`Give the blokes a break'

'Unfortunately, this article contains within it its own undoing in Mr Driessen's quote "Now cow cockies all throughout New Zealand are desperate for male vets" '

The article is about an initiative of Victoria University senior research fellow Paul Callister, not of Joseph Driessen, who runs an international consultancy on boys' education, from whom that quote came. So it does not negate the very rationally put arguments of Mr Callister.

I agree Mr Driessen's comments betray a certain casual sexism, but perhaps not in the way Trudi Allerby asserts: Allerby extrapolates that Mr Driessen is meaning that cow cockies think women aren't up to the task, whereas Mr Driessen could equally as likely just referring to a desire to have gender balance in the farm workplace, which is a general and valid concern to have in any workplace - Mr Driessen's sexism comes in his undue satisfaction in the lazy formulation of his argument.

However what i really want to know as a Male student with a loan just for fees fast approaching $20,00+ is if I 'became' a pre-op transexual for the remaining duration of my tertiary education if I could get one of these scholarships!

"why do "cow cockies" need male vets?"

Because males are generally stronger than females, and rural vet work is very physical. A female vet would be just as good as a male in almost any area of vet work - treating pets and small agricultural animals, even many types of cattle work.

But on occasion when dealing with cattle you need someone who is very strong, and although there are a few butch women who could cut it, in general a male is called for. This isn't gender discrimination, just reality.

It would be nice to believe that the increased female graduate statistics quoted in this article were an indicator that attitudes about women are changing in New Zealand. Unfortunately, this article contains within it its own undoing in Mr Driessen's quote "Now cow cockies all throughout New Zealand are desperate for male vets" - why do "cow cockies" need male vets? Is it because they think male vets are better than female vets? Until comments like this one are rendered redundant, we will continue to need incentives for women to keep studying, not just so we attract women to higher learning institutions which were previously male dominated, but so that we continue to deliver educated women into roles which clearly some still believe ought only to be held by men. Only by sustained presence in these roles will women finally become accepted as being adequate and equal to men for the job, not only by proving themselves to be so, but by outliving the unenlightened generations who still belive women to be lesser citizens.

I do agree with one point in this article however, in that men should be encouraged to join female dominated employment fields such as teaching, nursing, caring etc - I believe that society would benefit as much from empowering women to believe they can do any job, as from educating men that there is no longer such a thing as 'woman's work' - blokes can and should consider 'non-traditional' roles and perhaps then we might truly begin to understand what 'equality' really means.