Letter: We Should All Aspire to Fairness and a Representative Balance

Published on: 8 Dec, 2018
Updated on: 8 Dec, 2018

From Jim Allen

In response to: The Importance of Women in Politics

Excellent article without the extremism normally associated with the subject by the excellent councillor for Stoke, Angela Gunning.

My own worry is with all this positive (or is it really negative?) discrimination against heterosexual blokes currently, the male of the species is hammered by constant unprovable accusations and generally treated as second class citizens because females must have their rights, no matter what, even if they stomp over equal rights in the process.

I am sure the councillor would agree that balance is what it should be about. For example, the Conservatives have complete control of the Executive and council, despite securing less than 50% of the popular vote. For the sake of fairness and democracy, they should be more magnanimous and equitable when it comes to sharing power.

Responses to Letter: We Should All Aspire to Fairness and a Representative Balance

Hilda Jones Reply

December 9, 2018 at 4:17 pm

No doubt Jim Allen is a very nice man and some women like to strut their stuff.

However, with reference to his second paragraph please read Christina Lamb’s important article in today’s Sunday Times. Not all men are nice to women. We should all be equally respected and enjoy equal rights.
David Clarke Reply

December 9, 2018 at 9:38 pm

‘…the male of the species is hammered by constant unprovable accusations and generally treated as second class citizens because females must have their rights, no matter what, even if they stomp over equal rights in the process’.

Quite unbelievable. I find this abhorrent. Shame on Mr Allen, a quite disgusting attitude.
Jan Todd Reply

December 10, 2018 at 9:41 am

I was left speechless by the comments in Mr Allen’s second paragraph. They say that before you judge someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. I wish I could invite Mr Allen to slip on a pair of kitten heels, jump into a time machine, and join me as a 16-year old school-leaver in 1968, starting work as a typist for a multi-national oil company in the city (one of the few career options open to a girl of my class and education).

I’d like him to see what women had to endure – patronised and often physically manhandled as a matter of course. I wish I’d had the courage to stand up for myself and I applaud women nowadays who will no longer tolerate this kind of behaviour.

Things may have improved, but there is clearly some way to go since I can still be rendered speechless by the attitude of some men. ‘Discrimination against heterosexual blokes… generally treated as second class citizens because females must have their rights’? Give me strength.
Jim Allen Reply

December 11, 2018 at 9:19 am

I was not talking about history – what I did say was that now, in 2018, men enjoy fewer rights than women.

Now, in 2018, the reality is this, men are too often discriminated against or treated unfairly.

My comment was based on the simple principle that we need to stop the pendulum of extremism and discrimination in all areas of our lives. Men and women should be treated as equals.
Jan Todd Reply

December 11, 2018 at 10:08 pm

My perspective of ‘now’ is clearly very different to Mr Allen’s. From what I can see, many women around the world are still fighting for equality and the pendulum still has a long way to swing for them. Mr Allen and I seem to live in different worlds, which probably says it all, and is probably just as well – and he and I will just have to agree to disagree on the subject.