They’re all irrelevant

THE EDITOR: I read the column by Gabrielle Hosein in which she criticised the Minister of Education for mentioning that the top-scoring SEA student was male. Of course, as I would expect from any postmodern feminist, she went on to blame oppression, androcentrism and the patriarchy, all of which are entirely irrelevant to the comparison between male and female academic performance.

It doesn’t matter to Hosein that for the past few years the trend has been females placing first in the SEA. Why didn’t she write articles when it was mentioned that it was a female who topped the exam? Because girls have always been oppressed, pressured into marriage and treated less than human?

Females have and have had their specific gender roles in our societies as she discussed, but I would argue that most of these roles, such as a helpmate, wife and mother, have their basis in biology as females tend to be nurturers. The research is clear on this.

Moreover, what does Hosein propose as a corrective to this historical inequality and “entrenched sexist ideals?” Should the Government ban any and all praise of male achievement? Should we tell girls that they are all victims of the evil patriarchy and men are oppressive monsters? Should we denounce masculinity?

Hosein also makes several more invalid points. She states that despite females’ level of educational achievement, they will still experience male partner violence. What do these two things have to do with each other? Does having more education protect you from violence?

And to address her claim of androcentrism: it simply does not exist. Men and women have equal opportunities in TT. In fact, women have more opportunities at times, such as with maternity leave being more common than paternity leave. Or is this too the work of the patriarchy, implying that a man’s presence in the workplace is more important than a woman’s?

Third-wave feminism is resentful and hypocritical in advocating equality while attempting to undermine males. I see no issue with Education Minister Anthony Garcia’s comments and reporting on a significant change in trends is a part of journalism, as far as I know.

R HOSEIN via e-mail