Essay 209

The Neil French debacle has inspired a lot of comments, mostly pretty lousy. But the comment below appeared on AdPulp.com, and it’s pretty damn brilliant…

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Neil French simply held the white male dominant hierarchy yardstick up to measure women's performance, and, to no one’s surprise, women came up short. However, the dominant culture has yet to be held to an increasingly strong alternate yardstick — that of women, and non-white males. Having been born with the silver spoon of getting jobs and promotions based almost entirely on their anatomy, and the fact that white men have abdicated any responsibility for the many other things that make this world go round for the rest of us (children, and by extension one’s sense of community) they have been free to focus solely on their interest — in most cases, their career. Consequently, over the several centuries of their hegemony, they have done this very well. Unfortunately, today, being singularly focused borders on the myopic. Women and minorities have spent 2000 years multi-tasking. The reason Mr. French thinks that you have to give 100% to the job at all times is because HE has to, in order to stay focused and therefore successful. Really, white men have little practice at juggling multiple and conflicting demands, and being the dominant culture, since they can’t do it, well, it can’t be done, right? Lacking such ability, which ultimately broadens and enhances one perspective — it’s not just about YOU, it’s about you and everyone else affected — means they tend to see things in a very black/white, linear way. It’s not very creative actually. But it’s been good enough all this time because everyone else (women, minorities) have been excluded from the playing field. While that change is slow to come, it is absolutely coming — Mr. French and his ilk are the last dying bleat of bloated ego that may be starting to recognize their power base is slipping away, and they are going to do everything they can to hold it. Hence all these arguments about how we take time out for children, therefore are less competent. What twaddle. We take time to invest in children and community, and are therefore MORE competent — more balanced, and we are creating a world that reflects that, for women and those men who see that ‘their’ way isn’t so perfect after all, and perhaps could use the input of women to make it more fulfilling.

Posted by: Kalli on October 29, 2005 03:40 PM