Is it a bird? Well, it’s certainly not a bloke. Is it a plane? No, but it’s
turbo-charged. That multi-tasking, effortlessly able creature soaring miles
ahead is a woman. What’s she got that men haven’t? She’s got the lot.
She is more likely to have a better degree in a tougher subject than her male
counterparts — and more and better A-levels, to say nothing of GCSEs. She is
a better, safer, less pointlessly aggressive driver. She is better at DIY,
too. According to findings last week, 38% of children learn their DIY skills
from their mothers, as opposed to 34% from their dads. She is even better at
handling pain, as anyone familiar with man-flu (or man-bronchitis, or
man-pneumonia) might attest.
To put it in a nutshell, she works harder and gets better results. She is
going to rule the world . . . but she doesn’t necessarily know it yet.
All hail, superwoman: for this week is her week. If she is a tennis player,
Wimbledon is finally going to pay her the same prize money as men. If she is
Tracey Emin, she is due to be one of only four women to represent Britain at
the Venice Biennale since 1950. If she is Anne-Sophie Pic, the French chef,
she has just been awarded her third Michelin star — putting paid to the
notion that men are the creative geniuses in the kitchen while their female
sous-chefs are quite good at chopping. Pic is the first woman for 50 years
to be awarded the distinction.
“I had to fight because I was both the daughter of the boss and a woman,” she
said last week. “Cuisine has been a very male chauvinist milieu for a long
time in France but things are changing.”
So it goes on: hail Stef Penney, the first-time novelist who recently waltzed
off with this year’s Costa (formerly Whit-bread) prize, beating established
heavyweights such as Seamus Heaney and William Boyd. If it didn’t sound so
absurd, you could say that women are having a moment. They are the new
master race.
Not convinced? Ask Martin Amis — not a man previously lauded for his
impeccable feminist credentials. Thanking Tina B r o w n recently for making
him feel attractive at a time when he felt like a geek, he said: “To spell
this out, I am not only a feminist, I am a gynocrat. That is to say, I
believe in rule by chicks.”
Rule by chicks? This is not unlike the ferocious old pugilist Norman Mailer
announcing that he wishes he were a little girl, skipping through the
flowers and cuddling ponies. What’s going on and where does it leave men?
FOR many men the idea of a high-achieving woman is half-hilarious,
half-alarming, and wholly and problematically emasculating.
“My wife earns more than me,” said one last week. “I pretend to be pleased for
her. But you know — inside, I’m dying. So’s my career, while we’re on the
subject. Unlike hers . . .”
The man’s wife said: “Does it b o t h er him? I think so. And it bothers me,
to be honest — I feel like I’ve taken my big scary scissors and cut off his
balls. He doesn’t actually know exactly how much I earn — I lied about the
figure and made it smaller. I don’t want a divorce.”
The battle is not quite won yet, obviously. But it is heading that way.
Take last year’s A-level results: girls outperformed boys in every subject
except foreign languages, with a higher percentage getting A grades — their
best performance in which, for the first time, more than a quarter of girls
were awarded top grades.
The government’s plans for half of young people to go to university have been
scuppered only by boys’ underachievement. By August of last year, according
to data published by the University and College Admissions Service, 30,000
more girls than boys had gained university places. The difference is such
that the proportion of women aged 18 to 30 attending university, which at
present stands at 47%, is likely to hit the government’s target of 50% by
the end of the decade. Boys, however, languish at 37% and show little sign
of improving.
Working-class boys are particularly affected; working-class girls, on the
other hand, are grabbing further education opportunities with both hands. In
absolute numbers, more women than men take first-class degrees; and while
the pay gap remains a reality for older women, girls aged between 22 and 29
earn 0.1% more on average than men. Granted, it’s not much. But it’s
practically revolutionary compared with past figures.
Slowly all the old stereotypes have been turned on their heads. Take women
drivers — long the butt of tiresome jokes. Last month it turned out that men
get five times as many road convictions as women — and that rises to 22
times for dangerous driving, according to the Home Office.
Men are seven times more likely to drive while drunk; they are four times more
likely to be careless drivers; they are five times more likely to have an
accident, and three times more likely to speed.
Women are more stoical, too. A 2005 health and safety executive report found
that men are three times more likely to take time off work for back pain,
while women just turn up and suffer in silence, even though 49% of women
complain of recurring back pain, compared with 40% of men. IF women are
outdoing men in so many different areas, why aren’t they ruling the world?
“Despite the infinite ability of women to multi-task, be emotionally astute
and to psychically communicate with all the other women in the universe, we
remain permanently one step behind our male counterparts,” said Stevie
Tyler, a 23-year-old PR from London.
“The reason I put forward as to why, despite our clear genetic superiority, we
are still paid less, promoted less and are physically abused more is because
we allow it to happen. It’s our own fault.
“Despite all of the women I know being witty, intelligent, articulate and
outwardly confident, most treat themselves with a lack of respect which not
even the most chauvinistic would struggle to compete with. I am talking
about a lack of body confidence, trying to be a size 0 and not a size 12 and
going on diets involving chilli powder and water. We fail to rule the world
because we worry about what other people think of us.”
A working mother of two in her late thirties admitted: “I never say I went to
Oxford. I say ‘college’. I don’t want to put anyone off. And you should see
me in the office — I’m so meek, it’s like I’m another person. I do much more
than my fair share, and when I’m asked to do more still, I always say yes.”
Why the pretence? Perhaps it is because women are still terrified of being
penalised in professional terms for having a family life: too much insisting
on not missing bath time at home and you may find yourself out of a job
(although that would never be the reason given).
Much the same point is made today by a government inquiry headed by Trevor
Phillips, Labour’s new equality boss. It finds that women with children are
more discriminated against than any other group in society. If these women
were allowed to make the most of their talents, the country would be £23
billion a year better off.
“Yes, it seems girls work harder and get on by steady and dogged persistence,”
said Joan Bakewell, the writer and broadcaster. “But then they’re too modest
to take the credit for what they’ve achieved. Women should be less shy of
boasting about what they do. Then they’d get the credit they deserve.”
Go get ’em, girls.
Failing men
While women are forging forward with veracity and pace, men — young ones in
particular — are struggling
- More than 90% of the prison population of the UK is male, although female
numbers have increased
- Between 85 and 95% of offenders found guilty of burglary, robbery, drug
offences, criminal damage or violence against the person are male
- The suicide rate for men is 3.7 times that for women. The rate for young
males has shown a big increase in recent years
- Men are now more likely to be cheated on: 40% of females cheat on lovers,
and just 34% of males
- Average life expectancy in Britain is 77 for men and 81 for women
