We hear a lot about the privileges that men enjoy in our society: even if they are rather fewer than they used to be. Here’s an interesting and fun listing of what those remaining privileges might be.

OK, now, on the other side, is there a list of things that women enjoy as privileges? Yes, indeed there is and here’s an example of it.

I have to admit, the lists are vastly more interesting to me than they should be. Perhaps this is just a measure of how hidebound I am in my own masculinity, but some of the things on that list of female privileges don’t strike me as being such at all. It’s OK to cry? But, but, that just means I’ve got to clean my glasses….why would I regard that as a privilege?

Robin Hanson goes on to make what is probably the most pertinent point. OK, we can make these lists of male and female privileges but in order to decide who is most privileged in our society we need to weigh each of them. We need to assign a value to each privilege and then see how the balance works on the scales.

I think we’ll actually end up with very different answers dependent upon who we ask to do the measuring, that’s my point. As I jokingly point out above, there are things on the female list which I would not regard as a privilege at all: but many women would (and I assume fewer men).

Similarly, I’m sure that there are things on the male list which men do care about, do regard as privileges, but which the average woman not only wouldn’t regard as a privilege, she’d be almost unaware of the possibility that anyone would.

If that last supposition of mine is in fact correct (well, I’m certain it is in part, it’s how large is that part really) then we’ll never be able to decide which way the balance of privilege goes.