When should discrimination be a concern?

Usually it’s men who stand around admiring motors and mufflers, but the ladies in Loyalist’s mechanics program decided it was time to switch things up. They bucked the stereotypes and hosted a ladies car care night. They wanted women to be able to help themselves when it comes to car care, and they thought it would be better if they had the opportunity to do it without the presence of men.

Doing anything gender specific these days comes at the risk of being called discriminatory. The interesting thing is it is generally only considered discriminatory when the larger population who wears the stereotype of the activity, gathering, or situation determines who can come. If men were holding a men only car care seminar, it would almost certainly raise alarm and concern, especially if it wore the title of a men’s only gathering. But it’s women, and when women promote male-dominated jobs to other women, it’s seen as a good thing. 

Even with getting rid of discrimination and stereotypes, there is a place for gender-specific activities. Some women specifically said they went because it was going to be all women. The question then becomes, is there anything wrong with that? In trying to amalgamate everything, perhaps the western culture has forgotten that the sexes are different. Sometimes temporary segregation can be a good thing. One woman mechanic mentioned that through experimenting in the past, women tended not to come when men were present. The women weren’t as comfortable asking questions either.

That’s not to say there should not be co-ed events or car care seminars. But there is a time and place to appreciate and work with the differences.

But I’ll leave it to the women to say what they felt about the event on QNet TV News later on today.

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