Creating “equity” in all aspects of society seems like such a great idea. But, do we fully understand what we may be asking for? Alexis Tarkelson explores that question – along with “equity’s” companion piece, “parity.” Reaching full parity requires taking opportunities and resources from one group of people and giving them to another and parity often requires people to make choices they otherwise wouldn’t make. The downstream costs of equity and parity, I would argue, are too high, but read on and draw your own conclusions.
Toward flourishing societies,
Wendy Wixom, President
United Families International
Mars, Venus, and the Case for True Equality
By Alexis Tarkelson
Men are from Mars, women are from Venus. The self-help book written in 1992 by John Gray coined this phrase, where it would become an instantaneous hit in popular culture. Say this phrase and your audience understands you are stating what should be obvious: men and women are different. Not to denigrate either sex, but merely to remind us we are different emotionally, behaviorally, and temperamentally.
What should have followed logically from this conclusion is “Women and men are different emotionally, behaviorally, and temperamentally; therefore it should naturally be expected that the resulting choices in careers and lifestyles will not always coincide with each other.”
Extreme feminists take issue with this added conclusion. Instead it goes like this for them:
- Men and women are hardly different (if they must be different at all)
- A woman can do everything a man can do (most of the time they can do it even better)
- All employment should be 50/50 in the gender ratio
There are a lot of women who think this way, especially much of the incoming generation who are beginning to contribute to the free market. Equality has devolved into equity, and equity into parity. They don’t just want everyone to have the same opportunities or even extra special treatment when falling short, now they demand a number to satisfy their thirst for ‘sameness’. That’s what parity is, a numerical concept that proves there is absolute equality.
They claim it will take an estimated 134 years to achieve global gender parity. Just 169 years to reach an equal number of men and women in the political sphere, 20 years in the educational sphere, and 152 years in the economic sphere. Such a leap amongst mankind will bring about hitherto untold benefits for the human species.
Or so they say.
There are claims that this egalitarian personna will be the clincher for a $12 trillion boost to the global economy. Others tout claims such as, “Gender parity in education is a matter of social justice, opportunities and freedom, and it is essential for sustainable development and peaceful societies.”
Essentially, gender parity will be the lynchpin for the world’s salvation.
Why is Gender Parity So Important to a Segment of the World’s population?
The United Nations Secretary-General said, “Gender parity at the United Nations is an urgent need – and a personal priority. It is a moral duty and an operational necessity. The meaningful inclusion of women in decision-making increases effectiveness and productivity, brings new perspectives and solutions to the table, unlocks greater resources and strengthens efforts across all the three pillars of our work.”
It’s a moral duty to have ten women in the workplace to equal the ten men working there. It’s a moral duty to have a woman in the leadership position rather than a man, regardless of objective merit.
Where Does the World Stand?
The top five countries for closing the gender parity gap are as follows:
- Iceland (93.5%)
- Finland (87.5%)
- Norway (87.5%)
- New Zealand (83.5%)
- Sweden (81.6%)
Overall, the gender gap globally has only been closed 68.6%, with the year 2023 only achieving a 0.1% increase. Areas at the bottom of the totem pole are the Middle East and North Africa, regions which have a gender parity score of 61.7%.
Iceland, holding the number one spot for gender parity has dominated it for the last fifteen years. They offer six months off for paid parental leave, children are placed into pre-school by the age of 2 at a subsidized cost to ensure women stay in the workforce, companies are required to make sure that at least 40% of their boards are female, and women make up 60% of the students attending university. Iceland also has a birthrate of 1.59, below the replacement level. Despite having near absolute gender equality, the country only ranks 20th in the world for GDP per capita.
The United Nations is clamoring to make sure that the rest of the world follows suit.
The Gender Parity Task Force
In 2012 the UN came up with the Gender Parity Task Force as a way to remedy their guilt over the disparity between men and women in the labour market. At the time, the initial task force focused on Mexico, Turkey, Japan, and Korea.
The goals have always been to:
- Increase female representation in the labour force
- Advance female progression into management and leadership positions
- Narrow the gender wage gap
- Raise awareness of the business case for gender parity and help shift stereotypes
By engaging the private and public sectors of countries, the task force aims to, among other things, “strengthen the organization’s working environment by proposing programmes on eliminating unconscious bias, flexible work arrangements, revised parental leave policies, and improved workplace and accommodation standards in non-family duty stations.”
The UN has also created a Gender Quota Portal, so as to keep track of what countries have gender quotas in parliament, what percentage of female representation they have, and their type of electoral college.
The European Union, headed by Ursula von der Leyen, is currently attempting to pressure smaller EU states to replace their male nominees for the European commission with women. This push for gender parity is not going well, as her request for a male and female nominee from each country is being defied with many times only one nominee sent in: a male nominee.
But Do Women from Venus Actually Want Jobs from Mars?
The United States Department of Labour released their data and statistics involving the jobs most commonly held by women. The results were:
In contrast, the occupations largely dominated by men were:
Women in the U.S. are free to pursue whatever career they please, so these charts show that the majority of women have a preferred set of jobs as do men.
This is well documented, and yet there are those who believe a shift needs to happen. A few years ago, while attending the Commission on the Status of Women, I listened as one of the speakers for the opening ceremony said, essentially, that to progress we needed to take the doll from the little girl’s hands and replace it with a microscope.
That encapsulates the entire agenda of the Gender Parity Task Force. Take away the doll for the sake of a quota.
The numbers show that women are just as equally represented in most positions except those of leadership positions. Or they dominate in fields where they can more easily dictate their hours. The reason for this is because women are choosing careers wherein they can still be active and present mothers to their children.
Extreme feminists want this to change. They want women to be able to work in leadership positions and not be restricted by motherhood. In a sense they want, like Iceland, for the state to raise the children. Through increased hours in preschool and daycare and less hours in the home.
Women Deserve Equality, not Parity
It does not achieve anything to create token seats for women on a company board. Such performances only erode the strides women have made to make choices about their own lives. Now, rather than being seen as someone who works hard, a woman newly hired will most likely be viewed as the ‘diversity hire’, particularly in male dominated fields. This will in turn create tension between the men and women in the workplace.
Additionally, gender quotas encourage mediocrity. Why try hard for that promotion when you will most likely be passed up for the female applicant? Why work hard to become competent and highly skilled if merit is not the defining basis for a hiree? Do you want the best surgeon for your medical procedure or the surgeon who ended up there because of a system that required a mix that wasn’t predicated upon excellence and merit?
Speaking as a reformed feminist, I believe women should strive for careers and top positions only if they desire them, not because they are pressured into it. And they should receive those positions only if they are qualified, not because of the composition of their DNA. Women should feel free to pursue the ‘mommy track’ without the stigma of being a traitor to their kind. They should be allowed to remember they have two hands, capable of holding both the microscope and the doll.
Men are from Mars, and women are from Venus. This doesn’t have to mean everything, but it does need to mean something. Men and women are different, and this difference can cause them to make different choices. We can’t and we shouldn’t force sameness, as doing so will only foster tension, dissatisfaction, and societal challenges. Forcing sameness at the expense of the family will not bode well either.
This is not a call to return to the pre-suffragette era, but we shouldn’t have to accept the gender parity era either. It is possible to stop the pendulum from swinging to the extremes and just be happy that women have choices now.
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Alexis Tarkalson graduated from Brigham Young University-Idaho with her degree in Political Science and an emphasis in American Government. She loves spending time with her husband and little boy, reading, hiking mountains, and learning new hobbies. The family unit is immensely important to her, as is protecting the associated rights, which is why she volunteers her time towards United Families International.