All are equal in Equal Opportunity Programs

"Some are more equal than others" in the book Animal Farm by George Orwell. (paraphrased)

"All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."

In the 60's and 70's women's liberation and sexual liberation were somewhat connected. Being a single unwed mother was rare and was disapproved of. That has changed for the better, women and children are accepted no matter the marital history. However the poverty support programs as they are currently written promote unwed mothers by penalizing couples -giving less support or no support help to married couples or unwed couples where the father is named.

A support net that promotes single parenting and not naming a child's father is discriminating against the child's right to know their father and their medical and cultural heritage. Welfare programs in larger areas even inspect for evidence of an unnamed father figure and women can lose their benefits even if the large size jeans were their own. Supporting children is a goal that benefits society and stressful situations make parenting more difficult. Rewriting policies that are more open to two parent households whether it is mom and dad, or mom and mom, or dad and dad, would be a positive goal for the sake of raising healthy and secure children who have adequate caregiving available.

Raising children is a challenge with two parents and raising them with one parent may be less stressful and the wiser choice if one parent is unreliable or abusive, so flexibility in any welfare type support net program is the wisest choice for the children's sake. And for the future's sake raising secure well adjusted children is most likely to lead to more well adjusted prosocial tax paying self sufficient adults. (link elsewhere on this site.: From a previous post: Regarding potential underlying reasons for a person to resort to mass violence - typically it isn't due to "mentally ill" people unless they were already prone to violence. An increased risk for violence is not associated with depression, anxiety or ADHD. Increased risk for mass violence is significantly associated though with being a male who had experienced child trauma and who is a binge drinker. (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4318286/ ))

Sexual liberation was openly discussed by some in the past, 60s/70s, but it wasn't common for the average woman or household (some women were free/open to casual encounters but most others were not; and swinging/key parties were an experiment of the 70s). Now we have fifty percent (roughly) of children growing up in poverty and many of them living in poverty have single parent households. The inequality of women's pay to men's pay when broken down into more precise detail is actually more of a difference in mother's pay to other's pay. nytimes The salaries of women without children are more comparable to men's wages.

So who is liberated now - father's from their previous role as a head of household? Or are they liberated from being anywhere in the household? Maybe but liberated maybe not. Some are in prison as the number of prisoners has increased with the for-profit prison industry. Since 1974 the amount of prisoners has increased from a steady 100/100,000 to 500/100,000 by 2004. nap.edu

Is sexual liberation still around - or just single parenthood? It seems to be the latter, based on my experience it went away with the increase in sexually transmitted disease and the increase in AIDS/HIV that occurred in the 80s and 90s.

What about equality? Are some animals more equal than others? Yes, some do seem to have different rules than others regarding taxation and legal protection and even in television show games we have many that focus on voting who to keep and who to remove from the lineup of contenders. Some animals are more equal it seems, in our modern times.

In my world we are all equal and the animals count too. We need offshore microbes to modify the form of trace minerals found in ocean water into a form that is available in the atmosphere.

Some animals may think they are more equal than other animals but in the long run we may all be looking to microbes for help that they won't be able to provide in an ocean that is more acidic and warmer. It is hard to predict who will be more equal than who in a greatly changed world, planning ahead now might make the transition go smoother. Stopping change is already too late, it is happening at the more severe rates that have been used in calculations of predicted events.

In the world I grew up as a child in the 70s we cared about climate and cleaning up air and water and women's liberation included freedom to touch and be touched not just be seen in more exposed and expensive fashions. Fathers were part of the household, not just on visitation days. Was it perfect then? probably not, but is it perfect now? not really. Lack of jobs for many and lack of time for those who do have jobs is a problem in our modern society that isn't going to change without the creation of new industries. Globalization has decreased poverty around the world but has led to fewer jobs in the U.S. that are as well paying in proportion to the type of pay that a father as head of household might have had in the 50s or 60s. It will require planned change in priorities to create a new job or basic income society. The advantage could be more stable parenting by two parent households.

Men, on average, are still expected to be a good earner in order to win a woman's partnership as a spouse and parent. cnn.com/american-men-less-marriageable-partner Expectations may be involved in the suicide rate by males which is a problem of our modern society that was also a problem in the 50s and 60s. More men commit suicide than women on average (males ~18-21/100,000, females ~ 4-6/100,000) and both rates have been fairly consistent since the 1950s. statista.com Social roles being demanding in different ways seems unlikely to explain that consistent of a difference, speculatively, testosterone levels are not directly associated with violence but in individuals whether male or female if prone to violence increased testosterone can increase tendency towards violence and suicide is a violent reaction against the self. (Sapolosky, Behave)

So are women liberated yet? are men? are children? Prisoners certainly aren't. /https://mic.com/articles/86519/19-actual-statistics-about-america-s-prison-system#.RB8uGOHzW/ And are we sexually liberated yet? I read one study showed an average of less than two encounters per week for couples - we were supposed to be shocked that the use of medical marijuana was associated with a 20% increase in the rate, bumping up close to 1/week to closer to 2/week metro.co.uk/2017/10/27/weed-smokers-have-more-sex-apparently - I was shocked by both rates. It was not a large study, so maybe there's more healthy fun going on in the world of consensual couples. Although for the busy pace of a full-time job and commute and helping with children's homework or doing other household chores it can be difficult to find energy let alone time for extraneous activities no matter how fun. For me fun, solo, helps with better mental health and it can have pain killing benefits for a woman. Migraine relief was sometimes only a few minutes of concentration away if I had some privacy. Good and good for you.

Asexuality seems to be the new liberation. Zinc and omega 3 fatty acids and iodine and selenium may all be helpful for boosting that average for men or women. Food sources of iodine and selenium are available here: effectivecare.info/g9-iodine-&-thyroid

Some animals do seem to be more equal than others. George Orwell was right about that part.

The new site that I still need to work on is meant as ideas, not to be considered better or worse than anyone, the point of Equal Opportunity Programs is that all are treated equally, equal service offered in a variety of languages. The site has ideas, just ideas to consider and online translation services can give a rough translation, but currently the site is in English and written from the perspective of someone who worked in the U.S. in a field that was largely staffed by women, so my ideas may not convert well to a modern mixed gender working world, however the goal of Equal Opportunity Employment is that gender ratios in all of the businesses participating would be similar or not matter if they weren't in similar ratios. Pay and benefits would be equivalent. Goals are a starting point to consider and work towards, ideas are a place to start.

Disclaimer: Opinions are my own and the information is provided for educational purposes within the guidelines of fair use. While I am a Registered Dietitian this information is not intended to provide individual health guidance. Please see a health professional for individual health care purposes.