I've been working as a council garbage man pouring your household rubbish into the back of a compactor truck at 5am.

Aside from the pleasure of working with guys who have absolutely no pretensions, the experience reminded me how often calls for gender equality assume all men are equally placed to ''repress'' women.

Photo: Simon Schluter

I've frequently heard and read women of a certain age, weight or attractiveness claim they're sexually ''invisible'' to men because females are unfairly judged on their appearance and youth. What we rarely hear debated is how subtly men are judged because of their social status and perceived earning capacity, particularly as they age.

The irony of donning the ''high-visibility'' fluoro clothing most garbos wear is that you become invisible to much of the female population. Women look through you. You cease to exist because you've fallen below some threshold of desirability or respectability.