Original post by Rosina8Hi, new person joining in the discussion.
To claim that women do not push for promotion the way men do generalizes an entire gender. Some women may not have ambition, others may do, the same as men. A bigger issue is that when a man pushes for promotion, for example, he is seen as ambitious and hard-working. When a woman asks for more of a say in the company, she is viewed as being bossy and, to put it bluntly, a b***h. This may be one of the reasons why some women don't push for promotion- they know that there is less chance of them being taken seriously.
Yes, things such as promotions must be earned. Why do you assume that women as a whole do not seek to earn a better position through hard work, but expect it to come to them? Feminism is not about having 'a sense of entitlement', as you put it. Feminism is about equality, as stated many times in this discussion. Women do not expect that things should be given to them, they expect that they will be given the opportunity to earn these things, and that the decision on whether or not they should be given it will be based on their character, with no personal prejudices based on their gender.
Also, I don't understand why you've put 'oppressed' in quotation marks. Women have been oppressed for thousands of years. They are viewed as the weaker sex, not just physically but mentally and emotionally. Until the 20th century, women didn't even have the vote, and it's taken them many years to achieve this level of equality. All the things that have always been available to men- the vote, certain jobs, a good wage- are things that women have had to fight for. Feminists- not 'crazy, man-hating' people, but women who want to have the same rights as men- have worked for decades to get these rights, and although women are more equal to men in the Western world than in other places, sexism still lingers in the way they are viewed, in the way women are expected to be fragile and delicate, the way they experience harassment in the streets, how they are objectified in the media, and yes, how they are seen in the workplace. Of course, there are cases of sexism towards men as well, and that is wrong. But sexism towards men doesn't reflect the thousands of years that they have been taught to believe that they are inferior, and that their opinions are irrelevant. That is why sexism towards women can cause more of a reaction, because women have fought for years to not have to experience it.
Women and men should be considered equally for jobs. When interviewing, the person doing the hiring should not take into account their race, gender, or any other such aspect. The only deciding factors should be their capability in doing the job, and the merit of their characters.
If you were in a fire, a woman firefighter would be perfectly capable of saving you, as she would have been trained for that purpose and selected for the job based on the fact that she can do it.