girls to tell them how important they are.

That and all those jobs which are legally advertised and paid at at higher wages for male applicants.

Emd,
taking victim mentality to a new level.
You keep fighting the power.

milkman said :

What’s required is recognition that if you single out a group of people for assistance, eventually they should get to a point where they don’t need continued assistance. I would say that in Australia women are probably at or near that point.

I wonder why so many women are still being raped, bashed by their partner, not offered board positions, have lower average weekly earnings than men with a pay gap that hasn’t changed in decades, and have less superannuation on retirement?
Oh, those things aren’t still happening? Sorry, my mistake. I am such a feminazi that I just make sh*t up.
And even if those things still happened, it must be because we dress like sluts, don’t know when to shut up, aren’t qualified, choose to work in low pay jobs, and choose to take time out of paid work to be carers for children or the elderly or disabled. Because it is always our choice in this wonderful egalitarian society, where the streets are paved with gold and Lake Burley Griffin is filled with gin and all the trees are made of chocolate.

What’s required is recognition that if you single out a group of people for assistance, eventually they should get to a point where they don’t need continued assistance. I would say that in Australia women are probably at or near that point.

Ben_Dover said :

emd said :

And if anyone wants to have a general rant about women, perhaps they should first go read the latest UN Women report, Progress of the World’s Women: In Pursuit of Justice.

Oh god… Beam me up Scotty….

If true this shows a clear sexist bias against boys, and no amount of femniazi whining will change that.

‘feminazi’?

Hey, here’s a neat cartoon for us to ponder as this discussion develops:

http://www.gabbysplayhouse.com/wp-content/doodles/sexism-all.jpg

Good, eh?

On 8 March 2011, Australia celebrated International Women’s Day (IWD), an annual event which recognises the achievements of women and girls, and highlights the ongoing social, political and economic issues faced by women and girls.

In celebration of IWD, on 10 March 2011 the ACT Minister for Women, Ms Joy Burch MLA, launched the Why Girls Are Important book. The book contains photographs of cloth banners made by over 500 children and young people from across Canberra during a consultation by the Children & Young People Commissioner (CYPC) for IWD 2010.

Equivalents for any of this for boys/young men? Nil.

Someone should let them know!

And also about any publications aimed at the Indigenous population. Because they often don’t have a non-indigenous alternative either. So very racist!!!

Come to think of it, isn’t using the term ‘girls’ ageist too? Why isn’t there a publication called “women are important”?

Ben_Dover said :

Oh god… Beam me up Scotty….

If true this shows a clear sexist bias against boys, and no amount of femniazi whining will change that.

You misspelled feminazi.

emd said :

And if anyone wants to have a general rant about women, perhaps they should first go read the latest UN Women report, Progress of the World’s Women: In Pursuit of Justice.

Oh god… Beam me up Scotty….

If true this shows a clear sexist bias against boys, and no amount of femniazi whining will change that.

I don’t know of any book of this title, it could just be a transcript of the Commissioner’s speech given on International Women’s Day a few months ago which had the same title. Not news. But if there is a book, please post a link so I can go read it.

And if anyone wants to have a general rant about women, perhaps they should first go read the latest UN Women report, Progress of the World’s Women: In Pursuit of Justice.

eh_steve said :

……My Queen, female.

Well, that’s a relief!

My bosses at work, females, My Chief Minister, female, my Prime Minister, female, My Governor General, female (despite having a guy’s name), My Queen, female.

I completely misread the headline “Is the Children and Young People Commissioner sexist?”
Silly me, I thought it read “Does a Children and Young People Commissioner exist?
Then again, my interpretation makes more sense doesn’t it?
This country has gone crazy; soon we will have a “Home for Homeless Homing Pigeons”

Equality seems to be balanced at the female side (sighing to myself now knowing the wrath I will cop for this).

But for many years, the females were the forgotten species – now, the balance has tipped a bit too much and the males are starting to be forgotten. Somewhere in the middle is a good thing. As a start, these departments should stop printing ‘female’ or ‘male’ only publications and balance the scales a bit more.

And for God’s sake, they are children!

At least they got rid of the sexist violence against women Ads.
Then there is the womans hospital.

In primary school the following will apply:

Boys will be boys

and

Girls are fragile

zippyzippy said :

You don’t achieve equality by treating everyone exactly the same.

Sure, but generally speaking, boys are considered to have the harder time at school, aren’t they?

You don’t achieve equality by treating everyone exactly the same. Because people (or sexes or races or whatever) are in different circumstances.

Eg if you had a rule that said ‘anyone who wants to be a police officer must be 5″10’, you’d probably be discriminating against women (and possibly some races), even though it’s an ‘equal’ rule.

Anyway, I don’t think you can say the commissioner is sexist just because he’s made a publication to try and assist girls ( who – as hopefully everyone recognizes – still grow up in a world where they are subject to a bunch of inequalities).

And If the human rights commission has a publication about opportunities for indigineous people, or refugees, and not one for white Aussies, I don’t think that means it’s racist.

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