I wish it was true that women had all the opportunities they want. But from my perspective, not even men have all the opportunities they want. The opportunities that people have depends on many things, not just gender. But gender is still a factor. And (some) women going to university doesn’t change that many times, with the same degree and even better grades, there are position when they are rejected because “they might get pregnant”. Or promotions denied because the (male) boss decided with no input from the woman that “she would prefer stability, not the pressure of a more demanding job”. This kind of thing happen all the time, based on the stereotypes some men and women have about woman.
when you talk about “women preferring spending time with children”, you are proving my point. The fact is that you don’t know if that it true, you just assume that. And sometimes it is that bad, that they apply that kind of assumptions to childfree women. It is that irrational. And they don’t even realize they are doing it! So when you point out that they are applying that to single, childless women, they just repeat their belief. And still deny the promotion, not based on her skill or value, but their assumption that she prefer to spend time with children she doesn’t have. The fair thing to do would be offer the promotion and let her turn it down if she doesn’t wanted. But instead, the offer is just passed to a man who the same manager assume that would prefer work. So the man gets a promotion being the second most qualified, not the most qualified. That’s how biases work.
Data show that your comment about shows is not true. From Buffy vampire Slayer, Hunger games, Wonder Woman, Orange is the new black, Glow… There are plenty of women led films and TV shows that have been successful. All are treated as “exceptions”. But they are not. The stats on films and TV shows (that you can easily google) show that more diverse cast improve means more viewers and profits:
But you strongly believed the opposite without evidence or numbers to back it up. Have you wonder why do you believe certain things without having look at the numbers and data? Well, that is bias. And it is so strong that people lose money on that.
Now, why do you think that as a straight female you can talk for me, another straight female? Or for other straight females? Or about what men want to see. Because the studies I linked tell something different about people tastes. You might not like it, but Twilight was very successful. With an (insipid) woman lead and two men to cater the female eye. And then you have Alien, with a non sexualized female lead and it is considered one of the best horror films of all times. Or Lara Croft, very successful with young men who happen to find her quite attractive. Hunger games? Another hit with a woman fighting and doing everything than male heroes usually do. Just a few examples about how they things that you said people doesn’t want. So maybe you are in a minority and out of touch with what people actually want.
Don’t assume for others, that is the opposite of compassionate. And I can assure that the woman who is denied a promotion that she wants because the male boss thinks he is doing her a favor because that way she would get to spend more time with her children, won’t think that he is compassionate. She would think that he is unfair. Ask for “compassion” when you aren’t offering compassion is not very fair. And that is basically what is happening now. What people like you call “compassion” is not perceived as “compassion” by the other part.
And the other way around, some of the women that you don’t consider compassionate, might be in fact offering compassion on their own way. After all, expecting better from men, is way more compassionate than just assume that they would always be sexist and unfair to us.
