For generations, social liberals have argued that there were too many men in certain professions, asserting that women should be given preferential treatment in attaining such jobs in the name of gender equality.
While those cherry-picked professions, including corporate leadership, have seen a notable increase in the number of women, many other jobs remain almost exclusively performed by men — notably without the accompanying outrage of leftist activists.
Richard Cromwell, a senior contributor for The Federalist, took aim at this ideological inconsistency with a recent article arguing for more women in labor-intensive blue-collar jobs.
He specifically cited evidence showing that garbage collectors and firefighters are 95% and 82% male, respectively.
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“Women hold 4 percent of doormen roles,” he added. “Only 5 percent of linemen aren’t men. This is an injustice that must be remedied if we are to achieve true equity as a society.”
His satirical essay went on to assert that “Rosie the Riveter,” the subject of a painting by Norman Rockwell meant to encourage women to work in professions previously held by the men who were at the time-fighting in World War II, “would be disappointed” in the current gender-based workforce disparities.
“Sure, there isn’t a war to pull all the men away and force the issue — yet — so we’ll also have to find some pioneering garbagewomen, firewomen, doorwomen, and linewomen to show the freedom and independence that comes with breaking the glass ceilings in those fields,” Cromwell wrote.
He also pointed out that 93% of individuals in prison are men, sardonically encouraging women to increase their participation in criminal behavior in order to achieve equality.
In a 2020 study called “The Myth of Persuasive Misogyny,” authors Cory Clark of the University of Pennsylvania and independent scholar Bo Winegard lay out a scientific argument supporting Cromwell’s piece.
They cite not a much higher incarceration rate but also the fact that men are “much more likely … to be shot by the police, to be a victim of violent crime, to be homeless, to commit suicide, and to die on the job or in combat than women.”
Based on their research, the authors concluded “that the very persistence of the pervasive misogyny narrative is itself a manifestation of the opposite: society is largely biased in favor of women.”
