do you believe in the patriarchy?

I have never had men oppress me from song anything, apart from one abusive partner and I let him as I was so shocked by his tactics. Maybe our experiences are what help us define feminism. In fact I would go so far as to say, the majority of people who have supported me are male. So you know, they are jot all bad :)

Critical thinking???

Yep there is certainly a shortage of that from some.

I'll just reiterate: SHE WAS ASKED TO BRING A MAN.

It never ceases to amaze how people are unwilling to name male supremacy for what it is.

Which reasons? Why do girls not do IT degrees?

Ecletic, could you face that the woman is speaking for the people in the meeting. And even if SHE IS NOT, she, herself, considers that a man should have come to make proper points. A woman presenting at a meeting doesn't count....

For a myriad of reasons Porto, not just patriachal society.

And the important thing is WHY do women oonly make up 30% of the workforce? My company is extremely family friendly. It's not the employment practices (I don't think). The question is why are there not more women doing degrees in this subject?

2. afterwards i get a very odd call from the one women saying i 'should bring a man to the next meeting' and my meeting comments seem to have been strangely misinterpreted to allow the 'logical selection' of a competitor (males).

So this one woman who we know nothing about speaks for all the people in the meeting? Seriously, that makes you take it as sexism. No wonder you see sexism in everything. It's there if you want to see it, it's not there if you don't. Question is how do you know it really existed that scenario. Critical thinking anyone?

She was asked to bring a man. How is that not evidence of making decisions based on sex? What else could that mean?

Once again, assuming all discrimation is based in sex is ridiculous. There is discrimation based in competence?

What I did come across is clients trying to make the best decision for their company. Assuming that you must be being discrimatory against on the basis of your sex in that environment without any actual evidence is once again portraying women to be victims and an easy get out clause. I'm not saying sexism doesn't exist but do you really think clients would put their performance and bonuses in jeopardy in order to be sexist? Intersectionality at play again.

I agree with you Porto, I have worked in technology firms too and never has my sex been an issue. I was expected to be good at my job and I was. I never came across sexism in any technology dominated environment I worked in.

What part of "YOU SHOULD BRING A MAN" did you not understand there ES?

Now I work in Belgium for a technology company. On one level, there are woefully few women (something the company is trying to address, or at least it says it is). On the other - I have NEVER picked up any feeling that anyone thinks any less of me for being female. I am expected to be good at my job, but that is it.

Maybe there is something insidious going on ie if I am a woman and I am THERE, I must have earnt my right to be there ifysim BUT I have experienced NONE of the overt sexism that I experienced in the UK. The only difficulty I have had is that some people get the hump that I don't speak Dutch.....

Wasabi, have you thought that thy might be making their decisions based on anything other then your sex?

do i believe in the patriarchy?

sometimes. most the time i think equality is on the rise and although we must not be complacent, very few women lead less equal lives than their mothers and grandmothers.

but sometimes i see men group together in a way that leave me very uneasy. the most recent example was a meeting with a new potential client:

1. great meeting, client = 5 men, one women. only me representing my company
2. afterwards i get a very odd call from the one women saying i 'should bring a man to the next meeting' and my meeting comments seem to have been strangely misinterpreted to allow the 'logical selection' of a competitor (males).

they seem prefer to argue 2+2=5 than admit a female led company might be the better option for them.

anyway i am going back to meet the Fuckers in a few weeks, taking the requested man (who works for me & i thought him eveything he knows. but he has the all important penis!!).

It feels like a really odd oppression of women but i will be remembering they are clearly inadequate little twerps. and i will charmingly hunt them down on each and every point.

the personal is political.

Also, I believe that women of colour experience a different variation of misogyny, from white men, than that experienced by white women.

ES - I did. You said you agreed with many of the points in the article you linked to. You didn't specify which ones...

Rulers, I don't think you are doing it incorrectly. I wish more women would focus on the needs of woman

As far as I understand it, it is impossible to have a theory of Kyriarchy without patriarchy. I do think it is interesting that so many feminists have some kind of spiritual background like Schüssler Fiorenza.

If feminism is absolutely so marvellous at intersectionality why does a movement called Womanism exist and why does a term called colonial feminism exist?

I thought Womanism gave a word to the experience of black women who wanted to protest the double oppression of women of colour whilst not attacking men of colour. As far as I understand it, Walker's idea was a combination of female solidarity/black solidarity plus a celebration of black women's culture.

Surely this is something that only could have been created by black women? It would have been horribly invasive for white feminists to name the experience of black women. Yuck.

Having said that I totally get that there were and still are white racist/supremacist 'feminists', and white women who left out women of colour because they were acting white privileged.

I thought colonial feminism was the sort of thing where men from the UK get all chivalrous and protective when it comes to how furrin men treat 'their women' and use it as an excuse to have a war/nick some territory/act colonial. Double yuck.

Yeah, I got bored of your constant targetting of dittany, so stopped reading...

Why don't you read my posts on this thread.

What was your synopsis of the article YOU linked ES?

Oh, and the rich. I forgot about them. Hmm.