Hidden Crimes Against Women

Good men have an obligation to be aware of all the unquantifiable ways women are taxed, hurt, and disrupted.

There is no simple metric to measure the difference in how something like a late-night walk through a city is felt for women versus men. Photo by Matteo Modica on Unsplash

It is easier to be a man than to be a woman. This need not be the case forever, but it is the case now, and has been for too long. It is an uncontroversial statement of verifiable fact that any men with a shred of moral character and a bit of sense in his head will readily acknowledge.

Some of these ways can be measured, such as wage gaps and underrepresentation in government and executive positions. The statistics on sexual assault are also stark and damning. Good men must recognize the reality of the situation as made evident by the facts.

To be truly good men, though, we need to do a lot more than just recognize those matter-of-statistical-fact ways that women suffer. We need to learn about, validate, and work to end the ways women are disrupted that cannot be easily counted and plotted.

A good man needs to try to see through the eyes of a woman to become aware, even partially, of the complexity and ubiquity of the trouble women face. We need to be humble to do this. We especially need to build and maintain close relationships with women. If we’re able to establish real trust, then we might just have the privilege of being able to ask them how their lives are and get honest answers. This is the duty of every…