FROLITICKS

Donald Trump’s recorded verbal abuse against women is just the most recent example of misogynistic and uncalled for attacks on women. The truth is that the twenty-first century has started off just as badly as the twentieth century ended when it comes to abuses against women.  Women continue to be the victims of domestic violence far more then men.  Just as bad, women continue to be sexually objectified by the porn industry and increasingly through the Internet and social media.  Women are degraded by men for not meeting certain physical standards created by the male-dominated bastion of commerce.  A ‘rape culture’ exists on many of North America’s college campuses, with victims still finding it all too difficult to come forward.

Today, there are laws and institutions aimed at ensuring that workers are free from sexual and other forms of harassment in the workplace. There are more employers who provide for employment equity and who promote equal pay for work of equal value, particularly when it comes to female employees.  However, in some professions women still face employer bias and the ‘glass ceiling’, and sexism is “alive and well in the workplace”. It is a fact that female executives who take time off to have children and become mothers are often discriminated against when they return to work, particularly in terms of promotion.  A recent study of the top 1,000 U.S. companies found that the Chief Executive Officer position was held by only 5 percent of women, even though women now make up half of our labour force.

Society is doing a better job in dealing seriously with domestic violence and date rape, the vast majority of victims who are women. Nevertheless, authorities and institutions have to improve at dealing with attacks against women and in educating men as to their responsibilities towards the treatment of women.  Attitudes and behaviours are derived by the values instilled in our children from a very young age onwards.  Parents, schools, communities and societal institutions have to ensure that these are the appropriate values when it comes to the treatment of women.

I have a young granddaughter who is as smart as a whip and can hold her own with her older brothers. I refuse to believe that she doesn’t deserve every opportunity to grow up in a society respectful of women’s rights.  As a man, a father, a grandfather, I will do everything possible to ensure that my granddaughter will have a life free from verbal and physical abuse.  All that I ask is that other men step up to do the same for all women.  After all, we are about to have the first female President of the United States of America. It’s about time!