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Cousin Kathy posted this morning that today is the 90th anniversary of U.S. women gaining the right to vote. As one of her friends subsequently pointed out, this means there are women still alive who were born without that right. In fact, while there can't be many left, it does appear that there are women still alive who were at least 18 21 and thus of voting age at that time.
I tend to think of voting as a responsibility rather than a right, but I can't help but think about my rights when it's brought to my attention that within a lifespan, within living memory, women did not have the same rights as men. I'm not usually a rabid vocal feminist, but that's because I believe that now, most of the time, women are equal. I am perfectly willing to stipulate that there are some jobs that men are better suited to than women for physiological reasons – and vice versa. But that's on average, based on populations. No individual should be arbitrarily restricted based on those statistics. Saying that a specific woman isn't able to do X because men are statistically better at it makes about as much sense as saying I have to change my sports team because most of the residents of this town are Yankees fans. It's not a rational statement, and it's going to meet with lots of emotional opposition as well.
I really don't comprehend discrimination based on irrelevant factors. Judge people on their capability to do a job, sure. Judge them on whether they're assholes, hell yeah. But people pick such incomprehensible reasons to look down on one another.
I tend to think of voting as a responsibility rather than a right, but I can't help but think about my rights when it's brought to my attention that within a lifespan, within living memory, women did not have the same rights as men. I'm not usually a rabid vocal feminist, but that's because I believe that now, most of the time, women are equal. I am perfectly willing to stipulate that there are some jobs that men are better suited to than women for physiological reasons – and vice versa. But that's on average, based on populations. No individual should be arbitrarily restricted based on those statistics. Saying that a specific woman isn't able to do X because men are statistically better at it makes about as much sense as saying I have to change my sports team because most of the residents of this town are Yankees fans. It's not a rational statement, and it's going to meet with lots of emotional opposition as well.
I really don't comprehend discrimination based on irrelevant factors. Judge people on their capability to do a job, sure. Judge them on whether they're assholes, hell yeah. But people pick such incomprehensible reasons to look down on one another.
