Madam -- I am writing to commend Eilis O'Hanlon on her excellent article entitled 'Sometimes it's not so hard to be a woman' (Sunday Independent, October 28). It is long past time that the feminist industry, which survives by perpetuating the myth that women are oppressed, was exposed for the nonsense that it is.

Ms O'Hanlon very competently demolishes the latest silly feminist claim that the recession is having a disproportionate effect on women. It is almost as ridiculous as the other feminist claim that women suffer more than men in war, repeated by Hillary Clinton among others.

The fact that it is predominantly men who are killed, crippled and maimed in war is an inconvenient truth, but feminists are expert at ignoring truth, no matter how blatantly obvious it may be.

That distortion of reality is an integral part of feminism. Its proponents selectively look up through the glass ceiling but refuse to look down into the glass cellar (ie dangerous and dirty jobs) which are almost totally dominated by men.

Central to the survival of the feminist industry are the feminist propaganda laboratories, aka women's studies or gender studies departments in third-level institutions. Apart from the damage they do to society by promoting their warped world view, one must ask what damage is being done to young women who are enticed into these institutions. By instilling in them a false sense of victimhood rather than educating them to make a useful and meaningful contribution to society, these institutions are doing more damage to women than any mythical patriarchy.

Michelle Carroll,

Limerick

Sunday Independent