Thursday, July 07, 2011

In New Zealand Women Earn Less Because They Menstruate



In a bizarre way I love stories like this one:
The head of a business group has been fired after asserting that menstruation makes women less productive in the workplace than men.

Alasdair Thompson, chief executive of New Zealand's Employers and Manufacturers Association, made the comments during a radio debate.
The BBC reported that Thompson sparked controversy by suggesting that women earned less than men because "once a month they have sick problems." He added that when women become mothers "they have to take time off to go home" to look after their children.

And this sparked a debate? That is so very funny.

Here's the debate that should have been sparked: How can a man in such a very important role know shit-all about women? I'd accept what he says from an outer-space alien who has only spent a few weeks on this earth, but from a man who actually grew up here and obviously thrived?

What Mr. Thompson's statements reveal is that he has never spent one single minute (no, not even over a nice mug of beer at a bar) to think about what makes women tick (except perhaps in bed). He has some vague ideas about the biological differences between the sexes and trots them out like a ten-year old would.

I have never had the luxury not to understand how a whole human gender works! So yes, I think he deserved to be fired for incompetence.