Manbassador or mansplainer - the choice is yours!

Reading in the World of Work that the word "Manbassador" has become a concept at leading business schools in the world. Harvard Business School, London Business School, and Colombia Business School are some of those mentioned where student groups for men who want to fight for the position of women in business have emerged in recent years.

"The fight for gender equality," they point out, "can't just be led by 50% of the population - as 'Manbassadors', the men want to help women break the glass ceiling, fight sexism and increase women's opportunities in the labor market. The idea is that as "Manbassadors" they will work for gender equality on campus - but also that they, perhaps in future leading roles in the business world, will be able to bring about positive change in terms of gender equality in the labor market." reports Arbetsvärlden, which also conducted a survey of Swedish business schools to see if there is a Swedish equivalent. There is not. There are many networks for women. There are also networks for gender equality, which almost exclusively involve women. But no one seems to have heard of "Manbassadors".

Sad, but honestly not very surprising. This is also the case in the world of work and business. To a large extent, the gender equality issue is actually mainly a women's issue here too. It still is. Not on paper, but in practice. I have attended - and sometimes organized - I don't know how many seminars, debates and lectures on the theme of gender equality. What they have had in common, with a very few notable exceptions, is that the audience has been almost exclusively female. The same goes for networks - there are almost as many for women in the workplace as there are for students. But very few (any?) men's networks for gender equality.

Maybe that can change, now that we have such a good word for it. I know that those of you who are and act as male ambassadors in practice already exist. What do you say about joining hands in a more orderly way and taking control of the gender equality issue this year? With your help, we can be more than the best in the world - we can be truly equal. And maybe get a man-bassador on the new word list next time as a bonus. Nice, huh?

PS. Tomorrow, the Women's March will be organized in Stockholm and 160 other cities in Europe, for the same purpose as women in the US will demonstrate in Washington and the rest of the US - against Trump, and for openness, tolerance and equality. I will not be participating. Don't get me wrong, I don't disagree with the message, or with people who experience injustice coming together to speak out about it. Quite the contrary.

But, if you'll excuse me for womansplaining: it's 2017 and needs to be stated that "women's rights are human rights"! And it is primarily a problem to address for us who are women! Thanks but no thanks. I warmly hand over my willingness to fight and my place in the march to dedicated male ambassadors.

PPS. Catching up on the new Homeland instead - apparently it was the "right" team that won...