In Mar 2017 I visited the offices of the Human Rights Commission in Pitt Street, Sydney, I went there to attend a presentation on work life balance. At the end of the presentation Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins invited the audience to ask questions. I asked the following question: “The federal Government has appointed a minister for the status of women, it has not appointed a minister for the status of men, do you regard that as an act of discrimination by the Australian Prime Minister against all Australian men ?”. Kate Jenkins: “No I dont”. There are a number of conclusions to be reached about Kate Jenkins understanding of the topic of gender equality none of which are flattering to the sex discrimination commissioner.

It has now been more than a century since feminists began to patronise and complain to men about sex discrimination faced by women. Men have been howled down and labelled as sexist pigs on a continuous and wholesale basis for more than a century. In 1984 the Australian federal Government introduced the sex discrimination act and appointed Australia’s first federal sex discrimination commissioner and with those deeds they asked womankind a question on the issue of gender equality: Can women do any better ?

More than 30 years later the pursuit of gender equality is an exclusive girls club, women are the only gender our Government and society aspire to treat equally, feminists have continued to promote contempt for men, our state and federal Governments have continued to legislate the belief that gender equality is being pursued when women’s interests are exclusively served in a society which is yet to begin to consider what is fair and equal to men.

If gender equality was the objective of feminism then feminists would be concerned that the pursuit of equality for women should not condone or encourage discrimination against men. If gender equality was the objective, feminists would be concerned about sex discrimination faced by both men and women. The conclusion I have drawn, the objective of feminism was never gender equality, it was to turn a tide of discrimination against women into a tide of discrimination against men. More than a century ago instead of uniting our society to a worthwhile ideology, feminists set out to use the issue to promote self interest for women and discrimination against men.

The most positive comment I can make about Kate Jenkins response: The sex discrimination commissioner lacks the most fundamental understanding of the topic she has been appointed to represent. The achievement of more than a century of feminism: Feminists failure to pursue the ideology of gender equality could not be more complete. Kate Jenkins, sex discrimination commissioner is the face of feminist failure.

Adrian Smyth