To wonder why male things are always better?

[Bumpitybumper]

Has anyone else noticed things typically associated with men are considered to be better? Examples I've noticed:

Trivial
Names - baby girls being given male names is considered cool and trendy (James, Noah etc) but this seems to seldom work in reverse.
Colours - pink is often rejected even for girls because it's too 'girly' but blue is acceptable for both sexes.

Non-trivial
Professions - women are encouraged to enter typically make dominated STEM industries but little is done to address the appalling pay, conditions and underappreciation of female denominated sectors such as teaching, caring etc
Childcare - the onus seems to be on getting more women into FT work rather than spending time at home to raise their children. Tax system and free childcare entitlements designed to encourage this rather than to incentivise men AND women to be SAHPs.

There are loads of other things I've noticed too.

AIBU to be deeply cynical about why the traditionally male approach is always seen to be superior and to worry that this isn't the best way to achieve equality?

I saw a fantastic meme the other day. Something about a product being marketed to men as being good for their hair, skin, teeth, car oil, de-grouser and for women they've invented a special cream for our left elbows.

I am tired of "unisex" t-shirts (like band shirts, geek shirts - anything with a graphic on the front) being designed for those "unisex" humans who don't have breasts.

You're not the first to notice, OP.

newtlover True, but sometimes having pretty shoes or whatever gives one more pleasure than having something completely practical. Practical is not always best for everyone all of the time.

I think sometimes when people talk about dresses etc there is a similar sentiment that girls should just dress for practicality. I disagree and think there's a time and place for less practical clothing for some people and that's fine. If anything, men should be allowed to explore this side more if it interests them.

I am tired of "unisex" t-shirts (like band shirts, geek shirts - anything with a graphic on the front) being designed for those "unisex" humans who don't have breasts.

Are you kidding?

Most women clothes, even with frills and lace are designed for those without breasts.

Mary Curnock-Cook, former CE of Ucas, has spoken up about getting males into nursing and teaching:

‘We hear all these things about [getting] more women into science, and women doing physics, and computers and so on,’ she told the annual conference of the Association of University Administrators in Manchester on 15 April. But she asked: ‘Why don’t we hear more about getting men into nursing and education and social work where, after all, there’s a very ready supply of a very large volume of jobs?’

And "unisex" always means default male

Very true. So a size Medium unisex polo shirt for work is medium man size. A medium sized woman would likely need a S or XS.

I was irked the other day when looking at Aldi or Lidl (can't remember which!) and they had DIY stuff as their special buys. I do lots of DIY. They sold work trousers and shoes as part of the range... but only for men!

Unisex t shirts are better if you are fat. Women's t shirts are designed to emphasise curves.

Eraserhead Interesting. I'm pleased she raised it and hope someone in government was listening.

Funnily enough just pegged a load of casual clothes out. Without exception DS and DP clothes were fairly thick, well made and robust, even the cheap supermarket t shirts. Mine are much more flimsy and have to be wrangled back into shape to stop them looking like a piece of rag. All of them - underwear, tops, jeans etc. Why? My clothes aren't any cheaper than theirs.

And exactly yes to splendide

I take your point about men being underrepresented in caring professions, but tbh I’m not sure I would want an influx of men into my profession. Presumably they would take over and get all the management jobs. They’re already over represented in higher paid nursing jobs. More of them would just lead to fewer women in leadership and management positions. I like the fact that nursing is female-dominated.

The thing that drives me mad is girls things not being as good quality as boys things - particularly school clothes/shoes. My daughter walks to and from school, but if you go into Clarks most of the girls shoes are like ballet pumps so totally impractical. And I tried once to get her warm trousers the first day back after October half term. I traipsed round all of the shops selling school uniform where I live, including specialist schoolwear suppliers, and all the girls trousers were light summerweight ones - half the thickness of the boys trousers. I pointed this out in a couple of shops but just got a shrug and 'that's the way all girls trousers are'. So girls don't need to need to be warm in winter like the boys then? Or I was told that I should have bought them in September when they had the thicker ones in. But it was still warm and sunny in September so she didn't need them then. Now when I buy I get the next size up as well, so I don't get caught out again. But it's still frustrating.

YANBU.

I'll add 'boyfriend jeans' into that

I was confused, when shopping for maternity jeans a few years ago, to find a "boyfriend fit" pair. Shaped for a pregnant boyfriend, presumably.

YANBU. Also it is striking that women being into fashion is derided as trivial and vain, but similar massively lucrative vanity items like expensive watches and cars are accorded more cultural weight and respect. And it's OK for men to spend loads of money on and be obsessed by highly paid Premier footballers' activities, but women following fashion are trivialised.

Trillis put it more eloquently than I did. It's about quality.

In addition to all that, male-dominated professions suddenlyseem to become devalued when women start taking them up. For example, this very interesting article about women coding:

www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/mar/14/tech-women-code-workshops-developer-jobs

"Get-girls-to-code initiatives aim to fix tech’s gender imbalance – but they may help reinforce it. Women are generally cheaper, to other workers’ dismay. “Introducing women into a discipline can be seen as empowerment for women,” Ensmenger says. “But it is often seen by men as a reduction of their status. Because, historically speaking, the more women in a profession, the lower paid it is.”'

Probably the wrong forum to admit this, but I wish I’d been born a man. They have it so much easier.
YANBU.

I'm glad I read this post.

I'm ashamed to say that while I thought it was positive that girls are encouraged more these days to enter traditionally male dominated fields, it genuinely didn't occur to me that a lot of undervalued and underpaid jobs are indeed female dominated.

How bad I feel that I didn't notice this.

Wasn't there a thread the other day about whether or not you would trust a male as a childminder, especially if he had to change nappies? There were an awful lot of women saying they wouldn't.

If thats the attitude, and similarly in other caring professions, why would a man sign up to it?

the pain in the arse But What Abouter

What a useful concept

TomRavenscroft It's interesting you say that. The other day I was reading a leaflet distributed by a church advertising a man's and woman's night. The man's night was a few drinks in a pub whereas the women's night was crafting in the church hall.

Now obviously this was aimed at the older generation, but I instantly thought that the man's night was the superior one. I then had to question why I had made that assumption so quickly...

I remember talking to a young woman medical student in Moscow in the late 1980s. She said that medicine was becoming a largely female profession- and was therefore also becoming devalued and proportionality lower paid

What really grinds my gears is the way that DH haircuts, exercise, clothes shopping etc - even taking a fucking shower - takes on the status of 'important work' whereas I do the same and it's 'pampering, relaxation and unprecedented luxury"

Not from DH, he's learned his lesson, but from other opinionated twats. Grrrrr