Why are older white men (and a whole lot of young white men) suddenly so angry?

I'm standing back as I ask this question, but I feel duty bound to ask.

Men have been the ‘authority’ for thousands of years: head of the family, leaders in the church, leaders in business and banking, leaders in the community.

For hundreds if not thousands of years, they made the rules and women and children were expected to follow them. In business or the church or society, when things have been done the way they’ve been done for however many years, doing things differently is utterly terrifying for most people and being told you must do things differently can cause hackles to rise.

Now in the modern world, little by little, inch by inch, qualification by qualification, women are breaking the glass ceilings in all manner of ways. When they get into the boardroom, they ask questions like:

·?????????‘Why do we do it that way?’

·????????‘Have you thought about doing it a different way?’

·????????‘How will doing it that way affect our employees, our customers, our communities?’

How annoying we women are.

Camilla Nelson , an Associate Professor in Media at the University of Notre Dame, suggested that ‘Greta Thunberg scares some men silly’ and that the ‘bullying of a teenager by conservative middle-aged men has taken on a grim, almost hysterical edge’. Her deduction is that they are ‘reaching deep into the misogynist’s playbook to divert focus from her message’. ?

I was delighted when Scott Morrison , the former Australian prime minister, stepped in to support Jacinda Ardern immediately after the Christchurch massacre, but was shocked when he suggested that ‘women’s advancement should not come at the expense of men’ . He said this on International Women’s Day 2019.

Morrison received a swift response from Australia’s Shadow Minister for Women, Tanya Plibersek , who suggested that gender equality is ‘good for both women and men. It gives all of us more freedom and choice at work, at home, and in our relationships.

Scott Morrison also suggested that the climate change debate was subjecting Australian children to ‘needless anxiety; we’ve got to let kids be kids’ . He believes that ‘the public debate was replete with disinformation about Australia’s climate change policies’. Yet even as I wrote this chapter, Australia was on fire and was recently recorded as the hottest place on the planet; Venice was under water, and many of the Pacific Islands are simply vanishing under rising sea levels.

We are fighting to save the planet for our children and grandchildren!

Every now and then I post something about climate change on LinkedIn and I can pretty much guarantee that the negative reactions I get will be from older white men. I’ve been staggered at the reaction of these same older men to Greta Thunberg and Jacinda Ardern.

It’s fair to say that most people don’t like change; or perhaps it’s that they don’t like being told they need to change?

Do men view this rising of the female population, from Greta to Jacinda, from Jane Fonda to the #MeToo movement, as signs that we women are getting above our station?

Why was it that it seemed to be mostly women leading the marches for the environment, and young people who were the ones standing up to the likes of the NRA?

So, as is my wont, I asked the question on Google: ‘Why are white men so angry?’

According to Wikipedia, ‘angry white male ’ is a pejorative expression for white males holding conservative to reactionary views in the context of US politics; typically characterised by ‘opposition to liberal anti-discriminatory policies and beliefs in particular in opposition to some affirmative action policies and modern feminism’.

This reaction is not limited to the USA or New Zealand.

New political parties appeared concerned for ‘fathers’ rights ’, and included the Abolish Family Support /Family Court Party and the Family Law Reform Party , both parties vehemently opposing what they saw as a feminist agenda. They believe that ‘feminists‘ have entrenched themselves into positions of power and influence’ and are ‘using their power to victimise men’.

Which begs the question, are men actually afraid of women?

Most women, in my experience, simply have points of view that may differ from their male counterparts; not better, just different. Can we not work together as equals versus being seen as threats? Are male egos so fragile that men can’t bear to be questioned or challenged? Are they so entrenched in ‘this is the way it has always been done’ that they feel personally threatened if someone suggests a different way?

Does it mean that women are always right? Of course not, it just means that anyone should be able to ask a question, young or old, male or female, white or non-white. It’s called inclusion; it’s called listening; it’s called considering all options.

In my experience of 30+ years of working with high performing teams in the corporate world, ?the more people are listened to and involved in decision-making, the more valued they feel and the better decisions we make in the long run.

White men don’t have all the answers and as we look at some of the cultures that still treat their women worse than the family donkey, non-white men don’t have the answers either.

Surely the world is facing bigger issues than men versus women? Isn’t working together to solve problems the logical solution? Together we can perhaps ensure there is a planet for our children, grandchildren and their grandchildren.

Perhaps some men just need to get over themselves?

And I leave the last word to Rebecca West who said:

‘I myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is: I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat.’

?

Ann Andrews, CSP. Author, speaker, profiler, Life Member PSANZ

Author of:

Did I Really Employ You?

Lessons in leadership: 50 ways to avoid falling into the ‘Trump’ trap

Leaders Behaving Badly: What happens when ordinary people show up, stand up and speak up

My Dear Franchisees

Women Behaving Courageously: How gutsy women, young and old, are transforming the world

Women Behaving Courageously : The Workbook

www.annandrews.co.nz