The not so fair sex

When last month I told a male friend about my article on Pink Ladies; the social enterprise that runs an all-female cab service; I did not expect the response he gave me. Rather than the expected expression of admiration, he said: "I'm not surprised they had problems. The business is sexist." Sexist? The thought had never crossed my mind. As far as I was concerned this was an example of two women struggling against discrimination and institutional bullying to provide a much-needed service for women. The idea that this social enterprise was really sexist had not entered my mind. I was thrown. However when I came across a story about the same sort of social enterprise, an all female cab service, which had struggled with the same problem (being told the business was discriminatory) in Mexico City, it made me think quite seriously about how arguments of sex discrimination may be levelled at the type of all-female social enterprises that I admire.

There are now many organisations that encourage and support women into business. Social enterprise appears to take the centre stage in these types of support groups. This is not surprising as according to research women are much more likely than men to start a business with a social objective. Surveys show that nearly 50% of women want to use their business ideas to help people less fortunate than themselves, compared to less than a third of men. So the market for women in social enterprise is booming. Of course not every female social enterprise is exclusively for women. Many simply draw women through issues that appeal more to them than men. My interest is in how male-excluding social enterprises affect arguments of gender discrimination. Are male-excluding social enterprises a backwards step for equality of the sexes? Do these sorts of business entrench ideas that men cannot be trusted etc.? Is it possible that all-female social enterprises are unfair to exclude men? Though certainly not popular standpoints, these are question worth asking. If all-female social enterprises do not want to be derided as discriminatory, they must be able to present strong and coherent arguments for their stance.

In the case of these all-women taxis these social enterprises have been set up to tackle problems of violence towards women in a setting where they are more vulnerable to attack. The experience of an assault is one that will affect a person's life enormously and for many years. Unfortunately women are vulnerable to these experiences in certain public situations such as transport. This raises the question then whether these types of all-female social enterprises are simply providing a buffer for tricky issues, such as harassment and violence to women, which government should be tackling?

This led me back to the fact that social enterprises tackle some of societies most entrenched problems. Herein is the key to my conclusion. Many social enterprises come about where governments fail. Many confront thorny issues that governments skirt around, such as female safety, and provide pragmatic solutions. The debates they promote and the challenges they face become catalysts for change. Whether an all-female enterprise is fair on men is perhaps not relevant if eventually they lead to increased equality. I do not consider myself to be a feminist. I believe in equality of the sexes and equal opportunities for men and women. Just as women should not have to be fearful of assault, harassment or discrimination, neither should men. However, the fact remains that women are severely underserved throughout the world. Women are, in many countries, are subject to various forms of subjugation both casual and institutional. Women represent 70% of the world's poor yet perform 66% of the world's work but earn 10% of the income and own 1% of the property. These staggering statistics show clearly how unfair the world is. Perhaps a little unfairness to redress the situation is justified.

Photo credit: Denis Todoru