Equality In Canada, A One Sided Affair at Times?

Recently I was reading an article regarding the "glass ceiling" that some say still exists in business today  for women. I have to admit that in all my years in the job force I have never personally witnessed it, in fact I have met many women in positions of power over the years. That is not to say it does not exist, simply that I have never personally seen it.

However, to get back on track, the article got me to thinking about the injustices that have been perpetrated over the years on individuals based solely on race, gender, religion. sexual preferences and a slew of other factors. Many of these injustices were based on ignorance, prejudice, hate, or in some cases history. The good news is that the latter half of the 20th century seen incredible progress made to ensure all individuals are treated equally. I would be the last to say that it is a perfect utopia, but in general in most developed countries things are moving along. Thankfully in today's society the vast majority of Canadian citizens would agree that all individuals should and must be treated equally, and that no one should be excluded from a group or activity based solely on something such as gender or race.

In fact we have legislation at all levels of government that prevents employers, organizations, clubs, and businesses, from using an individuals gender or race as a reason to refuse employment, membership, or service. As well there are dozens if not hundreds of special interest groups that are constantly on high alert watching for any possibility that we might be sliding back into the dark ages and that an individual might be singled out and denied equal rights based on their gender or race. Long gone are the days of business establishments or private clubs that deny access to women, or races other than "white", this type of discrimination simply will not and can not be tolerated in our enlightened society.

So, now that I have spent the last three paragraphs going on about how far we have come towards equality and how enlightened a society we are ,and how legislation and special interest groups are on constant vigilance against discrimination........ Can someone please explain one thing to me?


Why can a male not join Spa Lady or Curves?
Seriously...Once you have stopped giggling think about it. Many of our long standing Canadian institutions have had their charters and even their names changed to accommodate members of both sexes, case in point, The Boy Scouts, is now Scouts Canada and is open for membership to both genders. However the Girl Guides of Canada is still a closed membership open only to females, much like say Spa Lady.

So it appears that even in Canada we are not all equal to some degree. Now I suspect that many reading this will immediately imagine that there is some underlying sexual reason for raising this question, however nothing could be farther from the truth. Others might say, "Why would a guy want to join a woman's gym anyways?", funny that was the same type of response woman would get decades ago when they raised the issue of "Male only" establishments. Some of the female gender might even respond "It's nice to have a place where we can go without men watching us and we can chat amongst ourselves", again ironically enough that was the same type of logic used by men at one time to protect their single gender establishments. Funny at the time that feminists were fighting for equal rights not one of these arguments men provided was acceptable to the liberators of the oppressed female gender. Now, I am not suggesting for a moment that women have intentionally created clubs specifically to exclude men, rather, what I suspect has taken place is that some savvy entrepreneurs started these businesses knowing full well that a lot of women would appreciate the privacy they afforded. I suspect that was also the very reason that many "men only" clubs were formed, funny how the two sexes are so different , yet so alike.

My point is all of this is that if a group wants equality, it must in turn be willing to support it wholly, after all "partial equality" appears to be an oxymoron. Equality like freedom of speech either exists completely or not at all, sorry folks you can't have your cake and eat it too, or in the this case your fitness clubs.