School debate about fertile women being employed

[reallyconfusedmostofthetime]

My child's tutor (YR8) started a class debate about whether women of child bearing age should be employed. Is it unreasonable to think this is sexist and ridiculous?

Like @Mahoganytea , we are a microbusiness. We cannot afford to employ women of child bearing age. No women under 45. But we are very easy going about fathers needing flexi starts and finishes around child care. And frankly, the pool of nuclear-qualified female welders is small.

It's an interesting debate ..I worked for a NHS team who had plans in place just in case they honestly lost 90÷ of their workforce...it involved other teams etc. all the staff have their job on return but they wanted continuation of service to patients...as it turned out the young female staff had children over several years and all returned and it was only 20-30÷ at the worse were out. However due to the plans all returned mostly part time after their had children and still now 10 years later working there ....very interesting debate if dealt with right

Then you are remarkably naive about the amount of sexism in education and the gradual rollback of women’s rights. When the watch sleeps, rights are lost.

My feelings too. To change peoples minds and open them to the issues, an open discussion is necessary

I’m afraid the outcome may well be the exact opposite of this. Sadly sexism is rife among this age group (Andrew Tate etc) and this debate is likely just to encourage it further. And why should the girls in the class be forced to listen to a load of sexist and dehumanising arguments denying their agency?

Great debate topic

The average woman's reproductive years are between ages 12 and 51 could you imagine the collapse of sooooo much if they couldn't work!

Nope. Tate’s popularity is aligned to other phenomena (generalised misogyny, extreme porn culture, crisis of masculinity), not censorship. He’s had billions of views on Tiktok! How could you say this is down to censorship?

Maybe younger people would benefit from the subject but being older and having been discriminated against many times just reading that was triggering and my heart rate went up.

Of course this stuff should be debated and talked about… we are nowhere near equality for women in the workplace. Massive pay gaps and discrimination. When you work in a male dominated industry you know that this kind of sexism is rife. Would you honestly just rather it wasn’t discussed?

I get it’s supposed to be controversial but a good debate should have valid points each side

This.

Some topics shouldn't be up for debate because they're basic human rights. This includes this, and things like abortion and gay marriage. Debating them puts on a pretence that the opposing sides are somehow equal, when they're not. It makes people, especially young boys, think that misogyny is a normal opinion to have.

YABU

Its a debate about a very real topic.

Debating teaches kids to think for themselves, to listen to others views and to get across their own views in a respectful way.

Complaining about what exactly ? It’s a debate, and the subject is usually controversial to spark that debate. Nothing wrong with the subject matter because it will teach the children about sexism, the various ways in which it arises and hopefully how to challenge it.

So you really believe that none of that is to do with kids being told "No, you can't do that, you can't talk about this, you must never question that..."?

It's not any one of those things. It's a bit of all of those things.

But hey, you continue to believe what you want. While you're doing that, consider the fact that not one person decrying this teacher has actually asked what they were trying to teach and where they were guiding the discussion. Y'all have just made a whole bunch of massive assumptions on the basis of your own biases...without stopping to think about the fact that no teacher would be stupid enough to run the discussion in the manner that you're suggesting, because they'd be insta-fired over it.

Knee-jerk reactions are rarely the best kind.

Yes it’s sexist- it’s meant to be! The teacher knows that and that’s why they picked it for the debate.
Goodness me- worrying that any adult doesn’t get that 🙈

I’d agree with you if the question had been posed along the lines of, ‘women are valuable members of the workforce and should be protected, discuss’.

But, if it was posed as the OP has written, ie, discriminating against young women is the default and young girls should have to argue their worth, then I think it entirely misses the point and plays into inherent and subconscious misogyny children are often subject to.

That's the point of debate topics.

To spark a debate

The girls in the class will be part of the debate. Why would you think they would be forced to just sit and listen ? Why wouldn’t they take part ? Surely both sides of the subject will be debated.

Another one here thinking that they should discuss men being stripped of their rights instead.

It's not an interesting debate topic for young girls to have it made clear to them that their rights are secondary and conditional, while men's rights are sacrosanct. It's deeply alienating.

Women of child bearing age is every woman from early adulthood until menopause. This is a discussion about barring women from work, thus making all women directly and permanently economically dependent on men. This is unacceptable as a school debate topic.

Perhaps they will also have a guest speaker on the side against women being employed, someone from Afghanistan who makes as much sense as that saxophone solo from We no speak americano.

So, what ? We just shut down the debate because the subject is uncomfortable ?

It's a debate....... clue is in your title

You'd have a fit at my sociology lecturer starting a discussion on us needing poorer people in society.

Its about inviting debate, thoughtfulness, growth.

You do understand that both sides of the argument are presented ? That’s how debate works.

And personally with all the other substitutions that could replace the word "fertile" I think it was probably the least controversial starter for a healthy debate.....