Vive la difference!

Watching a political news debate thing on television this weekend, I came face to face with a shrew that was ranting on and on about how tasteless and disgusting it was that some man had dared to ask whether McCain's running mate, Sarah Palin, might have more difficulty discharging her duties as vice-president because she has a Down syndrome child than a parent with a child that doesn't have the condition. She went on to fume that no one would have dared ask the same question of a man and blah blah blah...

I won't deny that it was a question that could have been put a little more delicately but the fact of the matter is that it's a very valid question. That's not to say that just because her child has Down syndrome she can't have as full a career as any man but the fact of the matter is a child with Down syndrome does require more attention than a child without - and in almost all families around the world the mother is generally the primary care giver when it comes to children - whether she has a career or not.

It was a simple question that didn't require a valid answer. No one said that she wouldn't be able to perform her duties but it's not unfair to ask whether it might be a little problematic.

Let's face it, juggling a job on top of all the other duties of a mother is difficult at the best of times, there's no harm, or foul, in pointing out that Sarah Palin is taking on more than most women could handle. That's not to say she won't be able to handle the situation very well - from everything I've been able to garner about her she seems like a very capable woman but that being said the question still remains and the questioner was entitled to ask - and would, in fact, have been irresponsible not to ask, even if just to put the matter to rest.

The real villain of the piece was the woman who was going on and on about how disgusting a question it was in the first place and turning it into a man versus woman issue.

She is the sort of woman that gives feminism a bad name, the kind, in my opinion, that does more harm than good for the cause of women trying to be taken seriously.

As unenlightened as it may be in this day and age I'll be the first to admit that I'm not in any way, shape or form a feminist.

I am, however, 100 per cent anti-chauvinism.

I'm a firm believer that women can do most things that men can do and I totally believe that a woman should have the same rights as any man in the same position but the fact remains we are different; in shape, build and strength and there are some things that they do better than us, just as there are plenty of things we do better than them.

And, on a purely personal level, if a man sees fit to open the door or carry a heavy box for me why should I have a problem with it?

Sure I can change a plug or drill a hole in the wall, but if my man wants to do it for me, who am I to take the pleasure away from him? He's better at it than me and enjoys it more than I do.

Feminism has been pushed to such extremes in this day and age that a man actually has to think twice and thrice before doing what his mama raised him to do, in case he gets an earful of rage from some 'independent' woman that thinks it's an insult not to have a door slammed in her face.

What extreme feminists fail to see is that men and women are naturally more equal than they think.

A woman is generally more nurturing and caring than a man on an emotional level.

We like to take care of the people we love. We're more careful about their feelings than most men are and we're more likely to show sympathy when the need arises. It's our way of looking after them. Men are more likely to fix a leaking tap or make sure the oil in our car is changed when it needs to be.

It's in their nature to try and solve our problems for us. Not because they think we can't do it for ourselves but more because it's what they know they're good at. It's their version of nurturing. Women fix things on an emotional level and men fix things on a physical level.

Sure, we can do most of the things that men can do but that doesn't mean we have to do them or that we have to turn ourselves into men in order to do them.

We should embrace the fact that we're different and enjoy the advantages.