For tone-deaf feminists it doesn’t matter that Covid-19 kills almost twice as many men, because ‘women bear the emotional brunt’

Feminists on the frontline of gender politics have seized on a poll they helped publish to push their agenda to the fore in a crisis that has wrecked everyone’s economies and lives. Disproportionate male deaths got a side note.

A new poll by IPSOS Mori declares that UK women are bearing the emotional brunt of the coronavirus pandemic. Fair point, but is it sexist to mention that it’s men who actually die more?

In fact, men are almost twice as likely as women to die from the coronavirus, but women, as the study has found, are about 15 to 20 percent more worried about various other aspects of the pandemic.

I get it. The poll was published in conjunction with the Fawcett Society, named for the iconic suffragette Millicent Fawcett, so with a touch of cynicism you’ll see the goal here.

Even though the study mentions up front the fact men are in more danger from disease itself, that mention is nowhere to be found in the headlines on the Fawcett Society (why would it be?), or IPSOS, or the Guardian, which declares: ‘UK women bear emotional brunt of Covid-19 turmoil – poll’ and mentions problems of risk and unemployment they face. Their stories do mention that men are dying disproportionately but hey, women are affected in other ways that aren’t death.

And isn’t that more important? My guess is I’m seen as a man just propagating a culture of male domination, though biased feminist polling is a-okay.

Polls are commissioned to prove a point that needs apparently objective validation. Very rarely does a political outfit pay a polling company without having a fair idea of what the results will be. What they seek is the credibility earned by using an independent polling business that gives the results kudos.

So we have 61 percent of women struggling day to day to stay positive while 47 percent of men admit to feeling the same.

In gender politics the old adage that a woman’s work is never done holds true, particularly when that woman is fighting on the feminist frontline and there’s suddenly an unexpected opportunity to strike a blow against the patriarchal hegemony.

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What is conveniently overlooked is that data collection on an issue such as this is skewed by its very nature.

You’re not asking what sort of soap powder an interviewee prefers here, you’re asking men and women how they feel.

And there lies the problem. While women are far more upfront about peaks and troughs in their emotions, a man asked to explain his feelings will do nothing of the sort. Hardwired to put on a front, most blokes will shrug and mumble, “I’m not too worried” even when pushed whether he’s concerned at the death of thousands of his countrymen at the hands of an invisible virus.

It’s not that it isn’t something to bother about or that men are mostly unfeeling, uncaring boneheaded neanderthals, it’s just that the average Joe would rather not discuss his emotions with you and a relatively neutral answer is far more likely to end a line of questioning sooner than if he opened up and blubbed out his darkest nightmares.

So while six out of 10 women admit they are struggling and less than half of men questioned admitted to feeling likewise, it has to be concluded, “Well they would say that!”

It’s people who suffer, not men or women

And it’s not just the elastic treatment of poll results that irritate here, it’s the gender politics at play when it’s really not appropriate.

It’s ‘people’ who are suffering, whose loved ones are dead, jobs lost, schools shut and dreams in tatters.

It’s not a man and woman thing, its humanity as a whole and it is wrong and insensitive to prioritise one group over another, whether they be different sexes, ages, races or religions. But Sam Smethers, the Fawcett Society CEO, has found a man-shaped windmill to tilt at pushing a feminist agenda that somehow men are using the pandemic to assert masculine dominance. 

She recently drummed up support from the various members of The Sisterhood to sign a joint statement explaining how bad things are for women in the UK since the pandemic struck.

The statement spoke of women being “largely invisible from the debate and excluded from decision-making,” and many were “trapped in their homes, self-isolating with an abusive partner” as if this was the norm. I found that claim insulting.

It goes on about “specific challenges women are facing,” having “voices heard” and “needs met.” Certainly, interesting ideas to discuss, and there may even be some valid demands in there.

There is no mention anywhere among these concerns about who the majority of victims of the Covid-19 crisis might be. 

It’s strange, because they are the grandfathers, fathers, husbands and sons of the gender-obsessed feminist brigade who insist on propagating nonsense like this week’s poll results.

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