"As regards a "shed", every school and university on this planet has been built by men (as far as I am aware)"

The majority of buildings have been built mainly by men mostly nurtured and raised by women.

Those gender roles made a lot of sense before the advent of modern technology, power tool's, lifting equipment etc, not so much now.

The times are a changing vanna, building sites are still not flooded with women but they are there and increasing in numbers. Child care is still mostly done by women but more men are doing it now.

So what do you hope to achieve by your posts?

R0bert

>> So what do you hope to achieve by your posts? <<

That's what I have been wondering. Women are now in many trade professions and men in what was traditionally considered the feminine sphere of work in nursing and other caring professions.

There has been a 50/50 ratio of Architects, Landscape Architects, Town planners since the 80's and to an increasing extent, engineers. The buildings to which Vanna is referencing are often designed by women and, as R0bert has stated, new modes of building means there are women working alongside men in the more outdoor trades. The heavy lifting required of nurses has always been there, although now the nursing profession has machinery as well as the welcome presence of male nurses.

It is about working together, no more male/female apartheid, Vanna. Go outside, drive along a road, notice that many of the road workers wearing hardhats and fluoro vests are female.

Just in case you have failed to notice, even our Prime Minister is a woman and she's not even a lesbian!

To reiterate, what is the point you are trying to make?

The argument doesn't make sense to me - you think women have contributed nothing to society but then you are critical of feminists who want women to contribute on a more equal playing field.

I really don't get it.

Robert,
I’ve worked in a number of different industries, and few women apply for trade jobs, or if they do, very few continue at those trade jobs.

Some of my training has been in productivity, and I would think there are severe productivity issues in universities and in education in general.

Maths and science have declined to critical levels, and even English is in major decline.

If a school or a university was a company, then the people denigrating males would be sacked. Few companies would tolerate it, as it would be reducing workforce moral reducing productivity.

Lucky for many teachers and university lecturers they are not getting performance pay.

"Denigrating" males now, Vanna? You appear to have shifted the goal posts again.
You must have made the claim that 'academic feminists' have nothing good to say about men (and if they do, they're not really academic feminists) about 50 times, it feels. Now it's 'denigrating' males.
For literally thousands of years, women have been actively discouraged from higher education, trade schools and engineering pursuits, and you complain that women have made few if any contributions in these areas.
Well, duh.
As I understand it, the most recent statistics show that girls are outperforming boys in schools.
Feeling threatened, Vanna?

Cornflower: <"Conceding that a few Australian men might pass muster - no doubt through their exposure and re-training by their feminist 'partners'">

Now for all you know he might have been the smart one who married a feminist so that he could enjoy all the advantages you blokes say that female homemakers have always reveled in.

Cornflower and Robert:

I have explained that feminism opposes the patriarchy - which is a social and cultural system - a way in which society is organized to privilege masculinity (and it's constraints on men, imposed by more powerful males).

I'm not all that old yet in my lifetime have been denied entry to University despite having higher marks than my male counterparts; unable to have a bank account without my father as signatory; unable to be in a pub unescorted by a male; regularly paid less than males I mentored and supervised; unable to obtain a mortgage without my spouse regardless of my income - but it's not just about my story; it's that the story is historical, constant, repeated in other cultures and continuing. Unless you've lived on my side of the fence, please don't negate my lived experience of disadvantage and knowledge of the disadvantage of others under a patriarchal system by claiming that attempts to enforce dependency are not oppressive.

Feminist enquiry brought to light domestic violence, child abuse and rape. Meanwhile the masculine-culture-in-charge has ignored, further victimized or minimized rape (females, males, children). I can still pick up the paper and read of someone bashed or murdered every day. One third approx of those are women; most often killed by someone they know and in their home, where they should be safest. The remainder are mostly killed by strangers, usually men. Female offenders account for about 1/10 of the violence. Nevertheless in the past few decades we have seen rates of murder, assault and suicide decline and male longevity increase. It is very heartening to see that most of the backlash is comandeered by a declining number of old blokes while young fellows wonder what you're all sooking about.