Original post by Luke Kostanjsek1) The gender pay gap is made up. It's a complete and utter fabrication. The figures you are quoting are indeed what the ONS found; however, you forgot to mention that those are broad figures. They were arrived at by adding together all the money men earned, and all the money women earned, and finding the difference. This is obviously a ludicrous way to do such a comparison. If you instead compare men and women who are doing the same job, with the same experience, qualifications and working hours, the 'pay gap' varies from 3% in favour of men to 3% in favour of women. In fact, if we consider solely those under the age of about 35, the pay gap is most certainly in favour of women. If we also consider purely those who continue working through their careers - i.e. those who don't take maternity leave - we also continue to see women earn more than men. For this reason, there is not a single well-regarded economist who gives the gender pay gap the time of day. It's a blatant fabrication.
2) There is not a glass ceiling. The fact is, to get to the top in any field, you've got to be willing to put in a huge number of hours; especially so in politics and big business, which you highlighted. Certainly, there are some women who are willing to do just that, as evidenced by two of them currently running to be the next Prime Minister. But as an average across women, they aren't. If you look at the ONS figures you mentioned, you'll see that on average men work significantly more overtime than women, which is obviously a huge part of making your way to the top. If you aren't willing to go above and beyond, you aren't going to make it to the top. Further, as an average, women seem to be less interested in politics, STEM and big business than men. We see this in choice of degree as well as choice of careers. And there is a growing weight of scientific evidence to suggest this is rooted in our biological differences.
As an example, a study was conducted a few years ago, over 50-odd countries, to take note of what jobs women were doing. And they found that in countries which had less social and legal gender equality, women were more likely to look for jobs in science and technology. As a culture became more gender equal, women were more likely to head for 'traditional' female jobs like teaching and nursing amongst others. If you're interested in this, there's a really interesting documentary that was done in Norway on the reasons why men and women choose different careers. Whilst the verdict is still out on this, the evidence is growing to suggest that this difference is indeed founded in biology.
3) Rape culture does not exist in Britain. A rape culture is one where attitudes towards rape are both pervasive and normalised. Given as most people do not think that rape is okay by any stretch of the imagination, that claim is a nonsense. Try looking at somewhere like South Africa. That's what a rape culture is.
Women are indeed objectified. But guess what? So are men. Hell, the app Lulu has millions of users. Can you imagine the backlash there would be if there was an equivalent app where men rated women on their appearance? Both men and women are objectified all the time, it's a part of the human condition. The only difference is, it's considered okay for women to objectify men. We are constantly being told that there should be no 'ideal' for women to aim for, no one way they should look. And yet, it's considered absolutely fine to expect all men to be shredded. Just look at advertising campaigns. Any ad which shows a thin female model is immediately lambasted by everybody, yet any campaign that suggests men should be ripped is fine. Do you remember the 'Are you beach body ready?' campaign? Hundreds of people complained that it was suggesting all women should aim to look like the model in the picture, and not a one complained about the unrealistic expectations it placed on men.
Sexist jokes, do not a sexist person make. The clue is rather in the name; JOKE. A joke rather implies that you're not being serious, as in you don't actually believe what you're saying. In much the same way, making a joke about rape doesn't mean you condone rape and making a joke about blacks/whites/asians/some other demographic, doesn't make you a racist. It's seen as acceptable to joke about women 'getting back in the kitchen' because it's a joke, as in not serious. It is not seen as acceptable to seriously suggest that a woman should 'get back in the kitchen' because that's sexist, as woman should not have to do any more domestic work than men.
4) Again, you're conflating making a joke with seriously holding the view that they're joking about. There is a difference, and if you can't see that then (no offense) you need to lighten up. You don't have the right to not be offended.
Being called young lady was sexist? I had a teacher that called all the guys in the class 'darling', but didn't do the same for the girls. That isn't sexist, that's just a quirk of language. I call women 'love' and men 'mate' in passing, and I know loads of women who refer to men in passing as 'babe', but these too are not sexist. Explain to me in what way any of the above expresses a view that women are inferior to men. Because I honestly do not see it.
5) The reason gender equality is not a thing in 2016 is because third wave feminists are far too busy quibbling about the fact that the first guy to land a satellite on an asteroid was wearing a shirt featuring scantily clad women or some such, rather than fighting against the abhorrent oppression women suffer in Africa and the Middle East. It's because they would rather lobby for positive discrimination, than fight the sexist teachings of Islam and Christianity. It's because they'd rather waste their resources trying to convince us all that there's a 'patriarchy' ruling us all, than going to countries where women are denied contraception, or the right to work, or suffrage, or any other fundamental right.