Might help also to describe what you think feminism is, since it’s one of those terms that is overloaded.

I once had a physical therapist tell me she wasn’t a feminist because she thought women couldn’t be as physically capable as men when serving as soldiers, and seemed to believe feminism requires treating women exactly like men.

I told her I was a feminist because I believe in equal rights for men and women, an idea she did not seem so opposed to.

  • nutbutter@discuss.tchncs.de
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    6
    arrow-down
    4
    ·
    4 days ago

    I get you. But say, a company has a policy that we give employees 2 paid leaves per month, for example, a woman can take those 2 paid leaves for the same reasons as the men do, but they would also need a day more of paid leaves to deal with the menstrual pain/stress. If that extra day is not defined as “menstrual leaves” men would argue that why are women getting more leaves, and hence the feminism thing will be broken as both are not treated fairly.

    Same in the case of pregnancy. Companies give 2 months of paid leaves for that.

    Or maybe the right thing to do is, just say, if you’re pregnant, you get paid time off, if you’re having periods you get paid time off. Do not include gender in it.

    Idk man.

    • Tacoma@feddit.org
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      8
      ·
      4 days ago

      And that’s why the amount of paid leave should not be limited by time but by reason. If you can’t work because you’re pregnant or sick or whatever, you get paid leave until you are better. And the employer or coworkers don’t even need to know why you can’t work, that’s for a doctor to decide. And anyone saying it’s not fair if they have to work more because they are not sick as often is obviously just selfish and not interested in equality

    • neon_nova@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      12
      ·
      4 days ago

      I get what you’re saying, but if a woman is given more benefits than a man, businesses are disincentivized to hire women.

      • BillyTheKid@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        edit-2
        4 days ago

        Unless the government subsidizes their wages or reduces tax burdens for companies that have more diverse hiring

        That’s what we do in my country. If you hire only men you generally qualify for fewer government programs. In some cases you cant bid on the job if you don’t have sufficient representation for specific groups.

    • degen@midwest.social
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      11
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      4 days ago

      But I think the idea is that men should get the same lenience, i.e. just-feeling-wrecked-leave rather than menstrual-leave. The difference in having a baby should be that one needs medical leave too, in my mind.