Anti-sexism campaigners are calling for the immediate arrest of everyone on Earth. This is because pretty much every country is littered with “Men Working” signs, which are blatantly sexist, according to Esther Leung and Anya Das, two feminist readers.
They were inspired to protest after reading that anti-sexists at a US college recently demanded the removal of Men Working signs at a construction site (although one report said that after they were removed, several people fell into holes).
But what should the signs be changed to? “Men AND Women Working” is fine in Asia, but is inaccurate in the West, where buildings are erected by guys only. “Construction Persons Working” is over-fussy.
“Illegal Immigrants Working” would be more honest for many places. One reader said the ladyboy district of Bangkok and most of San Francisco should have signs with extra quotation marks: “Men” Working. Having seen the astonishingly low level of activity at building sites around Asia, I would move the quotation marks along a bit, making it: Men “Working”.
One reader, whom I will not name because he will (and should) have his house burned down, said we could simply balance out all the Men Working signs around the world by placing “Women Working” signs in every kitchen. Careful.
A reader from Delhi pointed out that the word “man” comes from the Sanskrit word “manu” which means “human being”, so we should “simply use the original term”. Okay in principle, but “Manu Working” looks weird to me, especially since the only guy I know called Manu has a severe allergy to working, thinking, lifting a finger, or indeed any activity which involves using more than a single calorie of energy.
(Nury Vittachi is an Asia-based frequent traveller. Send ideas and comments via www.mrjam.org)