1 February 2012
Dear Mrs May,
I hope this finds you well. This letter is an ‘open letter’ and is being displayed on my blog https://fightingfeminism.wordpress.com. Copies are being sent to all 306 Conservative MPs, and it will appear in my forthcoming book Feminism: The Ugly Truth.
The coalition’s continuing pursuit of the radical feminist agendas of the previous administration is baffling to many voters, particularly those – a substantial majority – who don’t hold extreme left-wing views. Labour governments had no democratic mandate for those agendas over 1997-2010, and the coalition doesn’t have one now. It may be that an exaggerated sensitivity over the ‘women’s vote’ is driving the pursuit of feminist agendas, but it hardly needs pointing out that the estimable Margaret Thatcher was popular with female voters, despite never considering herself a feminist. Conservative voters in particular are deeply hostile to the continuing assaults on many things they hold dear.
Quite apart from the feminist-inspired gender-related employment provisions of the Equality Bill 2010 – 90% of which was enacted with unseemly haste after the last general election – there continues the initiative to force ‘gender balance in the boardroom’ on companies. Feminists continue to assert that discrimination by men against women (the ‘glass ceiling’) prevents more women from reaching the boardroom. It’s a discredited conspiracy theory and the ‘solution’ favoured by the coalition – to force companies to increase the proportion of women in the boardroom if they don’t do so ‘voluntarily’ – will serve only to place in the boardroom women who wouldn’t reach it on the basis of merit, and to exclude men who would have done so on the basis of merit. It’s an assault on the independence of the business sector, the only wealth-creating sector.
I covered the issue of women reaching senior positions in my last book, The Glass Ceiling Delusion, and cover it again in Feminism: The Ugly Truth, due to be published shortly. The following is an extract from the latter book, the DCLG report in question having been brought to my attention by the respected blog http://therightsofman.typepad.co.uk:
Feminists continue to assert that discrimination against women accounts for women’s low representation in some areas, although they only ever highlight lines of work which are highly paid and in pleasant and safe environments, never those which are poorly paid or in unpleasant and dangerous environments.
There’s a long-running feminist campaign to ‘improve’ the gender balance of corporate boardrooms, feminists repeatedly claiming that the historically low representation of women in boardrooms results from men’s discrimination against women: the ‘glass ceiling’.
I contend that the ‘glass ceiling’ is a baseless conspiracy theory – as are other assertions about discrimination by men against women in the workplace – but what do women themselves think about discrimination on the grounds of gender? To answer this question we turn to the 2009-10 Citizenship Survey report ‘Race, Religion and Equalities’ produced by the Department for Communities and Local Government. Paragraph 5.57 of the 123 page report states:
‘Males and females were equally likely to cite gender as a reason for discrimination in relation to being refused a job (in both cases 1%), while female employees were slightly more likely than male employees to cite gender as a reason for discrimination regarding promotion (2% of females compared with 1% of males).’
How can these findings be squared with feminists’ demands for special treatment for women in recruitment and promotion terms, which continue to drive government policies? They can’t.
The government appears blissfully unaware, so far as I can tell, of the growing consciousness among voters about the harm inflicted on many areas of British life by man-hating radical feminists over many years. The following is but a small selection from the many websites and blogs of interest to people with an interest in gender politics, mostly critical of feminists’ activities and manipulations:
http://brightonmanplan.wordpress.com
http://opposingfeminism.ning.com
http://therightsofman.typepad.co.uk
http://www.antifeministtech.info
http://www.brainsexmatters.com
I look forward to learning the coalition’s intentions with respect to the pursuit of radical feminist agendas, and I hope to hear from you before the end of February. I shall be happy to post your response on my blog. Thank you.
Yours sincerely,
Mike Buchanan
Anti-Feminism League 