Irish Teacher: We’ll change nothing if we don’t start working on our ordinary men

Jennifer Horgan: "It is no coincidence that despite the lack of male teachers, there are twice as many male principals as women. Men are socially trained to seek status." Pic: Larry Cummins

It was International Women’s Day this week. I wish we’d spent more of it talking about men.

If you want more light in a room, you don’t discuss the light, you consider extending your windows. The same applies to gender equality. To create a better world for women we need to talk about men. The more years we spend celebrating exceptional women, in rooms full of exceptional women, the more things stay the same. Such women are remarkable because they buck the trend. I’m not knocking them. But we can only change the world for the everywoman everywhere by changing men: by changing what men do, how men earn, how men spend their days.