Thinking beyond gender equality etiquette

26 September 2014

Amidst disturbing reports of misogynistic views among a minority of the Australian population, the recent VicHealth survey on violence against women found that 'attitudes to gender equality are the strongest influence on understanding of violence and the second strongest influence on attitudes to violence.'

The message is clear. Changing attitudes to gender equality will have the biggest impact on attitudes to violence against women. But what about those of us who already have positive attitudes to gender equality?

Like many Australians, I’ve been fortunate to grow up with little exposure to negative attitudes towards gender equality. It wasn’t until I was a teenager that I first met people who had inherited from their parents (or at least from their fathers) a segregated view of humanity in which women were evidently an inferior subset of the human species. It was strange and alarming to realise that in the minds of these peers ‘women’ were equal-parts desirable yet frustratingly deficient creatures, against whom we must take precautionary measures to manage their more challenging behaviours. It was as if finding a woman was like buying a car: you want one that looks good on the outside, but you better make sure it’s not a lemon.

I have to credit my parents and, in particular, my father, for raising me with a view of the world that did not contain a distinct set of ‘rules’ and generalisations for dealing with women. Perhaps it was also due in part to growing up with the influence of two older sisters, and a highly-educated mother who worked in a professional capacity from when I was young.

Our family performed well in regard to key gender equality concepts described in the report, such as: power-sharing and decision-making within relationships, whilst avoiding stereotypical ideas of gender roles, ‘benevolent sexism’, hostility towards women and gender equality, and narrow ideals of masculinity and femininity, including objectification of women. Yet the concept of gender or of gender equality was never explicitly invoked. Instead it was simply common sense that we ought to treat people as individuals and have concern for their individual well-being. Like racism, sexism and gender inequality are confounding and intellectually invalid generalisations often served with disturbingly hostile undertones.

Indeed, while my childhood environment might have put me on the right side of the gender equality scale, as an adult, and especially as a philosopher, I can’t help but think that the ‘correct’ attitude to

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Thinking beyond gender equality etiquette

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