Elisa Mariño
3 min readNov 10, 2021

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The thing is that we have literally centuries of skewed narrative by men. When we start (comparatively recently) offering women's perspective, even if we have less time on TV, less books, less of everything, you feel as if you are not been paid enough attention. And we are still far from the 50% that would reflect population distribution.

So if it is the balance of narratives then, we might still falling short to represent women. And that is not victimism, is just plain facts and numbers. And it would take time to balance points of view, since there are still countries where women doesn't have full human rights. And even in developed countries, or human rights are disputed.

You are in tech, look at the numbers. Now you can calculate ratios for population. Example: participation in films. If 66% of speaking roles are for men and men are aprox. 51% of population. Then, the ratio is 66/51 = 1,294. There is an over representation of 29,40% aprox. On the other hand, if women get 34% of speaking roles, women would have 34/49 = 0,69 ratio. That means 31% under represented.

That means that men's point of view is already covered. Even with feminist. And if you do ratios for directors (whose point of view is presented on the movie), the ratios are even more skewed.

https://womenandhollywood.com/resources/statistics/2019-statistics/

Feminist keep offering data. Yet we are systematically told that we are being unfair, for not taking men into account. As if men didn't already have plenty of representation everywhere. Analyses should take into account context. If representation was already even in general, then you would be right. But since it is skewed, the only way to reverse that and make it even, is to compensate until things become even. But right now, not even in the same year we are seeing equal representation. If we added data from last century, representation would be even more skewed.

And we are so used to women being not represented at all, that for you it feels as if men weren't being represented now. Why is that? Why do you need to shift narrative to put men at the center all the time? You are a researcher, so what I'm saying is something you already know but, for some reason, aren't applying here.

And sure, men can add to feminism and to the conversation. But let's be fair here, we are still very far from an even field. And there are plenty of uncomfortable conversations to be had. For example, why it is that Amartya Sen choosed women for the microcredits. He explains and it is quite enlightening. In my opinion, a cultural shift might mean that men would also use microcredits to improve the family's living conditions. But when he started, it wasn't so.

So yes to men's perspective, but also to data and not distort what feminist say. As someone in tech you are benefiting from women's inventions and discoveries. You probably benefited from your mother's work at home. And that is something that feminist are asking for, to get credit when credit is due. And to be offered the same opportunities so we can also add to humanity advance. Because I bet that many men who complain about feminism doesn't caring about men, haven't considered the opportunity cost of wasting women's talents. Or where would they be without our contribution.

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Elisa Mariño
Elisa Mariño

Written by Elisa Mariño

Fiction is the art to tell lies to show truths. Politics is the art to use truths to tell lies.

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