What would you literally say to this?!?

Question

Me and my bf were watching something and they were talking about women’s rights and he’s like “um there’s nothing wrong with how women are treated now, that’s old isn’t it?” And im like

And I tell him all these obvious examples and then he’s like looking weird so I’m like “what?” And he’s like “well women get paid for not working when they’re pregnant... men don’t get that.” And im just like

UGH he wasn’t even kidding!!! I’m like dude men don’t get pregnant what even the fuck are you saying???

Answer

Actually men are able to apply for a PAID paternity leave, it’s not just women 🤦🏽‍♀️

Answer

My job doesn’t offer paid maternity leave ):

Answer

Personally, I think women as a whole are much stronger and more equal than ever before in history. I don’t feel there’s ever been an instance in my life where I’ve felt slighted or discriminated against due to being a woman. My job doesn’t offer paid maternity leave either. I had to save my sick and annual leave days to be paid while on maternity leave (I’ve been at my job 6 years so I’ve accrued enough to take off 12 weeks paid). My husband saved his sick days to take off 3 weeks with me. And on another note, I make more money than my husband. 💪🏼💪🏼💪🏼 So personally, and again, this is just my opinion, I think people can make or break themselves. Work hard, be respectful, and don’t give into victim mentality.

Answer

Men just hear anything about women's rights and get so fixated on all their own problems like talking about women's issues is somehow taking focus away from them 🙄
For example, my husband is looking for work, he's a migrant. Most unskilled places are wanting women and to get a skilled job they want him to have permanent residency which he doesn't have yet.
So he's been unemployed because every place he's able to work just wants females even though they don't explicitly say it. Most retail and factory work is going to women. Walk into a major supermarket and 90% sometimes even 100% of cashier staff are women.
Males have higher rates of dropping out of school which has lifelong consequences for their employability.
They are diagnosed much more frequently with adhd because males are naturally more active as children - adhd leads many to be put on psychiatric meds, then more meds to treat the symptoms caused by the first. Alters their brain chemistry and in many cases can lead to psychosis and mania...all before finishing school. And all this just because they fidget due to having to sit in a seat for 5+ hours. 
Girls get this diagnosis a lot less and tend to be better suited to the current education system, consistently outperforming boys just because the education system prefers their natural disposition.
Like those are the real kind of issues that should be talked about in relation to men 🙄
Some workplaces here gave men entitlements to paternity and family leave the same as women are entitled to - you know what happened? Men utilised them much more than women did their advantage and to further themselves. Which created a huge inequity in the workplace again.
What we need to aim for is EQUITY not giving everyone the same thing. But giving adjustment to disadvantaged groups so they can have the same outcomes as those who don't have the disadvantage.
I think the problem that men have in this kind of discussion is that they tend to not be seen as disadvantaged even when they are (more so than women in many cases) but focus remains on helping women.
I'll give an example - migrant women generally don't have an issue getting jobs here. They make connections in their communities and usually get a decent pay rate in hospitality, factory work etc.
Men on the other hand, tend to get paid less in these kind of jobs (my husband earning far less when he was working than any woman in his migrant English class) and also have greater difficulties in finding them to begin with. So much struggle for a shit job not even paying the legal minimum wage. 
In spite of this, migrant services statewide only care about helping female migrants. The only other group who can have assistance with employment and education etc are those holding refugee status. 
Now, those are some real gender equality issues for men 🙄 getting maternity leave is not. But as pointed out already, they can get paid paternity leave, which is more than enough. I think your bf doesn't understand the physical toll pregnancy takes and some jobs would put the baby at risk. Must think women are just having a holiday before the baby arrives 🙄

Answer

Wtf.  I’m not sure what country you guys are in but I can give you an example on the mat leave in Canada.  Yes it’s fucking awesome compared to other countries but let’s do some math:  we get 52 weeks at 55% of our regular wage.  So that’s an instant loss of 45% for starting a family.  Not only that, it also means that we women, and our employers, are not going to be paying into our countries pension plan (CPP) during those 52 weeks. That’s the second financial disadvantage that sets women behind men in regards to motherhood.  And then add on the obvious third financial inequity of the proven wage gap.  Take all of that and calculate the loss of growth that we could have earned on those missing dollars by the time we retire, and it’s not at all equal!  
Again, please don’t take this as me griping about my countries mat leave (I’m super grateful to have it and wish I could share it with my US sisters) but the fact remains that yes we “get paid for not working” at our employed jobs, but in no way does it not set us back if you actually crunch the numbers

What would you literally say to this?!?

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