Thursday, October 04, 2018



Patriarchy paradox: how equality reinforces stereotypes

The feminist push for equality has the opposite effect to that intended.  The societies without enforced equality are the ones where males and females are most alike.  It seems that the push for enforced equality actually frightens women off male roles.  They probably feel that they would be under too much pressure to perform well

We all know what is meant to happen when the genders become more equal. As women smash glass ceilings and open up education, other differences should disappear too.

Without the psychological shackles of being the second sex, women are free to think and behave as they want; to become physicists or chief executives, unfettered by outdated stereotypes.

Yet to the confusion of psychologists, we are seeing the reverse. The more gender equality in a country, the greater the difference in the way men and women think. It could be called the patriarchy paradox.

Two new studies have again demonstrated this counterintuitive result, meaning it is now one of the best-established findings in psychology, even if no one can properly explain it.

In a survey of about 130,000 people from a total of 22 countries, scientists from the University of Gothenburg in Sweden have shown that countries with more women in the workforce, parliament and education are also those in which men and women diverge more on psychological traits.

Separately, a research paper published by the online journal Plos One found that in countries ranked as less gender equal by the World Economic Forum, women were more likely to choose traditionally male courses such as the sciences or online study.

Erik Mac Giolla, the lead researcher in the first study, said that, if anything, the results found a bigger difference than in previous work. Personality is typically measured using the “big five” traits. These are openness, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness and neuroticism. Women typically score higher on all of them but there is always overlap.

In China, which still scores low on gender parity, the personality overlap between men and women was found to be about 84 per cent. In the Netherlands, which is among the most gender equal societies, it turned out to be just 61 per cent.

“It seems that as gender equality increases, as countries become more progressive, men and women gravitate towards traditional gender norms,” Dr Mac Giolla said. “Why is this happening? I really don’t know.”

Steve Stewart-Williams, from the University of Nottingham, said that there was now too much evidence of this effect to consider it a fluke. “It’s not just personality,” he said. “The same counterintuitive pattern has been found in many other areas, including attachment styles, choice of academic speciality, choice of occupation, crying frequency, depression, happiness and interest in casual sex.

“It’s definitely a challenge to one prominent stream of feminist theory, according to which almost all the differences between the sexes come from cultural training and social roles.”

Dr Stewart-Williams, author of The Ape That Understood the Universe, said an explanation could be that those living in wealthier and more gender-equal societies had greater freedom to pursue their own interests and behave more individually, so magnifying natural differences.

Whatever the reason for the findings, he argued that they meant we should stop thinking of sex differences in society as being automatically a product of oppression. “These differences may be indicators of the opposite: a relatively free and fair society,” he said. If this contradicted some feminist analyses, he said it was also a surprise to pretty much everyone else too. “It seems completely reasonable to think that, in cultures where men and women are treated very differently and have very different opportunities, they’ll end up a lot more different than they would in cultures where they’re treated more similarly and have a similar range of opportunities.

“But it turns out that this has it exactly backwards. Treating men and women the same makes them different, and treating them differently makes then the same. I don’t think anyone predicted that. It’s bizarre.”

SOURCE






The hate mongers









Two police officers were murdered by a gang member in the small town of Brookhaven, Mississippi  

Saturday morning, two police officers were murdered by a gang member in the small town of Brookhaven, Mississippi.

It is notable that in the Washington Post coverage the next morning, and in that of other Leftmedia sources, there was no mention of the race of the officers or the assailant, and no photo of the assailant indicating race.

But if the black assailant had been shot to death rather than the white police officers, this event would have been national news with the race of the assailant and the officers front and center in that coverage. Clearly, however, the murder of two white cops by a black assailant doesn’t fit the WaPo’s disgraceful race-bait political narrative, and the lack of any mention of race in the paper’s coverage of this tragedy exposes that narrative.

As I noted last year in “The Second Amendment and Violence — A Bullet Point Reality Check,” in regard to interracial murders, the overwhelming number are black on white. If there is an epidemic of hate crime in America, it is not white-on-black but black-on-white and, of statistically greater significance, black-on-black. Astoundingly, black assailants commit more than 90% of murders of black victims.

According to the latest FBI data on homicides, black males make up 6% of the U.S. population but account for 39% of homicides.

Democrat politicos know that “Black Lives Matter” is just a diversionary political sound bite. If they actually cared about the “cause-and-effect” association between the epidemic of violence on the urban poverty plantations created by their catastrophically failed government welfare-state programs, they would adopt different policies.

Instead, whenever a black person is killed by non-black police officers, leftists are quick to blame it on “racist cops.”

In Brookhaven, Cpl. Zach Moak and Patrolman James White were shot to death by a violent black gang member — a product of Democrat social policies. Recently, Cpl. Moak posted a photo to social media with a note he recently wrote to comfort a young relative: “Cohen, while you’re sleeping, I will always be watching over you.”

Cpl. Moak and Patrolman White, RIP.

SOURCE






Australia: Hospitals target relatives of the sick -- raking in $45MILLION a year in parking fees

Australian public hospital patients tend to be poor so their relatives probably are too.  Ripping off the poor: Way to go!

The government is calling for hospitals to offer parking discounts after it was revealed they rake in millions of dollars each year.

Top hospitals in Melbourne are raking in up to $45.5million combined per year in parking fees.

The Alfred, St Vincent's and the Royal Melbourne have increased the price of parking by 25 per cent over three years, the Herald Sun reported.

Another hospital, Austin Health, said they take in $8.6million profit from parking.

They recorded a revenue of $11.5 million last year and spent $2.9 million on costs.

The government have asked hospitals across the nation to at least offer discounts for frequent visitors. 

A spokesman for Health Minister Jill Hennessy said they forced hospitals to publish their parking rates in a push for cheaper fares.

'We know that going to the hospital can be extremely distressing and the last thing we want is for patients and their family and friends forced to pay exorbitant carparking fees,' the spokesman told the publication.

In Victoria alone, several hospitals were found to be paying off long-term loans owed to the government with the car park revenue. 

Last month, Lady Cilento Children's Hospital came under fire for rising their parking prices. From October 2, prices at the Queensland hospital will sky-rocket from $30 to $35 for a full day of parking.

The cost of parking for two to three hours will also rise one dollar to $24.

In a letter to the families and visitors of frequent hospital patients, the hospital detailed the price increase and offered financial support for those eligible. 'Families experiencing financial hardship may be eligible for parking assistance, such as concessional parking or free public transport.

'We have a policy in place for concessional parking at a rate of $12 per day for parents, carers and families, where there is evident financial or social need.'    

In 2017,  The Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne raked in $10.3 million in car park revenue. The 2018 review won't be released until November.

SOURCE 

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Political correctness is most pervasive in universities and colleges but I rarely report the  incidents concerned here as I have a separate blog for educational matters.

American "liberals" often deny being Leftists and say that they are very different from the Communist rulers of  other countries.  The only real difference, however, is how much power they have.  In America, their power is limited by democracy.  To see what they WOULD be like with more power, look at where they ARE already  very powerful: in America's educational system -- particularly in the universities and colleges.  They show there the same respect for free-speech and political diversity that Stalin did:  None.  So look to the colleges to see  what the whole country would be like if "liberals" had their way.  It would be a dictatorship.

For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, GREENIE WATCH,   EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and  DISSECTING LEFTISM.   My Home Pages are here or   here or   here.  Email me (John Ray) here.  Email me (John Ray) here

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