Where are the leaders?

By GR Klein

Today in most modern western nations women have won many battles due to the feminist onslaught. This has enabled women to vote, work in a broad range of industries and generally enjoy many of the privaleges that were once only the domain of men.

There is a constant stream of messages delivered by the media, female leaders and male leaders all vying for the enviable position of being the one who protects women.

Feminism has largley freed women from many of the limitations of gender stereotyping and girls have dispensed with most traditional female conditioning except for one, that is their desire to be protected and given special treatment.

For example, when ever there is a disaster anywhere in the world there is always talk of the terrible casualties and the number of "innocent women and children" killed, we can only assume the deaths of males are not as important. In much the same way that various national media outlets treat international disasters, by focusing only on casualties from their own nations.

Women want equality with men but they also want to retain their special protected position in society that ensures that there is a mass of women's services, organisations, advocacy groups, welfare groups and educational facilities focused on the needs of women.

And I think its great that women's organisations have achieved great things for women and as such means that my own daughter has more freedom and choice in her life which is absolutely wonderful.

But men need the same thing.

Looking around this world today the challenges that face men are obvious to any reasonable person, yet where are the world leaders, the politicians and famous figures standing up to lend their support to men, they are conspicuously absent.

Particularly when we think about the number of times stories appear in newspapers or on TV news where a key aspect of the story is about helping women. Actors, sports stars and media barons are happy to support the very socially acceptable practice of patronising women but their absence in the media seems to suggest that they recoil at the thought of helping blokes.

And when we think about basic human socialisation a key aspect of this is learning very early on that we must protect women, men have no such support.