The murky area of equality...

Thank you to the anonymous commenter who left the links about feminism. Forgive my ignorance, I throw the word feminism around a little too lightly, I know.
However, it really got me thinking about the whole topic, and I realised I really don't think equality is ever possible, and then I thought, 'hang on, have I been in Japan too long?? Would I really have that stance if I didn't live in a country like Japan that is pretty obviously far behind in the male/female equality stakes??'

I think I believe in capabilities. Men are usually more capable of doing hard physical labor. Fair to say? So that's why the majority of jobs involving hard physical labor are done by men. Of course there are always exceptions but I think it's fair to say that women are usually physically weaker than men.
By the same token there are jobs that women are naturally better at than men. My son's daycare has a 100% woman staff. Equal? No. Make sense? Yes. Of course some men are great at taking care of little kids but it's generally women who do those sorts of jobs.

I don't think equality is realistic, and if it was, I'd be fucked. As much as I hate cooking and cleaning, I'd hate to fix shit that breaks in my house and help people move house even more. Inequality is everywhere, and to a certain extent, I think that's why the world works. As a business owner, I sure as fuck would think twice before employing a young woman because of the chance she would get pregnant and quit. Harsh but realistic. And on the flip side, I'd sure as fuck think twice about employing a man because we teach kids and kids are less afraid of women instinctively. Harsh. But fucking reality.

"You are a feminist if you believe women should have equal rights as men"

I don't.

I also don't think men should have equal rights as women. We are different, fuck the brain and it's patterns. We're different no matter how many scientists do studies and contradict each other just to confuse the rest of us. We. Are. Different. I don't know how or why or how many neuroscientists it takes to change a light bulb but I do know that since the cavemen went hunting and the women stayed home and protected the nest, that's just the way things are.

But then being in Japan is hard, it may have skewed my view... I still get angry that girls never participate in baseball or soccer clubs here, because they might not be as good or fast or strong as the boys, but at school level that could give it a crack rather than holding the boys' water bottles and cleaning the change rooms. Seriously. There are times when I think that Japan is so backward with gender equality that it makes me ill. But then, things get done in Japan. Not perfectly or flawlessly but people know their role and usually get on without too much bellyaching and whinging.

What do you think about gender equality?? Are you for 50/50?? Can you do everything the opposite sex can?? Something to think about anyway.