Men’s issues:
undermining of traditional family;
changes, the need for which men did not see.
Women’s issues:
unequal rights;
unequal labor rights (lower pay and obstacles in career growth);
social position inferior to men.
Answers:
This topic is the main subject of confrontation between female protesters. Diane, the leader of the protest movement, stands the point that men are aggressive, and that violence and aggression is the only language they understand. She thinks that equal rights won't be gained by women in any other way.
This conflict has its roots deep in the history of humanity and is only natural. Since the ancient times, men were the only ones possessing power and governing everything from their families to countries. But more importantly, this was always considered not simply normal but the only way of things. Like Al said they were taught that "women have their ‘place' and men have their ‘place.'" So when women started to protest for equal rights, they started to undermine the world men were used to. Men were used to “obedience” and were naturally angry at radicalized women because resistance to changes is inherent to human nature.
I cannot think of any really good arguments in favor of such decision. However, there are always not so good ones. First of all, such policy can be justified if women are considered less smart and productive if talking about intellectual work. When talking about physical kinds of jobs, this can make sense because women are statistically weaker and less enduring than men, and so they will do less actual work.
The first reaction was not taking her arguments seriously. His attitude showed that no matter what she says she is anyway inferior to her in professional field – it's as she is of a lower race. This attitude is, however, pretty natural. As I mentioned in b. men have dominated all major fields of labor and knowledge for ages, and so they did not take women seriously. None the less, this should not be considered men’s fault, it’s just that the time for changes, the time to evolve did not come till that moment.
Works Cited
Quantum Leap, Season 5, Episode 13. 1993. film.
