The idea of anti-sexism has hardly scratched the surface of the popular male imagination - compare it for example with feminism whose ideas are taken for granted by many women who would not even call themselves feminists.

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The idea of anti-sexism has hardly scratched the surface of the popular male imagination - compare it for example with feminism whose ideas are taken for granted by many women who would not even call themselves feminists.

The usual view of men's anti-sexism is that it centres around men who find it personally important to challenge the pressure to conform to a 'macho' image plus a handful of politically aware men wanting to assist on what are seen as feminist issues. In fact any man giving it serious thought will come to see domestic violence, rape, care of their children and suchlike as being men's issues. However, the average man will not be drawn into men's groups by these issues, and will tend to see men's anti-sexism as a movement without a cause. But I believe it's a movement which has remained marginal by failing to acknowledge its biggest cause.

Men's groups tend to look for a personal response to the contradictions their members face - THEY are the problem, they must change. This seems to be unrelated to the impersonal world of politics and the hard realities of jobs, pay, working hours and conditions, etc. But this is exactly the area where anti-sexism could have its greatest impact.

Because, in spite of the effects of massive unemployment, little has changed men's ideas about work. The classic picture of man-as-incomplete-person that men's groups invoke - emotionally retarded, distant from his children, competitive at work and dominant at home - describes a man well moulded to the career world. The stereotypical male values closely match the qualities desirable in competitive work.

Despite the 'personal politics' of a few men, the nature of work itself has not changed and continues to reinforce the same traditional male values. But there are now women working successfully in most professions - so why should male values continue to dominate?

It is because of the strict division between full-time and part-time work. It's in full-time work in the majority of occupations that men and traditional values prevail - women in these jobs work on men's terms. Part-time work on the other hand is clearly the province of women - over 90% of part-timers in Britain is female. In fact, much of the recent increase in women's employment has been in the part-time sector.

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So what are the differences in these two areas of work? Full-time jobs are valued more highly, often paid a 'family wage', and require the specialisation of skills and continued commitment that would merit the title 'career' (though the principle is the same from bricklaying to brain surgery). This continuity is very important - women (in Britain) are permitted usually only a token break for maternity and men generally none for paternity.

Outside this career world, there is both unpaid domestic work, including childcare, and formal part-time work - with pay, conditons, prospects and job interest generally worse than ...

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