Women are fools to themselves, wanting to work full time. It has upset the balance of what was normal society. Because of this so called liberation of women, it has forced the cost of everything up and up. Now it is compolsary to have two incomes to pay for a house. Now we have women having kids after their useby date has expired. This will lead to a drongo society. The best breeding age for women is between 18 and 26. I am sure we are leading into a time that will be very hard to reverse, thus it will be a hastening of the destruction of human society all because of female [live for the moment] greed.

Jason, what will lead to a drongo society is letting only drongo's breed. You're a bit daft yourself if you are trying to blame inflation on women.

Bronwyn, yes its a simplification, but a reasonable one. What you appear to be pushing is a communist society, and I have only come across 1 woman in my life that thinks this is a good thing. Mind you, I dont believe in unabated and unregulated capitalism either - there needs to be balance. Hmm, balance seems to be what most of the discussion here is about, albeit that we all have different versions of where the balance should sit.

Antiseptic, your lack of socialising and networking success at your childrens' events could be not because you're a 'man' as you suggest, but because you lack the necessary communication skills. This can sometimes be hard to admit, and it's easy to 'blame' others when it's too hard to work on one's own communication skills.

I'm divorced, and my ex takes the 2 children to many varied events during weekends and Friday evenings. He's welcomed by the women at these activities, and contributes substantially, because he has the personal skills to do that. I've seen many men working well with women in similar circumstances.

It's not the gender that's important, it's the socialisation and communication skills that's important. Are you prepared to work on those skills for the benefit of the children, or are you already a magnificent communicator and skilled networker and it's simply all the 'womens' fault as you suggest via your sad 'uber-feminist' post?

COL- What you say is true about businesses taking their companies to India and China. That is what would happen. Humans have to make a buck to survive and they'll do it any way they can and I don't exclude myself from that either if I really needed to eat and survive.

Maybe the United Nations could put some criteria on these companies that they pay their Chinese and Indian workers a half way decent wage and not use them as slave labour by paying them a pittance. They like to pay wages at poor country rates and then come back to countries that have high wages and sell their products at rich country rates.

I do not believe in the communist, socialist systems I think a democratic, capitalist society is the best way, but governments need the foresight to make the appropriate demands on businesses for the good of the whole community when necessary. Like the compulsory training of apprentices by businesses that are making excessive profits. Also the setting up of agencies that train, provide and pay
temporary assistants to cover Maternity leave for women.

Pull some of the billions spent on aid out of some of these foreign ountries and spend some of it here for the long term good of our own communities.

Jason,

The normal society of a few centuries ago involved women having kids 18-25, dying at 35 and the kids being raised by others, as only a select few could afford not to work.

The world has changed and people are not completely ruled by their biology.

Sharkfin, you say you aren't a socialist, but your proposals are very socialist. The UN has not even the power to emancipate women in Islamic countries from their chattel like existence, so I think universal maternity leave is a long way off.

Life is like Ghandi's left leg, neither fair nor right. The choices for women or companies are likewise.

SallyG:"you lack the necessary communication skills."

Perhaps, but I don't think so. I'm a very social person, with lots of friends of both genders. I rarely feel excluded from anything, but I certainly do in that environment. Why should I be forced to go out of my way to "win" these women, rather than simply expect acceptance? As you say, this is about the children, not the parents.

As an aside, I don't and didn't blame anyone for that situation, unlike you seem to be determined to do. Are you one of those dreadful wives who think that everything is the man's fault? Your poor husband must be desperate to find some friends.