Two solitudes in Canada - men and women

And commentator Larry Haiven wants to join the women

This commentary was originally broadcast on CBC Radio 1, Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2000.

  Okay, I'm fed up with the two solitudes. We'll never see eye to eye. We're just too far apart in our attitudes. We're really two completely different countries. Separation is the only answer. Or, at best, sovereignty association.
  Oh! You think I'm talking about Canada and Quebec? No, I'm talking about a much more serious split. I'm talking about the two incompatible nations in our midst - men's Canada and women's Canada.
  That's right: there's a breathtaking difference in political and social attitudes between Canadian men and Canadian women. So much so that I think women ought seriously to think about separation.
  Except... I want to join the women!
 

On almost every social and political issue you care to name, women appear more progressive, more sensitive their fellow human beings, more... sensible than men

  Look at the most recent federal election polls. Across the country women are 30% less likely to support the Alliance Party than men. So much for Mr. Pretty Boy Day. Even in his home province of Alberta, his party's 20% less likely to win the women's vote.
  Just look at the other polling data: Women are a third more likely than men to see health care as a major election issue. About 16% more women than men think Cdn. govts aren't doing enough to help the poor or cheered the Supreme Court ruling supporting same sex couples. 20% more women than men believe that nuclear weapons make the world a more dangerous place.
  Women are more patriotic A fifth more women are angry that the Federal Government isn't stopping foreign firms from buying Canadian companies. More women would buy Canadian products even if it means they'd have to pay more. They're 15% less likely than Canadian men to support a common currency with the US and they're less likely to think NAFTA has been good for us.
  In BC, 15% more women supported raising the minimum wage. In Alberta, women are almost twice as likely to rank education as a top priority in the budget. And in Ontario, 20% fewer women want money withheld from the education system. Nationwide, women are 20% more inclined to reject genetically modified food products, 27% less inclined to support cuts to the CBC and 25% more inclined to support gun control.
  The truth be known, on almost every social and political issue you care to name, women appear more progressive, more sensitive to the needs of their fellow human beings, more... sensible than men. It's as if in men there's some chemical link between the gland that produces testosterone and the mechanism that jerks the knee at the slightest stimulus.
  Yes, I think that women's Canada should make a unilateral declaration of independence from men's Canada. Women and their attitudes certainly don't have much impact on how our country is run now. Women could do much better on their own. They'd build a more humane, more caring, a truly just society.
  All I ask is that I can emigrate at the first opportunity. Or at least get a visa once and a while to visit my wife. Maybe they'd grant me refugee status. Yeah! Women are 20% more sympathetic to refugees than men.

Larry Haiven is an Associate Professor in the Dept. of Industrial Relations and Organizational Behaviour at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon. He can be reached at haiven@commerce.usask.ca or on the Web at www.commerce.usask.ca/faculty/haiven.

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