DiscussWorldIssues - Socio-Economic Religion and Political Uncensored Debate - View Single Post

**JMLot** · 11-05-2008, 08:52 PM

In some societies men and women are not equal at birth. For example, under the One Child Policy in China, there were many reported cases of female infanticide due to the perception that a boy is more valuable in economic and societal terms than a girl.
...
Or what about children who are born with HIV and are immediately discriminated against, or children whose mothers were raped and are treated not as victims but blamed for their misfortune, with the children as unwanted pariahs. In this context rights seem like just a luxury for the privileged...

In the poll, I have only 3 categories : legal rights (set by law), intelligence and physical abilities. I completely understand your points, but I think that discrimination, be it against women or on racial grounds, does not fit in the category of legal rights, except if the law specifically give unequal rights to men and women or different ethnic groups. Men and women may have different rights (e.g. different retirement age), but I am not sure whether all the combined differences are always unequal. Now that I think about it, women may enjoy more rights in some Western countries, as they avoid conscription (in some countries also men), and can often retire a few years earlier. Yet, I can't think of any law favouring men only in Western countries.

11-05-2008, 08:52 PM	#21
JMLot Join Date Nov 2005 Posts 604 Senior Member	In some societies men and women are not equal at birth. For example, under the One Child Policy in China, there were many reported cases of female infanticide due to the perception that a boy is more valuable in economic and societal terms than a girl. ... Or what about children who are born with HIV and are immediately discriminated against, or children whose mothers were raped and are treated not as victims but blamed for their misfortune, with the children as unwanted pariahs. In this context rights seem like just a luxury for the privileged... In the poll, I have only 3 categories : legal rights (set by law), intelligence and physical abilities. I completely understand your points, but I think that discrimination, be it against women or on racial grounds, does not fit in the category of legal rights, except if the law specifically give unequal rights to men and women or different ethnic groups. Men and women may have different rights (e.g. different retirement age), but I am not sure whether all the combined differences are always unequal. Now that I think about it, women may enjoy more rights in some Western countries, as they avoid conscription (in some countries also men), and can often retire a few years earlier. Yet, I can't think of any law favouring men only in Western countries.
	Quote