No, the Future is not Female

‘THE FUTURE IS FEMALE’ Pin makes me feel ranty every time I see it, but I have largely kept this to myself thus far given we are so absurdly far from gender equality, let alone female dominance. But then this week, St Paul, Minnesota made history by voting in its first all-female council and this was leapt upon by many women with extreme excitement as a great thing.

Let’s be clear: it is not a great thing. And I do, frankly, sometimes wonder about people’s intelligence when it comes to equality & diversity. It really isn’t a complex concept: Equality means equal representation and opportunity for all - it does not, by definition, mean the dominance of one group. Gender equality is a drive for - what’s the simplest way to put this, err… GENDER EQUALITY, and all its benefits - it’s not a drive exclusively for women. Diversity is powerful because it means a diverse set of input, perspectives & thinking is heard, integrated and acted on - and only a DIVERSE group can deliver it.

Not complex. For gender equality we need all the genders. For diversity we need all the genders. We, rightly, complain about the current world where male dominant leadership groups discuss things without women’s input and make bad (often embarrassing) decisions as a result. Now let’s fast forward a moment to a hypothetical ‘Barbie’ (don’t start me off on that again) world where female dominant groups discuss things without men’s input: we will get exactly the same result and men will be rolling their eyes, as women do now, and saying ‘why didn’t you just ask us?’

I’ve always said that my fight is for gender equality, which may be a fight for women in today’s context but is not a fight for women per se. I like to think that if I am one day reincarnated into a life where women, not men, hold over 90% of the leadership positions in the world, I will switch my gender equality focus to men.

The Future is not Female - The Future is Equal